“Then I’m fucked.”
“You know what you have to do.”
It was time to man up and make things right. Regardless of the consequences between her and I.
After they left, Paige was quieter than usual. I decided to leave her alone, aware she was probably spent from catching Belle up on our lives. For the rest of the evening, I tried to figure out how I was going to make this all work.
Before I knew what I was doing, I grabbed the picture of us from my nightstand and sat on the edge of my bed with it.
I thought about the past.
Present.
Future.
It all seemed to be slipping us by.
I hated feeling this out of control.
I don’t know how long I sat there, remembering the day we took that photo. How beautiful she looked, how amazing she smelled, how her laugh and smile were so fucking contagious. The way she looked at my brother, the way she spoke to him, the way they were effortlessly perfect together. They had their own inside jokes and dynamic.
If we were together, I was the third wheel.
“Jesus, Adrian.” I tugged my hair back. “Get your shit in check.”
I was so jealous of him.
Of their friendship.
I wanted her.
I always wanted her.
It wasn’t fair, I met her first. She was mine. At times it felt like he stole her from me. Other times it felt like I gave her to him because I knew how much he needed something of his own. Constantly living in my shadow wasn’t easy for Cade.
I loved my brother.
I still did.
What occurred in the next few seconds happened so fast, yet it played out in slow motion.
Three…
Two…
One.
The sound of bomb exploding erupted off the windows of my penthouse. The glass shattering all around us, followed by an ear-piercing scream that’d forever haunt me.
The alarms in my building immediately denoted as I ran out of my bedroom, trailing Paige’s hysterical cries.
Faster and faster I ran to the love of my life, hanging on by a fucking thread.
Thank God, the guards were already with her. It was what I paid them for. They were to protect her life at all costs, I could take care of myself.
“Sir!” Charlie shouted as he saw me hauling ass to them.
“We gotta go! Now!”
I didn’t think twice about it, I grabbed Paige and threw her over my shoulder.
She was shaking.
Not saying a word.
In shock, no doubt.
Her face was a blank canvas, but her eyes portrayed the terror she was feeling deep in her bones.
With security circling us, we sprinted down the stairwell to the parking lot of my building, running toward the SUV that was waiting for us. Adrenaline coursed through my veins, throbbing through my bloodstream. Taking over every inch of my body.
My heart pounded against my chest as I tried to make my way over to the SUV as fast as I could, praying this would be over soon. My vision tunneled, seeing nothing but red the closer I got to the vehicle.
How could I allow this to happen? In my own home…
The guilt surged to the point of searing pain as the doors flew open, we jumped in, and Jonathan slammed on the gas. Getting us the hell out of there.
I sat Paige next to me, frozen solid. She wasn’t moving, she was barely breathing.
“Hey.” I placed her in my lap, grabbing her face, “Paige, look at me.”
Her mouth parted, meeting my intense gaze.
“You’re okay. We’re okay. All right?”
She didn’t say a word.
“Blink your eyes if you understand what I’m saying?”
She did.
“Fuck!” I yelled, clutching her into my chest for dear life.
My heart and mind raged war with each other. I never wanted to hurt someone as much as I did in that moment.
Not hurt.
Fucking kill.
I desperately tried to keep it together.
For her.
Only for her.
Instead, I carried her out of the SUV once we were parked in the back of a hotel. I didn’t know where to go, what to do. This was the only place I could think of when my mind was racing as fast as my heart was.
No place was truly safe.
He knew our every move.
What the fuck?
I experienced turmoil and agony. I couldn’t break. I had to stay strong. It was my role in all this.
I laid her down on the couch of the suite. We stayed there like that for as long as I could until I had to know what the guards knew.
When she felt me stand, she immediately grabbed hold of my arms, begging, “Please don’t go.”
I crouched down in front of her. “I’m just going in the kitchen, Paige. I’ll be right back.”
She whimpered, her lip curling into a sob.
“I know you’re scared, but I can’t help you if I don’t know what they do.” I kissed her hands. “I need you to be my brave girl, okay? Can you do that for me?”