Page 58 of Zeke

His hand lingers on my neck, and he pulls away slightly. I lean in to the touch, letting myself be guided to him. Our lips are inches away when my phone goes off, and I hesitate.

“Let me just turn that off,” I say as it continues to go off. I reach into my pocket and pull it out. I’m horrified to see dozens of messages and missed calls. “What the fuck?”

“What’s wrong?” Country asks in concern. I can tell he’s disappointed. I am, too, but I can’t remember my phone ever looking like this, with members of the club and Kira all messaging me.

“I don’t know,” I say, “but I think it has to do with Kira. She says she’s at the farmhouse and safe, but I don’t…” I open a message from Eli—a long one, where he tells me everything that went down.

“We have to get home,” I say, looking at Country apologetically. “Something bad happened at Kira’s.”

“Is she okay?” he asks, turning to get on his bike, not even questioning me.

“I don’t know. Seems like it, but I want to check on her.”

“Let’s go, then.”

As we ride, I can’t believe my luck that I found a guy who takes me out to nice dinners and wants to kiss me but is also willing to put those things aside to support me in something important to me. Country proves every day that giving him my time is a good choice, and I couldn’t be more grateful.

We pull up to the farmhouse. I all but leap from my bike, trying to get inside as fast as possible. I hear Country at my heels, rushing up the walkway, and he steps behind me.

When I get inside, I hear voices in the kitchen and rush in as fast as I can, coming to a stop when I see Kira taking a bite of bacon, sitting across from Zeke, who turns at my entrance, his face tensing up.

At first, I don’t get it. I think the look on his face has to do with Kira, but she’s sitting right there, perfectly okay. Then Zeke stands up and takes a step toward me. Country isn’t here—he must have stopped to talk to someone else in the house.

“Julia…” He says my name slowly, like someone trying to calm a wild animal. I know instantly whatever he’s about to tell me is bad—really bad.

And if Kira’s here, and safe…

“No,” I say, like if I refuse to listen, he can’t tell me something I don’t want to hear. Like whatever he has to say won’t be true.

Kira reaches toward me and takes my hand, which only solidifies something terrible has happened.

“Why don’t you sit down?” she offers, but I shake my head.

“No,” I say again, though this time there’s more force behind it. “Say what you need to say.” My voice shakes no matter how hard I try to stop it, because I think I know what’s coming, and I won’t be able to handle it.

Zeke sighs and runs a hand through his hair. “There, uh… there was an ambush in Miami.”

No.

“Your brother is in the hospital.”

No.

“But Eden says he’s going to be fine, and they’ll be on their way home soon.”

“No!” I cry out, launching myself at Zeke, who doesn’t move. Kira stands up and takes a step back, her hands over her mouth. All I can see is red—Big Red, and the way she already took one of my brothers from me, and now I might lose the other one. “No, you’re lying!”

I pound my fists on his chest, but he’s like stone, refusing to even block my hits. It wouldn’t matter. The hits aren’t intended to hurt, but to break him down the way I am.

“Julia!” Kira cries out after a minute of me unrelentingly beating on Zeke. She comes around beside him and looks at me. “He’s going to be okay,” she says. “Savage will be okay. The doctors are going to take good care of him, and he’ll be good as new.”

“You don’t know that,” I sob, tears streaming down my cheeks and falling onto my shirt. I feel Country’s presence behind me, not wanting to get involved.

That’s fine. I knew I was on my own, anyway.

“Eden says he’s in surgery, but it looks good. He should be fine to travel by tomorrow,” Zeke says as Kira nods.

“Surgery?” I shriek. “He needssurgery, and you expect me to believe he’s just going to bounce right back?”

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