But that wasn’t who I was. I’d spent the past year and a half running from myself, but I’d never run from a creature that needed me. It was the one part of myself I’d never lost, that Marcus hadn’t been able to take from me and that my family hadn’t been able to beat out of me as a child.
I pulled in a deep breath to calm myself and then carefully stepped close to Marcus and reached for the hand holding the gun.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
JETT
My whole body hurt but in kind of a delicious way. The pain was a reminder of the new path I’d chosen. A few weeks ago, my life had been on pause and I’d only seen one way out. I couldn’t even fathom who that man was or where he’d come from.
None of it mattered, though.
Sawyer mattered.
Learning to use all the resources available to me to live the life I wanted mattered.
Building a future with my man and the family I hadn’t known I needed mattered.
I sighed as I carefully stretched my body to loosen it as I sat up in bed. I glanced at the clock on the nightstand and saw that it was still relatively early. I could hear voices in the kitchen along with the clattering of pots and pans. The raucous laughter had me smiling.
I could so get used to this. Even once Sawyer and I got our own place, I’d still want to wake up every morning to the sounds of a household preparing for the day. I wanted those moments where Sawyer and I were awoken on Christmas morning by eager little voices telling us to get up because Santa had come. I wanted to host huge family dinners with too much food. I wanted to hold my son or daughter’s hand while we waited for the school bus to come.
“Jesus,” I said to myself with a light laugh. Sawyer would probably have a coronary if he knew the direction of my thoughts. Hell, if I could have gotten away with it, I would have slapped a ring on his finger the second I saw him and hauled him down to the courthouse so we could make it official.
I forced myself to get moving so I could join everyone for breakfast. I ended up lingering in the shower for a little longer than necessary because the hot water helped loosen up my muscles. As I got out, I reminded myself to thank Maddox and Isaac for all the effort they’d gone through to design their house to meet my needs. Hell, I owed them my thanks for a lot more than just that.
I settled myself back into my chair after drying off and then rolled myself in front of the mirror. I reached my hand out to wipe away some of the condensation on the mirror but stopped when I saw what looked like letters on the glass. There was only enough condensation to show what looked like an “H” and an “E” but it was enough to have my stomach dropping out. I quickly turned on the faucets for both sinks and set them to the hottest temperature possible. It seemed like hours before the rest of the mirror began to fog up. As each letter was revealed, the terror took over and I was moving before the last word was even completed.
I rolled myself to the bedroom and snatched up my phone. I was dialing as I hurried to the kitchen.
“Pick up, pick up,” I pleaded as the phone rang. When Sawyer’s voicemail picked up, my insides went cold. I knew I needed to calm down, but my gut was telling me that something was wrong.
Really wrong.
“Where’s Sawyer?” I shouted as I rolled into the kitchen. My family was milling around either drinking coffee or preparing food.
But there was no Sawyer.
“I saw him sitting down by Apollo’s enclosure a few minutes ago,” Dallas said.
“That fucker was in the house!” I snarled. Everyone stared at me as they took in my words and what they meant. They all knew I was talking about Marcus.
“His car is gone,” Nolan said as he rushed to the window.
I saw Isaac grab his phone and start dialing but I knew what the outcome would be.
“Where would he go?” I asked Maddox desperately.
“It had to be an emergency call,” my friend responded. “Dallas, you have the number for the state, right? If they sent him on a call—”
Maddox’s phone rang in that instant. It sounded like a bomb going off. The split second it took him to answer and put his phone on speaker seemed to take too long.
“Linc?” Maddox answered.
Disappointment went through me as I realized it was Walter’s nurse.
“No, it’s Theo,” said the voice on the other end. I hadn’t met the young man staying with Ford and Cam, but Sawyer had mentioned him. There was no mistaking the fear in Theo’s voice as he said, “You have to come. He’s got a gun and Sawyer’s in there with him and Linc just went in there with a gun and we can’t hear anything—”