Page 188 of Torrid Passion
“You aren’t in this alone,” he says. “I won’t leave your side. No matter what.” His solemn words touch my heart.
“Thanks––” I burst into tears.
“Hey, Kyla… baby…” In a flash, Loki is sitting next to me on the bed. “Chin up, gorgeous. Larkin has the best connections in this city… if not the entire country. We’ll get through this.”
“Okay,” I sniffle.
“Wipe those tears away.” He does it for me with gentle hands. “I don’t like the sadness I read on my girlfriend’s face.”
My phone rings again.
“Answer your cousin and make sure her and Hayden are okay and safe,” he orders.
“I will,” I nod. I’m so nervous, my heart is jumping out of my throat.
With trembling hands, I answer the video call. When I do, Hayden’s frightened face appears next to Stella’s.
“Oh, my God, what’s going on?” Stella asks.
“All this noise woke us up,” Hayden says.
“Same here,” I say.
“Jesus, Christ!” Loki growls.
“What?” I ask, moving my eyes away from the screen.
“What?” Hayden and Stella echo.
“There are throngs of reporters and people out there,” he says. “Hundreds of them.”
“Hundreds?”
“Easily. It’s ridiculous.”
Oh, God.
“Did you guys hear that?” I ask my cousins.
They both nod vehemently.
“Yes,” Stella says.
“We were too freaked out to even approach the windows,” Hayden says. “Something big happened.”
“That’s what Loki said.”
“So you guys haven’t checked the news?” Stella asks.
“No. Not yet.”
“Maybe you should,” Hayden says, tapping on her phone.
“I’m too afraid––”
“For fuck’s sake!” Loki shouts, interrupting me.
I look up at him.
