Page 92 of Into the Fire

“I’m not in my head. I’m in my heart,” I answered softly. “I don’t want it fucking broken like that again. And I don’t want hers broken. There’s just a lot I’ve been considering lately.”

“And we’ve had this conversation so many times. I don’t want to have it again. Not right now. Not ever. Rosalie is safe. She’s home. Fox is going to her. No one is going to hurt her. OK?”

“We need to have this conversation—”

“Not now.” He rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling. “Bianca is probably dead, E.Dead.” His voice shook. “We need to get into the headspace for that right now. Nothing else. Just work on preparing yourself. We need you to be strong tomorrow. I brought some shit with me if you need another hit. It’s in my jacket on the chair. Just whatever you do, fucking try to get through this shit as best you can. If you really want to have this conversation, we can do it after this mess is handled. One thing at a time, OK? I can’t fucking handle more than that right now.”

I swallowed. “Fine.”

“Good. Now go to sleep. Tomorrow is going to fucking suck.”

We both went quiet. He was right. It was going to suck. Life was supposed to be getting easier, and I felt like a broken fucking record with my feelings. Loving Rosalie. Wanting nothing but her safety.

I was sick of the whiplash though. One moment everything was amazing, and the next, we were in a whole fucked-up new situation.

A sigh escaped me, and I closed my eyes, sending up a prayer for a miracle.

TWENTY-NINE

COLE

It was already light out when my phone buzzed next to my head. Groggily, I reached for it and blearily stared at the screen. I’d barely been able to sleep last night after E started his shit. He had a way of rubbing it off on me, and I was already a fucking mess. I knew he wanted to talk, but fucking damnit, we needed to get through one shitty moment at a time.

1791 North Locust Road

I stumbled out of bed and hit Enzo’s name on my phone while shaking E awake.

“Drake came through,” I said into the receiver when Enzo answered.

“Get ready,” Enzo said. The phone clicked off, and I rushed upstairs and pounded on Dom’s door.

He pulled it open almost immediately, his green eyes rimmed in red and still wearing his clothes from yesterday. He clearly hadn’t slept like we’d told him to.

“He sent the address. Let’s go,” I said.

Dom wasted no time grabbing his jacket and following me downstairs.

By the time we got there, Levin, Vincent, and Fox had joined the party, and E was putting his gun on while looking like he’d not slept a wink either.

Great. An army of zombies.

“Let’s go,” Enzo said, nodding for everyone to follow. We loaded into Enzo’s Escalade while Dom and the guys got into their vehicle.

We cruised out to the main road wordlessly.

I was sure we were all thinking the worst. A million scenarios were racing through my mind. We were apparently going to just storm this place and say fuck it. I was OK with that. I worked better that way anyway and wanted to get this anger and frustration out of my system. Killing a few fuckers might be just what I needed.

“What’s that?” E murmured, staring out the window.

My guts tightened at the plume of dark smoke slithering into the early morning sky.

“Fuck,” Enzo whispered as we pulled to a stop in front of what used to be a house. Nothing but ash and charred wood remained.

I swallowed hard as we all piled out.

“Where’s the house?” Levin demanded, staring at the pile of rubble.

I exchanged a worried look with Enzo.

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