Page 73 of Mad Love

“I thought he was dead,” I whispered, sagging in relief and feeling more tears. I was so sick of crying, but at the same time, I’d been holding in a lot. Eventually the little cracks in the dam holding back my emotions would crumble, and I’d fall apart.

But not right now.

Ryan’s fingertips brushed my nape. “Can I…”

I swallowed and nodded, giving him permission for whatever he wanted. He moved, and the light over our seats turned on. Gently he tugged back the collar of my shirt. A breath hissed between his teeth, and all his muscles tensed as he no doubt got a glimpse at some of the damage.

I closed my eyes, feeling Court’s and Linc’s furious gazes lingering on me, too. “How did Charles know? He wasn’t there when this happened.”

“His friend, Tyler, hacked their security system. Gary had a camera pointed at the front door. She showed us the video.” Ryan’s fingers delved back into my hair and massaged my scalp.

Tremors rippled through my body, and I felt shame color my cheeks. They’d all seen? That was humiliating.

“Don’t,” Ryan murmured as someone adjusted the air vents so they blew hot air across me. “You couldn’t have stopped him, Mads. You did nothing wrong.” The protective notes in his tone were their own kind of heat, thawing some of my insides.

“I’m so tired,” I uttered, drained and finally able to let my guard down.

“Get some rest,” Ryan urged. “We’ll be home before you know it.”

My eyes were already closed, and I was falling away into sleep. But even still, I almost opened my mouth to tell him it didn’t matter where we went. As long as I was with him, I was already home.

* * *

I woke up a few times. Once when we picked up Knight, who was still riding the high of his “epic boom.” He jumped into the car with a whoop and was punched by everyone for disturbing me.

Ryan woke me up to get me to climb on Court’s back to move from the car to the airport. I almost played the needy girlfriend card and insisted Ryan carry me, but I vaguely remembered Knight asking Ryan about his ribs.

But as soon as we were in the helicopter, this time with Bishop at the helm, I was draped over Ryan’s lap again with my feet on Court’s legs while Linc and Knight sat across from us and Royal took the copilot seat.

“Maddie?” Knight leaned forward.

“Not now,” Ryan snapped. “You can check her out when we’re back and she’s not totally exposed.”

Knight flopped back in his seat as the rotor blades started thumping overhead. “She’s not the only one getting checked out, asshole. If you pulled your stitches again—”

I tried to look up at Ryan. “Why do you have stitches?”

He cleared his throat and stroked my hair. “Don’t worry about me, baby.”

I frowned, unhappy that he was brushing off my concern, but I was so tired. Within seconds, I was asleep again, and then we were getting out of the helicopter and transitioning to another SUV. Well, two SUVs.

Once again, Ryan and I got in the back. This time Court drove and Linc rode shotgun. The others rode behind us. I drifted in and out of consciousness.

Next thing I knew, Ryan’s finger was tracing the curve of my cheek and the outline of my lips. “We’re home.”

“You’re my home,” I mumbled, still sleepy and not quite alert.

His fingers stilled. “You’re my home, too, but how about if we get you out of this car and into a bed?”

Yeah, a bed sounded awesome.

I sat up slowly, Ryan carefully helping me as we turned down a long road lined with pine trees.

“This isn’t California,” I murmured, looking around at the towering trees dusted with snow. We were still somewhere north and cold enough that several inches of snow blanketed the ground.

“Wyoming,” Court said, glancing at me in the rearview mirror. “We needed to get out of Pac Cross for a while. This place is off the grid, and we’ll figure out what to do from here.”

I nodded, my head still kind of foggy. “What about Bex?”

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