Page 7 of Into the Fire

“Babe? What’s wrong?” His entire demeanor shifted as he went to her and held her. She clung to him as he continued to glare at me.

I wondered if she’d told them what I’d done. That I’d kissed her. I assumed she hadn’t since I hadn’t heard shit about it and hadn’t been killed or turned away.

“What the fuck did you do?” he snarled at me. The desire to pummel me was apparent on his face, but he was also struggling with releasing her from his hold.

“N-nothing,” she said, sniffling. “It’s me. I, uh, I need to talk to you.”

He eyed me for a moment before focusing on her.

“What’s wrong?” He ran his fingers through her hair, doting on her. His personality shifted when she was at his side and inhis arms. For a moment, I only saw someone head over heels for her, and not the complete prick I knew.

She turned in his arms to look at me. “Thank you for bringing me home. I’ll see you tomorrow, Ani.”

I looked from her to Cole then back again before I nodded.

“OK, LeeLee. I’ll see you tomorrow.” I backed away without another word.

It was just as well.

I had other places I needed to be anyway.

THREE

COLE

Rosalie was scaring me.

She hadn’t told me what she needed to talk about. Instead, she’d hugged me and said to make sure everyone was home that night to talk and that she wanted to be alone.

I’d watched her go to her room and hadn’t followed, allowing her the space she was asking for.

While I waited for everyone to get home, I plotted out ways to fucking gut Ass Hat and places I could put his body.

I knew that asshole had something to do with her tears. If she came to us tonight and told us he’d fucked up, he really would end up dead. I was over his shit with my girl.

When the door opened at seven with Fox trailing in from doing some football stuff, Enzo at his side, I was on my feet.

“Come on. Rosebud wants to talk to us,” I grunted. “Me and E have been waiting forever for you fucks. You were supposed to be here an hour ago.”

“Sorry. We met up and got a burger,” Fox said, showing me a bag that smelled like heaven. “We brought some home for you guys.”

As much as I wanted to gobble down the contents of that bag, I resisted.

“Seriously. She came in crying with Anson today. She’s been in her room since, saying she wanted to be alone. I can’t fucking handle the anticipation. My dick hasn’t gotten hard once today because of it. That’s freaking me out.” I nodded for everyone to follow me.

“Why are you so sure it’s bad?” Enzo asked. “She seemed fine this morning.”

“E’s fucking anxiety rubbed off on me. Plus, I saw the tears. Something is very wrong,” I said, stepping into the office with the guys and pulling out my phone. Quickly, I sent her a text telling her we were all waiting for her.

“I was good today,” E muttered.

“You’re also high as fuck,” Fox said, eyeing him.

E shrugged. We’d both gotten high about an hour ago. We really had no choice. It was smoke some sugar or lose our fucking minds. So, E technically wasn’t good, but he was better than he had been lately.

We weren’t alone for long before Rosalie arrived.

“Hey,” she said, her voice small, as she moved to sit on the chair alone.

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