Page 98 of Four Times Saved

Eric is driving me, my mom and the nurse back to the island; he said the guys have something final to deal with and they'll meet us there, but I can't wait to solidify our new beginning. Because that's what it is now. For me, for my mom, for us. No more looking over our shoulders for that monster of a man, and the continuous satisfaction that he met his fate. Every time I wake up from a nightmare now, my breath will move through my body easier at the reminder that they're dead. The air will be smoother going in and out my lungs. I'm a new woman.

All I want to do right now is have each of my men in every single room of the house in celebration of this news. No longer will there be the looming presence of Terry and Carter, suffocating me and polluting my air.

"Mom, this is the beginning of our new lives!" I hold her stiff body close to mine on the drive over. So help me, I'm going to melt her with the warmth of my joy if I have anything to say about it. "We're going to be happy now, starting today." I kiss her soft, yet bony cheek. "I promise you that, mom. We're going to be happy."

Eric looks back at me through the rearview mirror with a smile. My heart could burst right now and there would be red glitter confetti pouring out all over the car.

Ethan

"What's he said, damn it?" I yell at Ryan. He texted Tyler moments after we left Lily's house and with every second that passes, I'm convinced the police are going to show up at the back of this random restaurant and haul us in by our necks.

Nausea spiked my blood at the memory of that stupid cop who couldn't wait to slap the cuffs on us first for running a red light, and when he thought we had something to do with Lily's kidnapping. Oh, he'd get a hard-on from being able to arrest us now.

We'd caught a cab from Lily's mother's house because we had to get away once we received that whopping news.

Eric had to drive Lily back, but he was also waiting on the update. We couldn't all just go back to the island and pretend everything was normal now. Not until we knew what the police knew, and what Tyler's reaction would be. He couldn't just pop up and make any more demands of us. I wouldn't stand for it.

"It's him." Ryan's phone chimed and slipped from his hands in his attempt to open the message.

Matt grabbed it.

"Well, what does it say?!" I shrieked.

'That's unfortunate.' Matt read. 'But there's nothing I can do about it. We're just going to have to lay low, and you're just going to have to trust me.'

"What the fuck does that mean?" I shouted.

Matt threw the phone back at Ryan who was trembling like a fucking leaf.

"Fuck!" I growled. "Trusting him is what got us in this fucking mess in the first place."

After throwing a sufficient tantrum in this conveniently empty lot, I let out a breath and grabbed Ryan in a hug, because hell, he needed it and I needed it. I also grabbed his phone and called Tyler's number. No answer. Well, good fucking great. I guessed we were still left with having to look over our shoulders.

"We should turn ourselves in," Ryan muttered.

"Yeah, while we're at it, why don't we just hand Tyler our bodies on a silver platter too." Matt responded without thinking. I shot him a glare and he hissed. "Sorry." He shut his eyes and fucking counted sheep, I didn't fucking know. "Look, we can't hand ourselves in, okay? We have no other choice at the moment but to play by Tyler's rules."

"This will never be over, will it?" Ryan shuddered.

Chapter 44

Eric

"It's fine. We'll just book a trip. Yeah, that's what we'll do." I gulped when the guys came back to relate Tyler's response.

I wanted to fucking grab Tyler, rip his fucking head off his body and feed it to a swamp full of alligators. The nerve of his nonchalance, and fucking ignoring us. What the fuck was the fucking plan? That's what we needed to know. But he wasn't going to give us that, was he? And I wasn't fucking sticking around and waiting till he fucked up again. We couldn't trust him for shit. I hated that we got involved with the fucking cocky idiot.

"We'll go to Florida and stay close to my parents. We'll be safe there," I said, but hesitated. If I did that, I'd be getting them involved. I couldn't do that. But I could make use of their contacts.

I was freaking out, okay? Was I allowed to fucking do that? I didn't know what we were supposed to do.

"Shh!" Matt silenced me, just as the door to the sauna and indoor pool opened.

It was soundproof here so we figured it would be a great place to talk about this in private. But Lily peeked her head in the doorway and when she saw us, she smiled. She stepped out from behind the door, wearing absolutely nothing. And you know what? The noise in my mind quietened. My worries took a backseat for a moment. That was the effect she had on us. It was like fucking magic. Now my thumping heartbeat skyrocketed for another reason.

"There you are." She strolled over to us. I gulped.

Water glistened on her skin. Had she just worked out, had a shower? Was it the heat in the room?

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