Page 103 of Into the Fire

“Thank you,” Vincent whispered.

We left them and got wordlessly into the Escalade. I couldn’t fucking wait to get home. Tonight had been a bust. The silver lining in this ugly storm was my Sunshine waiting for me.

I focused on that and pushed out the thought that someday something might happen to her and put me and the guys in the same position as the kings were in.

I’d never let that happen.

I’d let her go before it came to that.

The thought made the sickness in my guts worse.

THIRTY-TWO

ETHAN

Enzo hung up the phone call he’d been on to Drake and sighed.

“Anything?” I asked.

Enzo shook his head. “Nothing. No one has heard a damn thing from the lords. It’s radio silence.”

“Fuck,” Fox muttered from his spot on the couch.

“I’m going to call Dom,” Enzo said, pulling his phone back out and making the call. A few moments later, Dom’s deep voice could be heard. I couldn’t make out what he was saying though.

“Hey, man. It’s Enzo. Yeah. No. I was thinking we could meet up again. Maybe our place. Yeah. Just you is fine. I get it. Yeah. Tonight works. Great. See you then.” Enzo hung up and looked to us.

“He’s coming over?” Cole asked.

Enzo nodded. “Few hours. Fox, call Anson and see if he can take Rosalie out to a movie or something.”

“Way ahead of you. She’s booked the practice room for a few hours tonight and already said they’re going to use it to work on a new song.”

“Perfect.” Enzo sighed, glancing at Cole, who looked murderous.

I didn’t say anything. Instead, I got up and left the room and sought out my sweetheart. I’d been struggling a lot lately and hadn’t wanted to bring anyone else down with my bullshit, so I’d been keeping it under wraps the best I could. Sleeping in my lab in the basement was making things easier since no one could hear me scream through my nightmares down there.

When the guys asked, I’d just told them it was better for me to be down there where I could work. They didn’t question me, but they didn’t have to. They knew me. They knew when I needed space and when I needed to be dragged back in.

Right now, I needed that space to try to get over this shit. Seeing Everett Church had awoken that dormant, scared child deep inside my mind who had lain curled into a tight ball in the darkest corner.

“Hey, sweetheart.” I greeted her in the kitchen by going up behind her and wrapping my arms around her midsection. I breathed her in, loving the way she smelled.

“Hey,” she answered, snuggling against me as she finished frosting the cookie she was working on.

“What are you doing?”

“Making cookies for tonight. A few people from class are meeting up for this singing battle thing in the commons. Anson says it’s a lot of fun, so after we’re done with practice, we’re going to go over and check it out. Anson’s team always wins every year.”

“What does he win?” I continued to hold her around the waist.

“The team wins free pizza from the music department. At least for this round,” she said, laughing.

I smiled and kissed her cheek, still not releasing her. She placed the final music note cookie into the tin and turned in my arms to face me.

“I’ve missed you. You haven’t been in bed with me in forever.”

I kissed her, my heart thrumming hard. “I know, sweetheart.”

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