Page 79 of The Air You Breathe

“I’m almost there, baby,” he said. “I will be worthy of you again, we have forever for me to prove it, and I will do it when I have nothing holding me back. I’ll see you soon.”

He ended the call, leaving me speechless. He was so worried about being worthy of me that he couldn’t see that just moving past all our bullshit was enough for me.

I grabbed my soup, headed to the sofa to watch some cheesy rom-com and probably fall asleep. These men were wearing me out and I needed some sleep before they got home.

Darcy!

I woke up startled when I heard my name, but when I looked around, I was alone. Standing up quickly, I looked out my window to see Armando’s car still outside, making me feel better. A chill ran through my body as I could have sworn I had heard my name, but it could have been a dream too.

I wiped the drool off my cheek and started to watch a different movie on TV. I picked up my phone and saw that it was only ten o’clock. The guys didn’t say when they would be home, but I figured they should be here soon. I picked up my bowl, taking it back to the kitchen, picking up as much as I could. Wondering if I should just put the food away when I heard a loud thump.

Where the hell had that come from?

I stayed quiet then I decided to call Armando. The call rang and rang but he didn’t answer, making me really nervous as I walked to the front door. I peeked out the window, seeing his car was still there but I couldn’t see if he was inside it.

This was getting too weird. I called Dev and it rang and then went to voicemail. I quickly dialed Evan, when the same thing happened.

Ok, stay calm, Darcy, it could be nothing or it could a real-life horror movie come to life.

I went back to the kitchen, stuffing my phone in my hoodie pocket, trying to decide what to do when there was pounding on the front door that scared the shit out of me. My entire body broke out in goosebumps.

This was definitely not good. Looking around the kitchen I looked for a weapon, deciding against a knife because I would probably stab myself, so I grabbed my cast iron skillet.

I walked slowly and quietly to the door to see who was there, freezing in place when I saw it was Geraldo. I pulled my phone from my pocket sending out an SOS text to the group message we had, praying they at least checked their text messages.

He had a scowl on his face as he chewed some gum. I slowly backed away, to make a break for the back door. When he looked into the window and spotted me. We stayed frozen for a second before both of us moved. He broke the window while I headed to the back door but when I got close another man was standing there.

Where the hell was Armando?

“Shit, shit,” I said, backing up, almost freezing. I quickly entered my bedroom and shut my door quietly. My mind was racing on what to do when I realized I had an attic door in my closet, and I could probably hide up there. Opening my closet door, I walked in reaching for the string to open it. The hinges screeched in protest because I never used the attic, I prayed to whatever was out in the universe to keep them out of the house as long as possible. I ran up the stairs, climbed up to the top, and set the cast iron down.

Fuck! How do I get the stairs back up!?

The panic was starting to set in making me lose my confidence.

“Come out, you little bitch!” A voice I didn’t recognize yelled.

I froze, one of them was in the house. I heard their muffled voice when they opened the door to my bedroom as I tried to bring up the stairs with my foot. The door to the closet opened, as I scrambled up the steps. He grabbed my ankle before I could bring them up.

Trying to yank my ankle out of his grip but he had a firm hold on it, until I kicked his hand repeatedly. He shifted to the side, I saw my opening and kicked him square in the face, his head snapped back, and he fell hitting the door.

I stared at him for too long wondering if I might have killed him, before my mind kicked into gear. Grabbing my skillet, I looked around the attic for somewhere to get out. I was way too big to go out the exhaust pipe hole and all I had was a shelf in the corner. I stepped on the beams, grateful that I at least knew that you couldn’t just stomp around on the ceiling. There were a few plywood sheets against one side that looked like I could hide behind them when I noticed a place near the corner, I could lay down and hopefully not be seen. I tested the stability of the space with a little bit of my weight.

“You fucking whore!” Geraldo yelled, forcing me to hope that this part held my weight and I would not end up on the floor. I laid down, relieved that I didn’t immediately fall through. I pulled the plywood over me so it looked like an area just like in the other corner. It felt like a coffin. I pulled out my phone hearing Geraldo climb the ladder.

I typed out SOS again when my phone vibrated with Evan’s face on the screen. I wanted to answer it so badly because I had a gut feeling Geraldo was going to find me.

I heard his steps around the attic walking to one side before he made it to the side of was on. He moved a few things before he stopped close to me. I held my breath, so scared to make any sound, when his steps walked right next to me. When he took two steps away from me, I thought I was in the clear but then the wood was dragged away, and we locked eyes before he reached for me.

32

EVAN

It had been a while since we had a big fight night like the one that was happening right now. Dev had a fight, and so did Cal. Lucio had planned all the fights, keeping me in the dark until the day of the fight. It seemed like Lucio was having a hard time finding fighters and I was glad he had to put some work into it, so he didn’t think it was all easy. The people who he had up against Dev and Cal were decent fighters. Neither one of them should have a problem with taking down their respective opponent.

I left Dev in a room by himself before I went to go check on Cal and the guys. It had been a while since I had seen all of them after Jane had left. I knocked on the door before walking in. Cal was warming up with Aiden, but there was no sign of Nathan.

“Hey guys,” I said, walking in with my hands in my pockets looking around the room. It had started to become a habit to check my surroundings like Giovanni did. I guess he always knew that there were threats everywhere.

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