Page 49 of Three to Fall

I caught Hawk’s arm as he stormed toward the door, pulling him to a stop against the wall.

He tried to shove me off, but I wouldn’t let him, pinning him again and again. “Settle the fuck down.”

“We’re wasting time!”

“You’re panicking.”

His gaze finally settled on mine. “I can’t have her back there.”

I understood the feeling. It had embedded itself deep in my bones.

Gray was the one who spoke up though. “None of us can. But short of tying her up, which frankly, I’m not willing to let any of you do, we need to let her decide that for herself.”

The fear inside me swelled until it was a roar in my ears. I needed to get out there. Find her. Beg her not to go, because clearly us subtly giving her reasons to stay wasn’t working. The ASL classes at the school. The hospital job offer. Grayson had been the one to come to us and voice concerns that he thought she was planning to run. And as soon as it had been pointed out, it was all I could see, each of her actions preparing herself and the rest of us for her departure.

We’d all agreed we’d let her come to her own decision, but now time was up.

All we had left was begging. I wasn’t above getting down on my knees and pleading for her not to walk out of my life.

The three of us stormed out of the maze, back into the party.

“I don’t see her,” Gray murmured, panic seeping into his voice. “Shit, what if she already left?”

I checked my watch. It was still twenty minutes before the last bus out of town. I’d looked at the timetable the minute I’d seen her bag in my truck. “She still has twenty minutes, and that bus stop is only a few yards down the road. She surely hasn’t left yet.”

Hawk grabbed War’s arm. “Have you seen Kara?”

War shook his head, but Bliss rolled her eyes. “Men are so unobservant. I saw her and Queenie go down to the bathroom just before. They haven’t come out yet, I don’t think.”

All three of us turned on our heels and rushed for the bathroom door.

Hawk leaned on it, but when it didn’t give way beneath his weight, he smashed his fist against it. “Kara!”

There was no reply from inside, and his panic eventually got to me, despite me telling him just seconds before he needed to keep it together. I joined in with the banging. “Kara! Are you in there?”

She needed to still be here. I needed to tell her I loved her. Tell her I couldn’t live without her. Tell her we could take Hayley Jade and move to another goddamn country if we had to, but running back to Josiah wasn’t an option.

I loved her too much. Wanted a life with her. To marry her. Have babies with her.

I’d wanted all of that from the moment she’d put her trust in me five years ago and let a stupid street thug deliver her baby into a world that wasn’t good enough for either of them.

Gray paced the hallway behind us, quieter than me and Hawk, his expression pained.

“Kara. Please,” I begged.

“Yeah, yeah, hold your damn horses!” Queenie shouted from the other side.

The lock clicked, disengaging.

I had to grab Hawk to stop him from slamming open the door and hitting the women standing behind it.

Queenie came out first, one eyebrow raised, and shook her head, like the three of us were utterly ridiculous. “You’re all so damn pussy-whipped.”

I didn’t care if I was. I would happily claim that title.

But then she grinned and nudged me. “Looks good on all of you. She deserves that sort of devotion.”

I already knew that. Kara just needed to accept it.

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