Page 114 of Lost in the Moonlight

“Get them inside!” Axel hollered, and then I heard his SUV burning rubber out of the alley, giving chase to whoever had driven up and shot at us.

The security team all but picked us up and carried us into the café as sirens wailed in the distance.

A comm unit on one of the men erupted with Axel’s voice demanding status.

“Clients secured,” The man replied. “What’s the status of the shooter?”

“I have a gray sedan in sight. The Marshals are right behind me.”

The gray fucking sedan. Knowing I could have stopped this sent anger and disgust curling through me. If I’d only approached the goddamn car when I’d had the chance.

Willow’s uncontrollable shaking had me pulling away enough to search her body for blood. For wounds. To reassure myself she wasn’t hit.

She scoured me with tortured eyes, combing me for the same damn reason.

“That sound, Lincoln!” Her voice was strained and terrified. “God… that night… I could feel the bullets in the air. Just like this… coming for me. For us.”

I tucked her into me, so tight it felt like it might fuse our skin and bone.

I wanted to be in the car with Axel. I wanted to pull the shooter from the sedan and pound him. I wanted to destroy whoever this was for making her relive that night. For jerking her back to that damn closet where she’d almost died. Where a fucking speaker had come between her and death. Where she’d tried to save her dad with her own hands.

Instead, all I could do was spew words I hoped to somehow make true. “We’re okay, Sweetness. You’re safe. I’ve got you. You’re safe.”

A loud, unhappy protest from the line of men behind us drew our attention to Hector trying to get through. Willow tore herself away from me, heading toward him, and the men let him into our circle. Hector hugged her to him, glaring at me over her head as if I was the one who’d pulled the trigger. As if I was the one who’d caused this.

And damn it, I just might be.

Willow stepped away from Hector and turned panicked eyes on a man wearing a US Marshals vest. “My mom?!”

“She’s okay. Her detail reported in. Everything is calm at the school.”

“I want to see her!” Willow demanded.

“Both of you are in lockdown until the sedan is found,” the Marshal said.

Hector squeezed Willow’s arm. “I’ll go see her. Right now. I’ll make sure she’s okay and that she knows you are too.”

She nodded, shoulders sagging. “Okay. Th-thank you.”

“Don’t thank me. We’re family, Willow. That’s what family does.”

As Hector hurried from the room, his words stabbed at me. Because it was true and also because I didn’t want this family to be taken from Willow if she was forced to run and hide again. I hadn’t kept my promise to Erica. I hadn’t protected her daughter. I wasn’t doing a good enough job. Not even close. Maybe we needed to head to some secluded island. Some place far, far away from all of this. I could hide forever if I needed to. My family would hate it, but I’d make the choice if it was the only solution.

But damn it, neither of us should have to run. That’s when the anger hit all over again. A fury that made me want to punch someone until my knuckles were raw. I slammed my hand down on the steel counter, and silence settled over the kitchen. It felt as heavy as the weight pulling me under.

All the eyes in the room turned on me. But only one pair mattered.

Willow took in a huge breath and then let it out. In two steps, she’d reached me. She fisted my T-shirt and rose up on her toes to look into my eyes.

“Stop it,” she insisted. “This isn’t on you.”

I surrounded her with my arms, dipped my face into her hair, and inhaled the sweet scent. We were okay. We’d continue to be okay now that Axel was chasing down whoever had done this. I knew with a certainty I couldn’t explain that he wouldn’t stop until he had the man either in cuffs or dead on the ground.

Between Axel and me, we’d make sure she stayed safe. I wouldn’t be in the passenger seat when the truck slammed into us. I’d be driving this time, making sure I was the one who took any more hits that came. No one else.

Willow squeezed me as tight as I’d squeezed her before, fusing us together. Her voice was firm and solid, no tremble in sight, when she repeated, “Stop.” She shifted so she could take my face in her hands, forcing me to meet gray eyes that flashed. “My mom was right last night. None of us can take responsibility for evil and hatred. This isn’t on you.”

“You were almost shot!” My voice clogged.

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