Chapter 75
AVA - HE WAS GONE
The smoke was fading, but the smell lingered. Burnt bark, gunpowder, and blood.
We were back at the line of vehicles, bikes and black SUVs scattered across the dirt lot like some kind of makeshift military motorcycle club.
I leaned against the hood of the nearest truck, arms crossed tightly.
I knew I should get myself checked out, my cuts cleaned, ribs examined.
.. but my eyes were fixed on the woman who refused to sit down.
Remi.
She looked like hell. Blood stained the side of her shirt, and all down the length of her pants; her face was bruised, and her hands were trembling, though she kept clenching them to hide it.
They had already thrown in a few quick stitches and cleaned her hip.
But a medic still hovered nearby, while Remi waved him off like swatting a fly.
Harlan stood a few feet away, finishing a low conversation on the phone.
“Kane’s sending a cleanup crew,” he said once he hung up, voice gravel rough. “They’ll be here within the hour. Our job’s just to disappear.”
I nodded, but my gaze didn’t leave Remi.
“You need to sit,” I said quietly.
“I’m standing,” she muttered, chin lifted.
“You’re bleeding.”
“I’m breathing.”
Remi looked me up and down, then added, "Are you going to let someone look at all that?" She waved her one good arm around dramatically.
I tried to wave it off, but then coughed, winced and groaned.
Remi muttered, "And she says I'm the difficult one." She looked around the clearing and yelled at a medic. "Hey, can I get you to take a look at Rambo over there?"
The medic moved without questioning her, asking me to sit on the open hatch of one of the SUVs so he could clean me up and see what needed to be treated.
I winced as my cuts were cleaned out and tried my best not to cry. The medic did his best to be gentle with me, but I was emotionally and physically tapped out.
I focused on Remi, to try and ignore my own pain, "Rem, I really think you should go get checked out, stitched up properly."
Gray sat nearby, pressing gauze to his temple. A wrap circled his ribs and shoulder, and his knife was still sheathed and bloodstained.
Remi motioned toward him. “Grayson isn’t going to the hospital.”
Someone snorted. “Who the fuck is Grayson?”
Remi smirked, pointing. “This one is.”
Gray groaned. “Please no.”
A ripple of laughter moved through the group. It was the first moment that felt almost normal.
Then Remi straightened. Her voice sobered. “I'm okay,” she said. “How would we explain my injuries anyway? Any of our injuries...”
Silence. Heavy and instant. Even the wind seemed to pause.
She wasn’t wrong. We couldn’t take her to a hospital. Not any of us. Couldn’t log the truth. Couldn’t explain the bullet grazes, the knife wounds, the damaged ribs, the bruises that mapped our bodies like a warzone.
Remi rubbed at her arm and gave a wry grin. “We do a round of antibiotic shots, maybe an IV bag or two, and I’ll be good as new.”
Four muttered, “That’s the most terrifying sentence I’ve ever heard.”
“What’s next?” someone asked.
The group turned as Jack stepped forward, brushing dirt from his shirt, his face still pale and tight.
“We make it look like they got spooked,” he said.
“After the information about the precinct and Erin leaked, we feed the press enough bait to make it look like they panicked. Ran.” He glanced around.
“We sprinkle enough breadcrumbs that they keep chasing ghosts until they give up.” His voice darkened.
“And as for the judge...” Jack checked his mud-covered watch.
“He should be getting picked up... about now.”
A few low whistles. A nod from Gray.
As the medic left my side, Harlan crossed to me and wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me into his chest like he needed to feel that I was real. That I was alive.
His hands trembled as they ran down my arms, checking for injury.
“I’m okay,” I whispered. “I promise.”
He pulled back just enough to search my face. His eyes looked wrecked. Raw.
I reached up and tugged him down.
The kiss wasn’t delicate. It was desperate, messy, filled with fire and fear and every emotion that had nearly ripped me apart.
Catcalls echoed. Someone let out a long whistle.
When I broke the kiss, breathless and flushed, my eyes flicked across the group.
Jack was watching Remi.
But Remi... wasn’t watching back.
She was staring off into the trees with a look I couldn’t quite name.
Loneliness. Longing. Maybe even heartbreak.
And it shattered something in me.
Everyone began to move, gathering gear, cleaning weapons, and prepping for the ride out. The air was shifting, softening.
Four made his way over to Remi and wrapped her in a careful hug. She didn’t flinch.
“You sure you don’t want to come stay with us, Princess?” he asked. “We’ll get you patched up. Keep you safe.”
Remi sighed into his shoulder. Her arms were loose around him, like she wanted to melt into someone, just for a second.
She looked so small in his arms.
Her voice was soft, but sure. “Thanks, Four... but I’m not hiding anymore. I’ve got too much work to do. I’m needed.”
He started to respond, but she kept going. “And besides...” She pulled back and looked around the clearing, her eyes sweeping over what was left of the fire and fury. “If I hide away..., how will he find me?”
Four’s brow furrowed. “Who?”
She turned her face to me then. Her smile was big and sad and somehow devastating. “My happily ever after,” she said. “I have something to believe in now.”
I turned to look at the spot where Jack had been standing.
But he was gone.