Page 105 of Walking Red Flag

Hazel’s eyes widened. “What do you mean?”

“I mean exactly what I said,” I ground out.

“But…it’s going to be impossible to find a place to stay now!” she cried. “This can’t work!”

“This is going to have to work,” I said. “I’m sorry.”

Hazel’s and Mark’s things hit the ground of the porch, and I said, “Have a good one.”

I walked inside and closed the door, disgust again hitting me at the mess.

“I’m sorry, Artur,” I said.

“It’s okay,” he replied. “I’m just glad that I was here.”

“Hey, you can’t do this!” Hazel banged on the door.

I walked away when she tried to input the code into the house. “Hey, will you reiterate that this isn’t going to work for me?”

“Oh, I’ll reiterate it all right,” Artur said.

I walked to the back porch and shut the door so I didn’t hear everything that happened.

The moment my butt hit the chair, I started to cry.

I’m sorry I didn’t answer the phone when you called. I don’t use it for that.

—Text from Milena to Cutter

CUTTER

I heard my brother’s ‘what the fuck’ from behind a curtained-off area.

“I’m fine, I’m fine,” I heard him reply. “I won’t die, ma’am.”

“Oh, are you sure?” Phoebe said as she wheeled Copper into the room. “I swear to you, I didn’t mean to cut you like that. Here, hop up here and let me take a look at it.”

She threw the curtain open that I was sitting behind, and my brother and I locked eyes.

His face split into a huge grin and then we were throwing our arms around each other.

Copper was fuckin’ huge.

Which, compared to me, was saying something.

He had a lot of muscle to him, and this was the first freakin’ hug I’d been able to truly feel from him in a long time.

“God, it’s good to see you without my hands and feet chained,” he crowed. “How are you?”

“Sit down so I can get a look at that cut,” Phoebe ordered.

“I was really freaking out.” Copper pulled away and sat on the table. She just walks up to me and cuts the shit out of me with a scalpel and is all, “I’m so sorry. Let me take you to my infirmary and fix that up for you.”

I chuckled as I said, “You’re just a distraction.”

His brows rose.

Then they narrowed as he whispered, “Lyle?”

---