Page 113 of Wicked Devotion
Mochi doesn’t protest as Sam lifts her up to check if she’s okay, but once we all see the smeared 203, written with red lipstick,nothingis okay.
“Cover her ears and give me a second,” Sam says calmly before he leaves the panic room, closing the door behind himself.
“Where is he going—“
A loud thud interrupts Logan, followed by a second and a third one. When Sam comes back, it’s with bloody knuckles and an expression so dark I’m sure he’ll rip anyone affiliated with the 203 apart with his bare hands the moment we catch them.
Logan pulls a piece of paper closer with his foot, crumpling it up in his hand after he reads what’s written on it.
“What does it say?” I ask, trying to pry it out of his fist.
“Thanks for the two-in-one deal.”
“We need to keep a clear head,” I say, though it’s mainly directed at myself.
I sit down on the floor, running my fingers through my hair, and soon, Sam and Logan flop down next to me while Mochi seems to try climbing onto all our laps at once.
“No forced entry, no signs of struggle,” Sam mumbles.
Meanwhile, Logan tries to unlock the phones, throwing Ruby’s over to Sam when he’s unable to guess her password.
“We told them to stick together. Ruby has a thick head, but she’d never leave Lily on her own,” I say when I’m interrupted by a cursing Logan.
“What the fuck,” he hisses, swiping through Lily’s messages.
She had been talking to a guy, sending messages that included one or two hearts too many for my liking, while they discussed how they wanted to meet up today for coffee.
Dialing Charlie’s number, I squeeze my phone between my head and my shoulder while I snatch Lily’s out of Logan’s hand because I want to see this shit for myself.
“Check a number for me, Hunter,” I say when Charlie finally picks up the phone. “And get me the guy’s fucking address.”
41
LILY
24 hours ago…
Ileave the plane with red-bitten lips and a pale face. Somehow, I thought that my fear of flying was only related to military planes, but it was the opposite. Without having Max and Logan by my side, I spent the entire flight close to tears. If the grandma sitting next to me hadn’t talked my ear off, I would have probably slipped into a panic attack.
Someone pushes their way through the mass of taxi drivers, and the voice that calls out my name belongs to a small body in a soft pink tracksuit.
“There you are,” Ruby says, pulling me in for a hug.
A man clears his throat, acting like walking around us is an impossible task. It doesn’t take more than a glare from Ruby for him to go his way without another word or sound of complaint. I bet I would have gotten a proper desk at work if I was a little more like her.
“We should get going. The parking situation here is a bit—suboptimal.“
She takes my hand, leading me out of the building, andas I see where exactly she had parked her car, I slip into the passenger seat with a lowered head, holding the duffle bag in front of me to cover the rest of my face.
“Thanks for picking me up,” I say once we leave the crowd of people cursing Ruby for parkingdirectlyin front of the arrival hall behind us.
“Anytime. How was your trip? Did you and the guys talk?” She asks, grinning until the driver in front of her ignores a green light, and she slams her fist on the steering wheel to honk.
“The trip was great. I’m just sad it found such a quick ending,” I say with a sigh. “But yeah, we talked. A bit, among other things.”
“That’s what I wanted to hear.” Ruby laughs, and it takes a few minutes on the highway for my cheeks to return to their normal shade.
“And, are you going to stay with them?” She asks, getting ready to take the next exit.
