Page 21

F uck.

She was killing him.

He watched her giggling with wide-eyed delight as she stared around the Harry Potter area. This wasn’t what he thought he was going to do with his day. Fuck, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d visited a theme park.

Or if he’d ever been this excited to visit one. Not like Immy. She was rushing around with squeals of excitement, a look of absolute wonder on her face.

Listening to her talk about life with the cult earlier and how out-of-place and unsure she felt living in the real world . . . it had nearly fucking broken him. He’d never expected to feel this way about someone else.

To care so much.

And he knew he shouldn’t. She wasn’t his. She couldn’t be his. They lived two different lives.

Immy was sunshine and sweetness.

She was everything that was good and perfect in the world.

He was the darkness that should live in the sewers below her feet. Not even fucking fit to polish her shoes.

Nope. In no world would he ever be worthy of Immy.

And even if he was . . . well, there was the fact that she was in love with Jenner. Anyone could see it in the way she spoke about him, how she looked at him.

What he wanted to know was why the fuck Jenner couldn’t see it?

He scanned the crowd as he moved closer to Immy.

Fuck, he hated being around so many people. There were too many unknowns.

You should never have agreed to this .

He’d known it even as he’d told her yes. But he just hadn’t wanted to disappoint her. It felt like she’d had too much of that in her life. And it was worth having to wade through crowds of people just to see her smile.

Of course, people tended to give him a wide berth once they got a look at his face, which helped.

Although not if she kept wandering off. He caught up with her again.

Time to lay down some ground rules.

Again.

“Cherry, stay close,” he commanded.

“What?”

“You need to stick close to me,” he repeated. “Understand?”

“But it’s safe here.”

“It’s not safe anywhere.”

“I don’t have a stalker, remember? Ooh! Look, it’s the wand shop! Maybe I need another wand. Wait, or you do!”

He shook his head. “Nope.”

“Yes, yes, yes!” She grabbed his hand, bouncing up and down. “You need a wand.”

“Nope.”

“Please,” she begged, giving him puppy dog eyes.

“That shit doesn’t work on me.”

“Are you sure?” She leaned her chin on his chest and stared up at him with a beautiful pout.

He tapped her nose. “No. Now, what do you—” He was cut off as his phone rang. He drew it out of his pocket.

“We need something to eat,” Immy muttered, turning away. “Then we’re going to go on a ride. Or two. Or all of them. This is so much fun!”

He frowned as he saw it was Sampson calling him. “Yeah?”

“Get Immy and get to the hotel. Now,” the other man snapped.

Immediately, he grasped hold of Immy’s arm. “Why? What’s happened?”

“What is it? What’s wrong?” Immy stared up at him in fear. He hated that he was frightening her, but there was a tone to Sampson’s voice that told him something was wrong.

“It’s Maeve. She’s been kidnapped.”

Immy felt like she was going to vomit.

They rushed to Jenner’s suite, which was the largest of them all and Tobias knocked on the door. Immediately, it opened and Jenner stood there.

“Jenner! Did you check who it was?” Sampson snapped.

“I’m not a fucking child,” Jenner snarled back.

Oh heck.

Immy knew she had to step in and settle things between them. Jenner and Sampson usually got along pretty well.

Until they didn’t.

And then it was like World War Three.

“Guys, what’s hap—” She let out a squeal as Jenner suddenly picked her up and carried her into the living area of his suite. His bedroom was in a different room and he actually had a decent-sized sofa and a couple of armchairs in here.

Sampson was currently pacing up and down, his phone to his ear.

Jenner carried her over to the small dining table and set her down on it. Then he moved closer, between her legs. His face was filled with anger and concern.

“Immy, where the fuck have you been?”

She stared at him in wide-eyed shock. Jenner rarely spoke to her like this. Usually only when he was concerned for her safety, like when she’d run out in front of Gray’s car.

“Hey, don’t talk to her like that,” Tobias commanded.

Jenner turned to him and she tensed, worried that they were about to argue. Immy didn’t want that. She and Tobias hadn’t done anything wrong. But she could also see that Jenner had been worried about her.

She placed a hand on his cheek, turning him to face her. “Jenner, I’m fine.”

He was breathing heavily, his concern in every crease on his face. For once, he looked older than his years. But it looked good on him. He was the type of person who was going to grow more handsome as he aged.

They were all still so young, yet Immy felt far older than twenty-two.

“I didn’t know where you were,” Jenner said. “You should have been with me.”

“I messaged you several times and you didn’t reply. I asked Sampson and he said you guys didn’t need me. So we went to Universal Studios.”

“Messaged me?” He shook his head. “I didn’t see them. Wait, that’s where you were?”

