Page 107 of Into the Fire

“Ooh, Ruckus!” Lexi Erins exclaimed.

I grimaced. Lexi drove me nuts.

“Party!” another person shouted. “Ruckus, bay-bee!”

Rosalie looked over to me, her eyes meeting mine. The light sparkling in them was all it took.

“Ruckus?” she asked.

“You in?”

She nodded eagerly.

Yeah, I was in too.

“Another round,”Devin shouted to loud whoops. I let out a laugh and glanced at Rosalie, whose cheeks were pink. She was so engrossed in having fun and talking to classmates that I didn’t have the heart to take her home just yet. It was getting late, though.

My phone buzzed in my pocket. I tore my focus away from Rosalie, who was laughing with Lena, another singer from our team, and pulled my phone out to see Enzo’s name on the screen.

I got up and put my hand on Rosalie’s shoulder, then leaned in to speak into her ear.

“I’ll be right back. Don’t move, OK?”

She nodded and went back to talk to Lena and Carly while I pushed my way through the crowded bar and stepped outside to take Enzo’s call. I’d already missed it, and he was calling again, which meant he was most likely going to get wordy with me.

“Hello?” I answered.

“Why the fuck do you have my girl at a bar at midnight?” he demanded. “We’ve been trying to reach you all night. How long have you been there?”

“Can’t you just look at her location?”

“No, I can’t. It just now updated. We were going fucking nuts here—”

“We won the sing-off. Everyone wanted to go out for drinks at Ruckus. I should have told you. She said she was going tothough. I guess we don’t have service in there.” I glanced up to the building.

“I want her ass home.Now,Beyers.”

“Listen, she’s happy. She’s having a good time with some friends—”

“I want her home in ten minutes. If she’s not, it’s your ass.”

“She’s not a fucking child, Enzo. You already keep her under fucking lock and key. I thought this shit was ending? That she was going to have some freedom?”

“You, of all people, should understand what Dominic is going through right now. She’s not safe out there. If something happens to her, I’ll fucking kill you.”

I steadied my breathing. “I would sooner die than let something happen to her. She’s safe with me. I’m not bringing her home until she tells me she’s ready to go. Right now, she’s inside singing karaoke and laughing, for fuck’s sake. Let her live. You’re already putting a fucking death warrant on her head by making her marry you. Give her a little bit of freedom before you bury her.” My words were harsh, but they came from a place that feared for her future with the horsemen.

Enzo was quiet for so long that I pulled the phone away from my head to see if he’d hung up.

“I want her home,” he said in a deadly whisper. “Ten minutes, Beyers. Don’t forget your fucking place. She’s mine, not yours. If she’s not home in ten minutes, you’re dead.” The phone went silent, his departure loud and clear.

“Fucking dick,” I muttered, stuffing the phone back into my pocket and going back inside. I wasn’t the type of guy who bowed to people. In fact, taking her out of here wasn’t something I wanted to do. I wanted her to decide when she wanted to go. While I understood the horsemen’s fear, they still weren’t getting it through their heads that she needed room to breathe.

I went back inside to find Rosalie exactly where I’d left her. She rose from her seat with the girls, all of them laughing.

“Hey.” I held my arm out to stop her.

“We’re going to go sing another song,” she said, her excitement palpable.

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