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Chapter 10
Anita
Location: The hotel
I wished tonight had gone better. Not just for our sake, but for the trapped kids at this unknown location. I never had a reason to care for the other evil that happens in the shadows. I was already living within my own.
The general made sure I stayed in my lane. “There are some things we can’t control,”he told me.
But I can't do that anymore. Things are different now, and we could have died tonight.
Mal stirs with a soft moan as I stand beside her bed, my arms crossed. She had shards of glass still in it, dug deep enough that it almost rubbed against her ligaments, so Bedford cleaned and bandaged her wounds with fresh gauze. The hardest part was watching Ronan muffle her mouth so she wouldn't scream, and me holding her down so Bedford could sew and patch her. Since she didn’t have anesthesia, she passed out from it.
Ronan.
I close my eyes, looking away from Mal, because even thinking of his name sends horrendous waves to my stomach. I can't get over the way he rushed to her and immediately scooped her in his arms. He cares deeply for her.
It was like he switched from this dark warrior to a concerned man, like how a big brother would be to his little sister. His face contorted in sorrow as if she were going to die right then, and that only brought out the considerate side of me. The part of me that rationalizes why I’m dreadfully attracted to this man.
But it’s also why I’m afraid of him.
After escaping the scene and managing to get past the police, we ran through the back, Boone and Mal already left. Ronan sped off almost as if we were race car drivers. The Gala was a total clusterfuck. Victor trapped us right where he wanted, and now kids will have to suffer because of him.
I look back at Mal sleeping soundly. The way Victor spoke of my brother broke me into pieces. My body shook with so much venom. I wanted to stab him, and then slice his lips and tongue off his face.
The sound of Mal’s door opening snaps me from my intrusive thoughts. I straighten myself, sniffing and tucking my hair, so I can seem relatively calm.
It closes with a soft click. “Did she wake yet?”
His deep, much softer voice makes my heart skip with multiple beats. I shake my head, adjusting my posture. “No.”
The soft tapping of feet on the floor draws closer until he’s standing at the end of Mal’s bed. He releases a heavy sigh.He’s worried. I shift again, knowing I’m not good with this kind of thing, but I always feel like I need to console him, even when it makes me uncomfortable. I’d rather be uncomfortable than him feeling alone in his darkness.
“I think she’s more hungover than anything. She’ll live.” I side eye him. Sketching out his body, I notice he’s changed into his usual nighttime clothes. Loose black sweats and a crisp white T-shirt. It’s become one of my favorite things to see him wear. I flick my eyes back to Mal. There’s a small silence between us before he speaks.
“I always knew this job would put her in danger.” I look at him again. “I also knew the day would come where she would be hurt in the crossfire, and I thought I would be able to handle that...” His voice trails off as he watches her with crossed arms.
A longing pull twists in my heart. I remember that feeling, having a bigger brother looking out for me, overprotective as ever. At that time, it was annoying...but now I would give a piece of my soul to have that back again. They may not be blood, but he’s her family. From what she told me last night, he practically raised her. Ronan runs a hand down his face, continuing to eye her carefully. “It's all my fault.”
“It is not your fault.”
“I should've known a piece of shit like him would have some kind of twisted master plan. He didn't make it this far doing what he does just to sit by idly.”
“That may be true, and maybe he is smarter than we think, but it also doesn't mean we can’t stop the greatest master manipulator. He can,” I add, convincing myself as well. I walk over to him, placing my hand on his arm. It's solid and hot. He cuts his focus to me, then they soften when I give a small reassuring smile.
“It's not your fault.”
He looks over my face, his eyes tired and hazy. “She could've bled out to her death.”
“She didn't. She had me.” I lower my hand, facing her again. “I wasn't going to let that happen.” I never thought I would've considered her a friend, like what I had with my crew. I always pushed them away, and now I wished I hadn't. If anything had happened tonight, they would never have known how much I appreciate them, and that I saw them as the sisters I never had.
I swallow the lump lodged in my throat. “There’s really no promise whether we’ll make it out of the mission. That's the risk we take when we decide to put matters into our own hands,” I say softly, running a hand down my bare arm, my knuckles grazing Ronan. “And there's no better feeling when we finish the job, and we live to see just...one more day.”