“Yeah. I’m so sorry. You’re right. We should have been here.” She felt terrible. She’d been having fun while Maeve was being kidnapped. “Do we know anything? Has Gray called? Has someone told Cat and Isaiah and Abe?”

She’d tried calling Abe on the way here but hadn’t gotten a reply.

Jenner drew her lip out from between her teeth. “Careful, Twinkles. I’m sorry I overreacted. It’s just when I heard that Maeve had been kidnapped and then I couldn’t call you because I didn’t have my phone?—”

“Where’s your phone?” she asked.

“Lauren has it.”

“Lauren has your phone?” she asked, surprised.

“We ran out of there so quickly after getting the call from Gray that I forgot to get it back. She’ll bring it to me. She’s had it all afternoon. Are you sure you’re all right?” he asked again, running his gaze over her.

“I am. I just . . . I’m so scared. What if he hurts Maeve?”

“No one is hurting Maeve,” Sampson snapped. “Gray will find her. He has to.”

She nodded, chewing on her lip again.

Jenner drew her against him, holding her to his chest. She turned her head to the side, resting it against his chest as she held him tight. Her gaze hit Tobias’s and it was a funny feeling.

Because she was hugging the man she loved while looking at the man . . . who was she coming to like a lot.

Very, very weird.

The knock on the door made her startle and Tobias waved Jenner away as he opened it.

“Oh. Hello, I was looking for Jenner.” Lauren tried to step into the room, but Tobias blocked her way.

“Excuse me,” Lauren said. “Can you move?”

“Did you bring Jenner’s phone?” Tobias asked.

“Yes. Jenner? I need to speak to you about tonight.”

Immy started to loosen her hold on him, expecting him to leave her to speak to Lauren. But Jenner simply tightened his hold.

“Just give Tobias the phone, please, Lauren,” Jenner said. “I’m not doing anything more until my friend has been found.”

“But . . . but we’ve made commitments,” Lauren protested.

“I don’t care.”

“He doesn’t care,” Tobias repeated. “Phone?”

There was a strange noise. Had that come from Lauren? It sounded like she was choking.

“Call me soon, Jenner,” Lauren demanded before the door shut.

She stirred in Jenner’s arms. “I should cancel the commitments you had for this evening.”

That was her job, after all.

“You know what they are?” Jenner asked.

“Um, no.”

She actually had no clue because Lauren hadn’t bothered to clue her in.

“Me neither. Let Lauren take care of that and I’ll take care of you.”

Immy tried not to let those words affect her. But all she wanted in this world was to take care of this man.

And maybe the man standing off to the side, watching on.

Oh. Heck.

It was hours later when they received a call to tell them that Maeve had been found. That she was safe. And that her stalker was dead.

Relief filled her to know that Maeve was safe.

But now they had something else to worry about.

Maeve’s stalker had a Sentinel tattoo on his back. Did that mean the Deity was back? But how?

“I don’t understand,” she muttered. “How? Why would he have a Sentinel tattoo?”

“He could have found out about the cult, about the Sentinels, somehow,” Sampson said. “Then had it tattooed onto his back.”

“There’s some sick fuckers out there who are overly interested in the Deity and the cult,” Jenner said. “Maybe he was one of them. He had an obsession with the cult so he made himself a Sentinel.”

“Hopefully, we find out more once Gray searches his apartment,” Sampson said. “I can’t believe it was her fucking neighbor! Fuck! I can’t believe this happened!”

She’d decided to let them swear without protest. If there was ever a time to swear it was when one of your best friends had been kidnapped.

Fear was sitting low in her tummy, bubbling away.

How would this guy have found out about the tattoo? About them? Sure, there had been a lot of publicity when the cult had been dismantled and raided by the FBI. But they’d all been minors and were kept out of the press.

“Hey, don’t worry.” Jenner crouched in front of her where she sat on the sofa in his suite. “Maeve is all right.”

“He might have hurt her, killed her,” she whispered.

“But he didn’t. She’s safe and this guy is dead. Now that her stalker is taken care of, we can all breathe easier.”

Immy guessed that was true. They no longer had to worry about Maeve’s stalker getting her. Or them.

Did that mean . . . she glanced over at Tobias.

“I suppose you’ll go back to New York and Alejandro,” Jenner said to Tobias.

She immediately wanted to protest. She didn’t want Tobias to go anywhere.

But this wasn’t about her. It would be selfish of her to want him to stay.

“I don’t know. I’ll talk to Alejandro. I’m here for the moment.” Tobias spoke to Jenner, but his gaze was on her. She couldn’t help but shiver in pleasure at having his full attention.

It was a heady feeling.