Page 16 of The Revenge Plan (Forbidden Descendants 1)

“Hey.” Izzy poked me in the back. “Let me in front of you. That way I can break her fall in case you lose your grip.”

“I’m not going to lose my grip. What the hell?” I hissed back, even as I shifted closer to the railing so my sister could squeeze by, because shit, what if I lost my grip? I’d be forever known as that asshole who’d dropped Topher Nicholl’s girl down a flight of stairs.

As soon as Izzy was in the lead, however, she scurried forward, leaving us behind so she could scout the area some more. All the while, Haven Gamble held on to me for dear life, letting me carry her to who-knew-where.

At the bottom of the steps, José, a fellow safety on the team, waited at the next door. “Hey, man,” he started when he spotted us, tipping up his chin in greeting. “We’re good to go. Cannon’s paved a nice, wide path for you from here, straight to your…” But his words trailed off when he peered past Izzy and caught sight of me, along with who I was carrying.

“Whoa, what’re you doing with Nicholl’s girl?”

I shot him a don’t-ask glance, but he only seemed to freak more when he transferred his attention to her face. “Holy damn. What the fuck is wrong with her?”

The door from outside swung open, and Cannon peered in. “Did someone mention Nicholl’s girl?” He stepped in beside José to gape down at Haven. Then he looked to me, his expression filled with absolute confusion. “Um…”

“She looks drugged.” José backed away suddenly as if she were contagious only to transfer an incredulous glance to me. “You drug her or something?”

“Yeah, I drugged her,” I answered drolly before scowling moodily, unable to believe one of my own would even entertain such an idea. Then I exploded. “Are you fucking kidding me? Really? You think I drugged her?”

“Of course, we know you didn’t drug her,” Bear placated as he jogged down the steps to join us. “But who did?”

With a shrug, I admitted, “No one that I know of. She was running like a bat out of hell down the hall when I left Izzy’s room tonight, and she plowed right into me. She seemed desperate for a place to hide and escape the douche who was chasing her, so we let her in—”

“Actually, she pushed her way into my room,” Izzy added.

“Who was chasing her?” José asked, his eyes wide with shock.

I lifted my eyebrows meaningfully. “I’ll give you three guesses.”

“Nicholl,” all three of my friends answered, their voices grim and expressions dark.

I nodded. “He attempted to barge in after her. But I kept him out and tried to convince him he really hadn’t seen her go in there, to begin with. Not sure if he believed me or not, but he left, only for her to break down and lose her shit completely. She’s been like this ever since.”

“Well, fuck,” Cannon murmured, stepping closer to squint at her face. “Whatever he did, she did not take it well.”

Then he lifted his gaze, and I saw all the questions. And accusations. He looked pissed and betrayed that I hadn’t already told him everything.

Unable to handle the glint in his eyes, I glanced at Haven and repositioned her in my arms to reinforce my grip on her. I’d done what I thought was best for her, and I refused to feel guilty about it.

But shit, Cannon was looking at me as if I’d stabbed him in the back with his own knife.

“What do you think he did?” Bear asked.

I shook my head. “No idea. Before she checked out, she said it was nothing physical, but it was definitely something.”

“Hell yeah, it was,” José agreed on a dumbfounded nod. “Poor girl.” Awkwardly reaching out, he patted her arm. “You just hang in there, mamacita. We got you.”

“So, where’re you taking her now?” Cannon wanted to know, pulling a step back, his gaze going guarded as if he no longer thought he could trust me.

I opened my mouth to answer, only to realize I didn’t have a clue. I glanced toward Izzy, who seemed similarly stumped by the question.

“Do you think she needs a hospital?” José asked, turning his attention to each one of us.

My stomach knotted because I really didn’t know. “I think she’s physically fine,” I started. What kind of medical treatment did you give someone who’d mentally checked out? “But she’s not…” She wasn’t fine at all; that was clear.

“She just needs a safe place to rest for a little while until she works through whatever happened to her,” Izzy spoke up.

I nodded, because hell, that sounded logical to me, and no one else had come up with a better solution, so… Where the hell did we take her until she returned to her own head?

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