Page 90 of Even if It Hurts

“Don’t,” she said on a breath, then nodded past me. “You have to go.”

I did, but the last thing I wanted was to leave this spot.

Pulling her close, I dropped my forehead to hers and let that action say everything I didn’t know how to before tearing myself from them both and stalking across the apartment to where Monroe was pushing the button for the elevator.

“I’ve got them,” she assured me when I neared her.

“Nothing happens to them,” I said in low warning.

“Like I said,” she muttered with only a hint of her usual attitude, then turned to watch me get on the elevator. “If all of you die without me there, I’m gonna bring back each one of you to kill you myself.”

Despite the fear still pulsing through my veins, a smirk briefly slipped across my face because I knew she meant it.

“You know they aren’t coming after us. They’re coming after what we have.” I nodded toward the wall blocking the foyer from the rest of the apartment. “If the Wreckers find out about those girls, they’re coming for them.”

A look flashed across Monroe’s face so quickly I nearly missed it.

But I didn’t, and I read her loud and clear.

I’d put myself in this position. I’d put Lainey and Kaia in this position. As if I wasn’t excruciatingly aware of that fact or thatthiswas why none of us had any real ties to people.

Not that the rest of my team had sworn off relationships or families the way I had, but they knew how people could be used against you. Between that and everything we’d seen throughout our careers, it’d more or less become an unspoken vow between us to keep any type of relationship superficial.

I was so far past superficial, and now there was an attack on my company for the first time in the seven years we’d been up and running.

“Who’s this?” Mallory Monroe asked just loud enough for me to hear her across the table, her tone still holding a hint of the laughter Hudson Gray had just pulled from her. But I knew from the way her eyes were locked on something behind me, and Hudson’s gaze all-too-casually swung that way, that I wasn’t imagining her alarm. “Heading right for her.”

My heart skipped painfully.

Definitely not imagining her alarm.

“Not familiar,” Hudson murmured in a tone that matched his expression—just slightlytoocasual to be normal. “Eyes on us, Lainey,” he added as if he expected me to turn around to look.

I mean...he wasn’t wrong. It was instinctive to turn and look at the thing you shouldn’t.

“Considering where we are, I could probably ease your worries if Idid,” I reminded them as I moved Kaia so she was directly in front of me, scrunching my nose at her and earning a belly laugh that nearly warmed my heart.

But despite the late spring heat, I was cold. I’d been cold ever since Asher left the apartment the night before.

I wasn’t sure when I’d expected him to come back, but I hadn’t thought he’d still be gone by the time I finally crashed onhis couch or when I woke this morning. And I definitely hadn’t thought he’d still be gone by the time I’d convinced my newest babysitters to let me leave an hour ago.

It was probably reckless. Asher would probably be furious.

But for the first time, I’d felt claustrophobic in his apartment.

I’d jumped at every sound. I’d nearly been consumed with fear every time Mallory or Hudson had moved from their positions at the front of the apartment. I’d been so wrapped up in worry and what-ifs and frustration that my babysitters wouldn’t give me any kind of update, that the majority of my day with Kaia had been spent pacing. And I hadn’t been able to take it any longer.

So, there we were, hanging out in Huntley Square—my absolute favorite place in the heart of downtown Huntley. Out in the open. Surrounded by people who were enjoying a Sunday evening out with their families. People Iknew.

And even though I was breathing so much easier than I had in the last twenty hours, the wordsheading right for herhad me regretting ever leaving the apartment.

“Lainey.”

A ragged breath punched from my lungs so quickly that it nearly sounded like a cry when the familiar voice reached my ears over the music playing throughout the square.

“It’s fine,” I hurried to assure Hudson and Mallory when they both jerked forward. “It’s fine.” I glanced over my shoulder at where Jackson was nearing the table, then quickly looked back at the two now openly glaring at the man approaching us. “It’s my boy—ex. My ex,” I said awkwardly, stumbling over the foreign title.

“We need to talk,” Jackson said once he reached the picnic table we were occupying.

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