I realized that my anger had escalated the situation to the point that his life was in danger. I was doing that. I was using my privilege and position as an Upper without concern for his vulnerability as a Lower. I was going to get him hurt or killed if I kept pushing back at them.
So I did the hardest thing I could think of. I let him go.
My fingers relaxed around his arm, and I let them slip away, giving them the freedom to drag him off campus but only to save his life.
I felt tears well up as he sagged against his captors, and as they jerked him to his feet so he wouldn’t fall, somebody bumped into me.
“What the fuck is going on here?” Alexander said in my ear as his arms wrapped around me from behind. “Where the fuck are they taking him?”
“I don’t know,” I wailed and watched him go. “I tried to stop them. I tried to save him.”
“I know,” he said in a low, comforting tone. “I saw you through the crowd. I saw you fighting, little sparrow. Don’t you worry, we’ll fucking get him back. We’ll find him and bring him home.”
“I feel so helpless,” I groaned and twisted in his embrace. I looked up at him, unable to watch as they shoved Luke into a black SUV with the windows blacked out. “I hate how powerless I am.”
“You’ll be okay,” he said, soothing me. “You have my power, and everything will be okay. You’ll survive, no matter how much the world works against you.”
“I don’t want to just survive,” I spit, suddenly angry at how much power he had and how little I had. Luke had even less. “I want to change the way this works. I want to make sure nobody else has to live like this. I hate how divided everything is. It feels unnatural.”
“We can do that,” he said, running his hand up my back to rest in between my shoulder blades, just under my hair. His fingers reached my neck and settled there, a comforting mantle to anchor me to the moment. “We can do anything you want, but first, we have to get him back for you.”
As the SUV pulled away from the school and the crowd began to disperse, I exhaled and closed my eyes. In my memories, he was mine. I felt so connected to Luke, so deeply connected as if we’d built a life somewhere else. Somewhere far from Crimson and away from the constant pressure of the Uppers and their need for dominance.
“You okay?” Rome asked from beside me. I hadn’t even noticed that he’d shown up, but of course, he had. The entire school was either here or talking about it. “He’s tough, and he’ll hang on until we get him back.”
“Can we get him back, though?” I asked, still not believing fully that we could take on the all mighty powers of the world at large. It seemed an impossible task, insurmountable even with the considerable control my future father-in-law could exert over everyday affairs. “I worry we’ll never see him again.”
“If he didn’t mean so much to you, I might not even bother,” Alexander said. “You know he’s not my favorite person in the world, but I know you care for him, so we’ll get him. It might not be easy, but we’ll find him.”
“I don’t have Alex’s family connections, but I have my family’s money,” Rome said, reaching for my hand. He wrapped his fingers in mine, and I immediately felt warmth travel up my arm from the point of our contact. “We’ll find him. I can call our driver now. Let’s leave as soon as possible.”
“Fuck that,” Alexander replied. “We’ll take my car.”
“They let you have it after the accident?” I asked. I was under the impression that he no longer had the car after I’d driven it off in a fit of anger and gotten myself into my current situation.
“It’s a new one,” he said and shrugged bashfully, as if ashamed at his privilege. “My father insisted I have something on campus.”
“The top of the top,” Rome said with admiration. He shook his head, and his chiseled face twisted into a smirk as his green eyes sparked with amusement. “I guess when you’re at the top, the only place for you to go is down.”
“It’s to the moon from here, asshole,” Alexander replied with a laugh. “Come on, let’s go get the third musketeer.”
“I thought you didn’t like him,” I said as we walked, one of them on either side of me. I liked being flanked by them. It kept me safe and anchored as if they could prevent Mr. Remington from coming after me again. Like their combined presence could save me from the Pit.
“Who? Luke?” Alexander asked and turned to look at me. His dark loose curls fell over his forehead, giving him the look of a romantic era poet more than an Upper rich kid. Irritation flickered across his face when I nodded yes. “I don’t really like him. He’s arrogant and opinionated, but he’s yours. As long as you like him, I’ll protect him.”
“Thank you for that,” I said. I slipped my hand in his and did the same with Rome. “Thank you both for helping me with this.”
As we were about to leave the campus close to the boundary of the boy’s side, I heard Harlow yelling my name. It felt like my old friend was calling me for a moment until I released their hands and turned to look at her. She still possessed that haunted, injured look, and it pierced my heart every time I saw her and was reminded that she hadn’t had access to the same revitalizing treatments that I had.
“What is it?” I asked as we waited for her to catch up.
“Are you going after Luke?” she asked.
“Yeah, we’re going to find him,” I said.
“I’m coming along,” she replied, and the way she clenched her jaw and thrust her chin out gave the impression that she was expecting me to say no. I didn’t, though.
I looked at her and said, “Please do. It will help cut through the testosterone fest I’m suffering with these two.”