Page 77 of They Will Fall

He looks over his shoulder, his bloodied hands at his sides. When she shakes her head, he gets off of the guy who’s definitely unconscious.

I push myself off the floor then grab him by the arm. “Come on. We all need to get the hell out of here.”

Ridge follows suit and all four of us haul ass out the door. All I can think about the entire jog back to our dorm is, I hope like hell we didn’t just kill the guy. We’re supposed to be getting on the straight and narrow for a while. It’s only been three days since we got our lives back.

“That was fucking epic,” Ridge beams with his adrenaline still pumping. He balls a fist and punches it into his palm. “We knocked that dickwad out.”

I look at Riley, noticing her caved-in eyebrows and creased forehead. She crosses her arms tightly over her chest and walks steadfastly as we all try to keep up with her.

The guys and I share a look as we jog up to her side.

“Angel?” Ridge says.

Then I place an arm around her waist. “Babe?”

“Trouble, what’s wrong?”

She exhales deeply through her nose and shakes her head. “I can’t take you guys anywhere.”

“Sure you can,” Ridge tells her, but when he looks at me and Lev, he cracks a smile. “We’re good boys.”

“You’re all hellions,” she gnashes, then throws her hands in the air. “We’re all hellions.”

I squeeze her waist and pull her side close to mine as we continue walking. “Better to raise hell than be in it, right?”

Lev jumps up to her other side and throws an arm around her shoulder. “Fuck that guy. He got what he deserved and half of the people in that coffee shop would agree.”

Ridge comes barreling behind Riley and grabs her waist, scoping her up and away from us. He throws her over his shoulder and starts running down the sidewalk. “We’re all a little mad here.”

Riley lifts her head and starts laughing. “Help me, guys. He’s lost his damn mind.” We all laugh as we chase after them. Ridge swerves around a tree then back on the path, and Riley's hair is thoroughly tangled by the time Ridge comes to a halt. He carefully sets her down, then looks at her like he’s actually worried. “Are you mad at me, Angel?”

Lev and I pick up our pace and Ridge finally sets her down.

“You’re fucking crazy, Ridge Foster.” She slaps his shoulder.

“Crazy about you,” he responds, pulling her waist to him and planting a kiss on her lips.

“And I’m crazy about all of you.” Her eyes dance from one of us to the next. “No matter what happens in this lifetime, we’re in this together. I love you, guys.”

“I love you, too,” I tell her, while Ridge and Lev say the same.

Somehow, we all end up in a cheesy group hug with the blood on Ridge’s hands getting all over us, but I don’t mind much, not when the center of our attention is the most beautiful girl in the entire world. Seeing her smile while sandwiched among all of us, all the worry and fear she had been holding on to since the day I met her gone, that alone makes my heart beat faster.

EPILOGUE

RILEY

One Week Later

My gaze dancesaround at the many different dishes Maddox’s mom has made. Maddox said she stress cooks, and this has obviously been a stressful time for her. Tack on Thanksgiving and she’s been cooking up a storm. The windows and the sliding glass door in the kitchen have a milky film of fog covering them from the three pots of boiling water on the stove.

Lev and I just left dinner at my parents’ house, then made the two-hour drive to Glendale, so we could have dinner with Maddox’s mom. I’m still stuffed from the first feast, but I saved a little room for more.

My eyes land on the three pies, fresh out of the oven, and my mouth waters. “Everything smells delicious, Mrs. Crane.”

“Thank you, dear,” she says as she sticks a wooden spoon into the casserole. She lifts it up with her hand underneath to catch anything that falls, and she brings it toward my face.

“Oh. Okay. Thank you.” I open my mouth and she puts the tip of the spoon in, feeding me a taste of the cornbread dressing. “Wow,” I say. “That isreallygood.”

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