Page 93 of Even if You Fall

Glancing at Monroe and their positions, a wry smirk tugged at his mouth before he closed his eyes again and settled deeper into the couch.

I grabbed his arm to stop him. “You need to wake up. We need to be on watch. Andthis,” I added, gesturing between the two of them. “She’s gonna kill you if she wakes up and sees this.”

His eyelids had popped open atbe on watch, but a defeated sigh left him at the last. “Yeah, all right,” he muttered as he carefully straightened and stilled when Monroe shifted.

We both looked at her just as her eyes shot open and immediately narrowed as if she instantly knew something was wrong. Her stare shifted to me, then over to Gray and where her legs were still draped over his lap, before widening in horror. “What are you—get off,” she snapped, then pulled one of her knees up to deliver a foot into Gray’s side, but he easily stopped the kick.

“Aw, I love you too, Princess,” he said smoothly.

“Call me that again,” she said through clenched teeth.

“Snookems?” The name left him like he was trying it out, and it left a bad taste on his tongue, but it only infuriated Monroe more.

“I’m gonna murder you,” she promised darkly, prompting Gray to smile at her, then me.

“She loves me,” he said with a shrug, as if Monroe had just said those exact words.

“That’s great,” I muttered. “Well, while you two decide between love or murder, we’re on watch until Briggs and Rush get back, and you’ve missed a lot. Like actual murder that directly affects one of us.”

A stunned sound burst from Gray. “Wait, what?”

“Tell me everything,” Monroe demanded.

I pointedly looked at where Monroe’s legs were still on top of Gray, one of which was still in his grasp from when she’d tried to kick him.

At the reminder, she scrambled to sit upright, purposefully kicking Gray in the process and looking more flustered than I’d ever seen her.

“See? Love,” Gray said with a dreamy sigh.

“I can’t with you,” Monroe snapped as she stood and rounded the couch, calling out, “I need caffeine before I deal with this.”

A wicked look crossed Gray’s face. “What’s that? I think she needs my help.”

I started protesting, only to release all the oxygen in my lungs on a rush when he hurried after her, their bickering immediately starting back up.

Sinking to the coffee table, I dragged a hand over my face before letting it fall heavily to my thigh. “Cool. Go team,” I murmured sarcastically. “Break, I guess.”

By the time Briggs and Rush returned, and the ARCK guys had left for the airport, it was six in the morning. Monroe and Gray had fallen asleep again—this time on separate couches—Evans had yet to return from his parents’ house, and I was struggling to stay awake.

Since Monroe and I had been on watch the night before Chloe and I had gone to Colorado, I was now going on seventy-two hours without sleep. Wouldn’t be the first time, but it’d been a long time since I’d gone days without sleep for a mission.

Briggs cut off mid-sentence, his eyes narrowing on me, before he jerked his chin past me. “Go. You need to sleep.”

I pushed off the living room wall I’d been leaning against and shook my head. “I’m fine,” I lied. “So, you really think we’ll be good from now on? The Wreckers seemed that worried?”

He looked like he was going to argue with me for a moment before acknowledging, “That’s putting it mildly.”

“Soon as the boss saw Kieran, he started falling all over himself,” Rush explained. “Started saying something aboutnightshadeand apologizing before any of us ever said a word.”

“Wells even came up to me as we were about to leave and handed me his card,” Briggs added. “Told me if we ever had anything that neededtaking care of, we had people close by.” He lifted a knowing eyebrow when shock pulsed from me. “You would’ve thought he’d seen a ghost when Kieran came up, took the card from me, and handed it back to Wells.”

“What?” I asked, the word all disbelief. “Who exactly are these ARCK guys?”

Briggs drew in a deep breath before releasing it as he shared a look with Rush. “Bad enough that the main Wrecker members knew all of them on sight.”

“And we’ve been using them to help women escape bad situations...” A dull laugh crept from me. “How sure are we that they’re actually doing what they say?”

“I asked,” Briggs said—of course he had. “They said they can’t escape who they are. ARCK is their way of helping people, the only way they feel they can.”

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