Page 130 of Into the Fire

“Hey,” I greeted Anson as I stepped aside for him to come in.

He entered, and I closed the door behind him. His blue eyes took me in, concern all over his face. I hadn’t spoken or seen him since the shit happened at his place.

“How is she?” he asked.

I shrugged. “Better. Seems like she’s OK now.”

“We didn’t get to talk about what happened,” he started.

I held my hand up to stop him. “We did talk. That night. Everything I said stands.”

“Really?” He crinkled his brows at me.

“Everything, Anson. If I said it, then I meant it. Things may look all great here right now, but I still have this nagging feeling. So. . . just don’t forget what I said. Don’t break your promise.”

“You have my word, cousin.”

I nodded and gestured for him to follow me. We went into the living room, and I shot a text off to everyone along the way. Moments later, E joined us, looking high as hell.

Anson frowned at him.

“Sorry. I, uh, my anxiety,” E mumbled. “I’m better when I’m a little wasted.”

“You look a lot wasted,” Anson commented, frowning at him.

“Be helpful if you were high too,” E muttered back. “I’ve not been sleeping lately. Makes shit worse.”

“Well, maybe you need to get out of the house. We can go for a drink if you want,” Anson offered.

E blinked at him like he was confused. “Really? Just me and you?”

Anson shrugged and nodded. “Yeah. Shoot some pool. Take a night off. What do you think?”

E nodded slowly. “Yeah. Yeah, I’d like that. Thank you.”

Anson smiled. “Of course, man. We can do it whenever you get some time. I’m not doing anything usually unless you guysneed me for something.” He looked to me, and I shook my head at him.

“OK. So just text me.” Anson nodded. “That work?”

“Yeah, that works.” The look on E’s face made my heart tumble. It made me realize we didn’t pay enough attention to him either, and going out would be good for him. I wanted to kick my ass for not considering it. I just figured he liked being in the basement with his mind distracted, so I left him to it. I assumed Cole and Enzo felt the same way, but seeing E’s eyes light up with the prospect of something different made me feel like I was failing him.

“Thanks,” I murmured to Anson, who only gave me a quick nod.

Enzo and Cole came into the room just then.

“Everything good?” I asked, noting how tense Enzo seemed.

He grunted and looked to Anson on the couch. “Welcome.”

“Thanks,” Anson said, glancing over at Cole, who had the grace to not call him a name.

Instead, Cole simply went and sat beside E on the couch and looked down at his phone.

It wasn’t a lot of progress, but it was something.

Rosalie came into the room then.

“Hey,” she greeted us nervously, her gaze darting to Anson as he got to his feet. He crossed the room in three strides and hauled her against him in a tight hug.

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