Page 65 of Guarded By Them

She grabbed at my arm. “Dillon, stop it. I’m not going anywhere without all of you.”

I shook her off. I hated myself for doing it, but what other choice did we have? We could keep her with us and watch her die, or we could push her away and she could live, and go on to have a long, happy life. Without us.

I forced myself to harden my heart, though I wanted to tear it out of my own chest. “Come on, Rue. The fucking has been fun, but surely it’s not worth risking your life for.”

In the dim illumination from the flashlights, she blinked up at me, her eyes wide and teary. “Fucking? Is that all we’ve been doing.”

One of the Capello brothers’ men snorted laughter, and I bunched my fists at my sides in an effort not to punch him in the face. “You know it is.”

“You said we were joined now.” She touched the necklace at her throat. “That was what this meant, remember? That we were each a part of each other, and nothing could tear that apart.”

“Things have to come to an end, Rue. Nothing lasts forever.”

“Bullshit! I know why you’re saying all of this. You think if I believe you don’t care about me, then I’ll be happy to leave after the trial.”

“Ha. Don’t flatter yourself. We had our fun, and now this isn’t working out any longer.”

Her mouth pinched. “I don’t believe you,” she insisted.

But I could see her blinking back tears, the pain in her features, the rigidness of her body. She was telling herself that she didn’t believe me, but the worm of doubt had already wriggled into her heart. It broke me that I was hurting her, but I didn’t know what else to do. She would never leave us here if she believed we loved her.

Did Ryan and Kodee understand what I was doing? I hoped they would, and they didn’t just think I was acting like an asshole. It was bad enough thinking that Rue was going to end up hating me, without them thinking the same.

“Dillon...” Kodee said, that familiar warning tone to his voice. He was telling me to shut up.

I could feel myself on a downward spiral, wanting to lash out and hurt someone, and it took every ounce of self-control not to do exactly that. Instead, I reached down to the bullet wound in my thigh and dug my fingers against the bandage covering it. I clawed harder and deeper, relishing in the pain that shot up through my body. I clenched my teeth, tears pricking my eyes, but I didn’t stop. The blinding white agony drove all other thoughts and impulses out of my head and forced me to focus only on that.

I kept my head down and didn’t stop walking, despite the pain I’d put myself through. It was nothing compared to Ryan, who would be suffering far worse than I was.

With the possibility of losing Rue, the person I was before she’d come into our lives threatened to return with a vengeance. Would it be the end of me, too? The end of the relationship I had with Kodee and Ryan? Maybe things would be easier if it was just me again—no one else to have to consider or care about.

It was pitch black by the time we reached the place where we’d dumped the car. Several other vehicles were parked nearby, all at odd angles. I assumed at least one of them belonged to the four dead men we’d left back in the forest, and the other two must be the Capellos’ cars.

I eyed up the vehicle that had caused us so much trouble. We should have gotten rid of it sooner. It had been an almost fatal mistake. Though we had no way of knowing what would have happened if we’d tried to steal one or even gone to hire a rental. One of our names might have been flagged by the local police, and we’d have found ourselves behind bars instead of back in the hands of the Capello brothers. Right now, I wasn’t sure what would be worse.

“Divide them up,” Frankie instructed. “Put the Irish one with the girl, and the other two can go in the second car.”

“No, please,” Rue begged. “Let us stay together.”

He snorted. “If you think we’re going to put all four of you in a car together, while one of us drives, you’re even more naïve than I gave you credit for.”

One of his men grabbed Rue by the arm and dragged her toward one of the cars. She yelped in fear and reached toward Kodee and Ryan.

“It’ll be okay, Rue,” Kodee called to her. “Just stay calm.”

Someone shoved me from behind, in the same direction Rue was being taken. At least I’d be able to be with her, though, like her, I hated being separated from Kodee and Ryan. I prayed they’d be all right and that we were all going to the same place—wherever that might be.

The fact both the Capello brothers had come all this way just to get Rue back showed how important she was to them. Or maybe it wasn’t her who was important, but what she was able to do for them. Even so, they’d lost track of her once, and they clearly had no intention of making the same mistake twice. I struggled to imagine many other times when the brothers would leave the city.

At least we weren’t dead. That was a pretty big thing to be thankful for. We’d come terrifyingly close, and the memory of how utterly helpless I’d felt wouldn’t fade fast. When I’d been on my knees, with the people I loved most in the world in the same position on either side of me, I’d never felt such utter despair. I could have died myself without experiencing such emotional agony, but it was knowing the others were also going to lose their lives that tore my heart out of my chest. Fuck, they were each so perfect in their imperfect ways. There wasn’t a single thing I’d change about any one of them. The idea that their shining, desperate, imperfect lights could be extinguished with barely a thought was what cut me in two.

I’d sacrifice everything to never have to go through that again.

---