Page 3 of Piece You Saved

Dariel’s expression doesn’t change. He waits, like the alpha he is, for me to give him what he wants.

I nearly lose the battle with myself to crawl into Kade’s arms, bury my face in his throat, and cry forever. But I don’t, because of choices.

Mychoices.

I ran from Rylan.Biggest mistake ever.

I trusted an angelic-looking blond man with warm hazel eyes enough to follow him to the Cerberus, the bar he owned.Or was this the big mistake?

And I stayed with the three owners of that bar, knowing what Rylan would do if he ever found me with them.

Those choices were mine, and because I made them, a doctor could walk through the door any second and tell us that Aden had died on the operating table.

Rylan is still alive. Somewhere.

He needs to die as soon as fucking possible.

I sit up straighter in my chair, release my death grip on Kade’s hand, and clear my throat. “Aden and I were talking about… It isn’t important what we were talking about.”Because it involved him trying to convince me to forgive you.“We heard something. I don’t remember if Aden heard it first, or I did, but we knew it wasn’t anything good.”

My vision swims with the memory of that last moment, the muscles in my thighs tense, and I curl my toes because I forgot to do it. They’re freezing again.

And then I’m there again. Back in the attic.

Aden is laughing—is makingmelaugh. Making me feel safe in a way I haven’t since before Mom died and when Dad loved me more than Jim Beam.

My mouth opens. I try to speak, but the words don’t want to come out. There’s something spiky in my throat. It’s stuck there, choking me.

“Angel?” Kade asks.

I shake my head. The words are there. I just need a minute to get them out.

Dariel waits with that same expectant stare for me to give him what he wants. He’s so much like Rylan with his alpha orders, handsome face, dark hair, and imposing presence. I will never understand what it is about him that still attracts me.

A second later, Kade has me in his lap, one arm looped around my waist and my head tucked under his chin. I could probably wriggle free if I wanted to, but I don’t want to. I’d never tell Kade this is what I sometimes need. To be held. To be close to someone. To feel.

I refocus on Dariel and continue. “We both knew the plan must have gone wrong.” Kade’s arm tightens around my waist, and I hide my wince when I peer up at him. “Kade?”

He shakes his head. His face is so blank it’s almost a mirror of Dariel. “Go on, Angel.”

I glance at Dariel in case he knows why Kade is being so closed off. One glimpse at Dariel’s expressionless face reminds me I shouldn’t bother looking for emotion there. “Aden gave me a gun and told me where to stand. He said he would tell me when—”

A deep frown creases Dariel’s brow. Faint lines bracket his eyes and mouth in the first sign of emotion beneath that frigid exterior. “You were supposed to—”

I snap my chin up, cracking the top of my head on Kade’s jaw. It fucking hurts. Make no mistake about it. My fury makes it easy to keep glaring at Dariel as I count myself lucky I didn’t bite my tongue off.

“I wasn’t hiding in the insulation when I could help.”

Kade mutters something inaudible under his breath, then kisses the top of my head.

Dariel stares at me. I stare back, ready to argue this point into the ground because I amnotbacking down on this.

What I don’t expect is for him to relax into the wall as the barest flicker of something that could be amusement warms his eyes. He crosses his arms over his powerful chest. It pulls the black material of his t-shirt tight over his wide shoulders. “Go on.”

I lick my dry lips, ignore the flash of heat the action provokes, and keep talking. “I stood where he told me to stand. He turned to the door and lifted…” I glance at the open waiting room door. We’re alone in here, but we’re hardly in the most private of places in the world. Just because the nurses’ station is farther down the hallway and no one has ventured down this way in a while, doesn’t mean it’s smart to be talking about guns and shootouts.

“No one’s around,” Kade reassures me. “We’d know.”

He would. It’s how Rylan would’ve known he’d find Aden and me on the other side of the attic door with a gun in each of our hands. By using his nose.

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