Page 38 of Myla: The Hawthornes

“Well, where ishe?” Lou asked Bas the second he put his phone away. “What’s going on?”

“Family shit,” Bas replied, getting to his feet. “I already told you that.”

“What family shit?” she prodded, hopping up from the couch.

Bas looked at her for a long moment and sighed. “Richie got shot.”

I inhaled sharply in surprise. Of all the things I could’ve imagined happening to Cian’s family, that was probably the last thing on the list, right before being abducted by aliens.

I’d met all of Cian’s family. It was impossible not to, considering how close he was with them. His oldest sister, Aoife, who he calledMam, was the most serious in the group. Witty and sharp, but always a little watchful. Saoirse was quieter than the others, calmer, and whenever you talked to her, it felt like she could see right through you. Luckily for me, I was pretty sure that she saw I was hopelessly in love with her brother, so she’d always been friendly. Ronan was a lot like Cian. Funny and sarcastic, but lacking the sharp edges that Cian had. Aisling was my favorite though—she was wild. Hilarious and loud, you could tell that she was the baby of the family, and they adored her. It was probably why we got along so well—I was also the coddled youngest sibling.

Aoife’s husband, Richie, was the friendliest and most open man I’d ever met. He seemed like the kind of guy who’d never met a stranger, and he seemed just as protective of the siblingsas his wife. They were an unshakable unit—it was noticeable the moment you met them.

“Jesus,” Frankie choked out. “Is he all right?”

“Cian said it’s not lookin’ good,” Bas replied, walking over to the front door. He paused to push his feet into his wet boots.

“You saidshe,”I called, standing slowly from my chair.

“What?”

“You asked ifshewas okay,” I reminded him. “You asked whereshewas.”

Bas looked at the ground for a moment before meeting my eyes again. “Aisling was missing, but Cian found her. She’s safe.”

“But she’s not okay,” I said softly.

“Not sure on specifics.”

“Give us half an hour,” Frankie ordered, pointing at Bas as she crossed the room. “We’re going with you.”

“Don’t think you’ll all fit on the back of my bike,” Bas replied, his joke falling flat.

“We’ll take the Tahoe,” Frankie countered flatly. She continued down the hall. “Half an hour, Sebastian! We’ll meet you at your house. You leave without us and I’ll make your life a living hell.”

“See you in half an hour,” Lou said as he opened the door.

I followed Frankie down the hallway and stopped in her doorway.

A few seconds later, Lou pushed in beside me. “It sounds like they’re already dealing with a lot. They shouldn’t have to entertain us, too. Are you sure we should go out there?”

“They wouldn’t have to entertain us,” Frankie reasoned, dropping her suitcase onto the bed. She looked at me. “He isn’t just our friend. He’s family. What do you think the club will do?”

“They’ll probably ride out there. A few of them, anyway, to stand vigil at the hospital,” I replied quietly.

“Right,” Frankie said with a nod. “If Cian’s family lived here, they’d already be taking shifts at the hospital, making sure everyone was fed, keeping an eye on Sean, all of it.”

“You should call and talk to your dad,” Lou murmured, reaching out to squeeze my hand. “Let him know we’re going and see if he and your mom are going to head out there.”

I nodded.

“I’ll never hear the end of it if we’re one minute late,” Frankie said, shooing us away. “Go pack.”

I called my dad as I walked back to my room.

“Hey,” he answered. There was some sort of loud machinery noise in the background. “Right in the middle of somethin’, kid, can I call you back?”

“Just wanted to let you know that we’re all driving out to be with Cian,” I said quickly. “You wanted to be the first to know, remember?”

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