“What are you going to do?” Preston asks as we scramble down the muddy bank toward the trees, half of them fighting the current as the water inches up their trunks.
“I don’t know,” I say. “I have to find her, though. To get her out of here. It’s not safe. You saw Royal. He’s lost it, man. He pointed a fucking gun at her. He’s lucky I didn’t put a bullet between his eyes for that one.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“You know why,” I say.
“You’re stuck in an impossible place,” he says. “You’re never going to get out of it.”
Instead of answering, I call for Crystal. He joins me, and a minute later, Colt does, too. Maybe he’s right. If I don’t want to hurt Crystal, I can’t even defend myself. And if I don’t defend myself, I’ll wind up dead, which will hurt her anyway.
We scour the banks of the river, walking up and down until our voices grow hoarse and I can’t think straight. If she’s gone…
Damn it, why didn’t I follow her?
At last, I spot a small, crumpled white shape at the edge of the river up near the bridge. I break into a jog, and after a minute, my cousins are beside me. I push myself faster, calling her louder, my heart pounding against the cage of my chest like a prisoner demanding release. I don’t dare hope, but I can’t help myself. The little form looks so small, it could be a pile of debris or a bag of trash thrown off the bridge.
When I’m almost there, I let myself breathe. Her white shirt sticks to her thin shoulders, soaked through and clinging to her cold skin. She’s not even wearing a jacket. I reach her first, dropping to my knees beside her. She’s so small, so insignificant looking. It’s hard to imagine this girl could be the whole world.
“Crystal, sugar,” I say, rolling her over, pulling her up. “What are you doing down here?”
She stares at me with vague confusion, like she can’t remember where she is, or why, or who I am. I grab her face and kiss her hard, crushing her cold lips with mine. When I pull back and look at her, still holding her head, she blinks, and a bit of life returns to her eyes. I should have fucking followed her, not stayed to fight her brothers. I shouldn’t have let Royal catch me by surprise and knock me out. I shouldn’t have fucking spared the ruthless bastard who put that look in her eyes.
“Devlin,” she murmurs. “Stop trying to save me.”
I just shake my head. “No, baby. I’ll never stop.”
“It’s too late,” she whispers. “You can’t save me.”
“Then I’ll fucking die trying,” I say, scooping her up and holding her against me. “You already saved me. When I didn’t even know I needed saving, you saved me.” I want to crush her in my arms, need to know she’s here, real, solid. Alive. But I know this isn’t the time. This is the time to hold her gently, to cradle her like the delicate thing she is right now. Because that’s what she needs. That’s what will bring her back to the fierce, loyal, unbreakable, quietly badass little angel that came into my life and made me believe I could be loved no matter how unworthy I felt.
With Crystal in my arms, I push myself to standing. Anger lashes through me when I feel how cold she is. Her whole body is shivering, but she wraps her arms around my neck, quaking against me. “He said I was dead to him,” she mutters against my neck, her words almost lost in the drumming of the rain and the chattering of her teeth. “I might as well be.”
“No, fuck that,” I say. “Just… Shut up. I’m taking you back to the car. You’re freezing.”
When I reach the car, I open the door and lay her on the back seat. She holds onto my neck, her eyes searching mine. “Don’t leave,” she whispers. Rain runs down my arms in rivulets, down her body, soaking my leather seats, but I don’t care. I only care about her, and how cold and small she looks, that she’s soaked through and shivers wrack her body.
“I won’t,” I promise, pressing my lips to hers. I pull back, and blood drips from the cut on my face to her cheek, running down her face like a tear.
“We’ll go back to the party and stop them,” Colt says behind me. “We can buy you a little time.”
I lean down and kiss Crystal. “One second?”
Her dark eyes search mine, and then she nods, releasing my neck. I stand and face my cousins. For a second, none of us speak. I can see the knowledge in their eyes, that there’s not going to be a happy ending to this. Not at the party, not in this town. Maybe not for any of us.
“Be careful,” I say, pulling Colt in and hugging him hard. None of that bullshit guy hugging. I hug him like I did when we were kids, before anyone told me guys didn’t hug that way. An ache forms behind my eyes, in my nose, in my throat. He hugs me back just as hard.
“Go on,” he says. “Get her out of here.”
I release him and turn to Preston, pulling him in. One of his arms is barely functioning, with a short cast still on his wrist and his shirt still held to his eye, but he makes do with the other. Preston’s a tougher nut than Colt, and I expect a smartass remark, but he gives my back a slap instead. He starts to pull away, but that’s not the kind of goodbye I want if something happens. I grab his head with both my hands, pressing my forehead to his.
“You gonna be okay?” I ask.
“I might have lost an eye,” he says. “He got me with the brass knuckles.”
“Shit,” I say, letting out a breath. “Thank you.”
“She better be worth it.”