Page 76 of Liberate Us

He took the bags from me but looked at one in particular. “Whatis this?”

“I made myself a care package for when I throw up. I haven’tbeen able to keep anything down, so that’s what the crackers are for.”

“Have they helped?”

“I haven’t tried yet. I was a little distracted. Betweenworrying about how you would react, then you finding out, and then Will…” Ishrugged.

Sammy nodded once. “I’ll make you this soup my mom used to makeus when we got the stomach flu.”

“Okay, thank you.” I hugged my arms around myself, looking downthe hall both ways, expecting Will to jump out of the shadows.

“He’s not here,” Sammy told me. “Corbin took him out. Mybrothers helped with the other fuckers. You’re safe. All of you are safe.”

“Did he…did Corbin…” I shivered at the thought of Corbinactually killing Will because I knew that even if he was dead, it wouldn’tmatter, his boys would come after me.

“Kill him?” Sammy grunted. “No. Rough him up a bit? Yes.”

“How’s Tim?” I asked, needing to make sure the young securityguard was okay.

“I’m fine.”

I turned, finding Tim coming toward us with Corbin at his side,along with a few of the guys in Sam’s club.

“I’m upping security,” Corbin said. “With Candace and Ronny’spermission, I’ve made some calls, so things are going to be tight around hereuntil Will lays off.” He ran a hand over his bald head and down his face,wincing as he did so.

“Are you okay?” I asked him, noticing the bruise around his eyeand the split in his lip.

“Yeah, I am, darling. Nothing a little ice won’t cure.” Corbinnodded to the few members of Hell’s Harlem that had joined us. “Keep my girlsafe.” And with that, he spun on his heel and left the hallway.

“We still don’t know what Will wants,” Cyrus told Sammy. “But ifI had to take a guess, I imagine it’s nothing good.”

Sammy glanced at me then, staring into a part of me that only hehad ever been able to reach. “Are you okay?”

“I am.” But to be fair, I had dealt with Will before. The shithe had done to me was nothing compared to how Aaron treated me and that night,that cold, damp, god-awful night…I swallowed hard, pushing those memories tothe back of my mind.

“You’re lying to me,” Sammy said, pulling me from my thoughts.

“I don’t want to talk about it here,” I told him.

He nodded. “We’re calling it a night,” he said to no onespecific.

“Be safe.” Cyrus pulled his phone from the pocket in his innercut. “I need to make some calls.”

Heading down the hall to the bar, I quickly told Shawnee that Iwas going home sick. She only nodded and said she would cover for me. She hadasked me a question, but I was too in my head and distracted, so I never heardher and left the club instead.

When the air around me suddenly grew cold, I stopped, glancingaround me. Sammy was a few feet away, his dark eyes on mine. He was talking toCheesy.

“Come here,” Sammy demanded.

The brat in me was quiet as I walked into his open arms. Lookedlike she needed to be held too.

“Cheesy is going to drive your car home,” Sam told me.

“Okay, thank you,” I whispered.

Cheesy nodded once, took my keys from Sammy, and went to my car.

“Let’s get you home, baby.” He kissed my head and slid hisfingers between mine, leading me to his beautiful bike.

---