Page 75

Lucas

I hoist Haven into one of the Glass Rooks’ armored vans and crawl in after her. I’ll only feel like she’s fully safe once she’s locked inside with all of us guarding her.

“Luc,” Haven whispers shakily as everyone else piles in.

Tears have been streaming down her face since I pulled her into the parsonage. I can’t imagine the pain I’d feel if I left my sister in a place like Cornerstone.

Getting myself situated with my back to the side of the van, I pull her into my lap. “You’re safe. I promise you, you’re safe now.”

“But Jeremiah,” she sobs. “And Ruth, and my little brothers and sisters, and—and—”

“They’re gonna be okay,” I tell her. “Jeremiah can hold his own, and he’ll keep your siblings safe.”

She shakes her head. “I don’t want them to have to stay there.”

Colton scoots toward us as Kellan starts the van and gets moving. Xander follows suit until we’re surrounding her. Once she realizes it, I feel her relax against me, but she’s still crying.

Placing a hand on her leg, Colton says, “Angel, right now, we need to focus on you.”

“W-why?”

“Because you’re bleeding,” I tell her.

“I—oh.” Haven’s voice gets small and quiet. “I forgot.”

Cal shoves his way in between Colton and Xander, a large first aid kit in tow. I forgot he’s pre-med, but a swift glance at Colton tells me that he didn’t. There was more than one reason he wanted these three here with us today.

Gently, Cal inspects the bottoms of Haven’s feet. “Did they not give you shoes or something?”

“I… didn’t have time to put them on,” she says, sniffling. “My dad—I had to—”

“Shh, it’s okay,” Xander says softly. “He can’t get to you now.”

With a whimper, Haven buries her face in my chest. She stays like that while Cal gently cleans the dozens of cuts on the soles of her feet. Once they’re bandaged up, he leans back.

“I’ll give you instructions on how to take care of the wounds later. For right now, just try to keep her off her feet as much as possible.”

I nod. “We can manage that.”

“Thank you,” Haven says quietly.

Cal winks at her. “Pretty sure Athelia would cut my dick off if I didn’t fix you up.”

That makes her giggle, and my heart skip a beat. It’s only been a couple days, but I was so terrified I’d never hear that sound again. As I press my face into Haven’s hair, she nuzzles her face against my chest. I wish I still didn’t have my bulletproof vest on, dammit. I want her as close to me as possible.

Cal shoves his first aid kit toward the front of the vehicle and leans against the opposite side of the van. “Aside from almost dying, that was kinda fun, huh?”

Xander grins. “I’ve always wanted to burn a church down.”

That pulls a laugh from Cal. “Gotta be honest, the thought of doing so has never crossed my mind, but we did a damn good job anyway.”

“That was a nice shot you pulled off back there.” Colton nods to Wes. “You saved Haven’s life. Thank you.”

“What I’m here for,” Wes says tiredly. He’s leaning against the side of the van, and both his hands are pressed to his thigh. “Hey, Cal—”

“We’re here,” Kellan declares as he slows the van to a stop.

Haven looks up at me, pulling my attention away from Wes. “Here?”

“We’ve got a long way to go until we’re home, but Athelia wanted to see you as soon as possible,” I say as I undo the handcuffs. “This is just a quick stop.”

Cal is closest to the door, so he opens it and jumps out. I slip my arms underneath Haven and carry her out into the fading light.

Our meetup spot is some abandoned fairground that hasn’t been used in over a decade. Most of it’s a dilapidated wreck, but there are a few solid-looking benches, so I make a beeline for one.

Athelia and Julie both jump out of Julie’s SUV. Another girl follows them, and I quickly realize it’s my sister.

“Luc?” she calls, and when she spots me, she sprints over to us with Athelia on her heels. “Luc!”

“What the hell are you doing here?” I demand as I set Haven down.

Rora immediately flings her arms around my torso. “I was so worried.”

“How did you even know where I was?”

“Does it matter?”

“Yes! It really does.”

“Save the bickering for later,” Athelia says, annoyed. “It’s stressing Haven out.”

There’s nothing that could shut me up faster than that. Tears are falling onto Haven’s cheeks again as Athelia sits on the bench.

“Missed you,” Athelia whispers, her arm coming around Haven’s shoulders. “We brought you some clothes. Do you want to get out of this dress?”

Haven’s bottom lip trembles, and she nods. “I hate this thing.”

Thank fuck. I almost didn’t recognize Haven when I first saw her in that dress. She still doesn’t look like herself, and I know it’s probably fucking with her head.

“All right,” Athelia says. “Let’s get you to the car so you can have some privacy.”

Stepping forward, I scoop Haven up and head toward the SUV. Julie is hovering near it, watching us with tears in her eyes.

“I’m okay,” Haven says as I set her in the backseat.

We all know she’s not. The recovery process from this will take months, if not years.

“Do you want help?” Athelia asks.

Haven shakes her head. “Just close the door, please.”

Before I do, I lean in and kiss her on the forehead. She clutches at my vest and pulls me in until her lips meet mine.

“I love you,” she whispers shakily against my mouth.

“I love you, too, little fawn.” One more small kiss, and I pull away.

She watches me with tears in her eyes as I close the door. I don’t want to leave her alone, but there’s no way in hell I’m disrespecting her boundaries.

When I turn to give her privacy, my eyes fall on Rora. My shock from earlier comes back full force, and I grab her arm. “Explain. How the hell did you find out about this?”

In typical little sister fashion, Rora ignores me. She’s looking around frantically. “Where’s Theo?”

“Theo—wait, is he the one who told you about this?”

What the hell was he thinking?

“Where is he, Luc?! Is he okay?”

“He’ll be here in—” I pause as another armored truck pulls up next to ours. “He’s in there.”

She takes off before I can stop her. The door opens, and Theo is the first one out. He’s still in his gear, and when he sees Rora, he freezes. She barrels into him, and his arms lock around her protectively while he stares down at her in confusion.

For some reason, that makes Athelia frown. She scans the area until she finds whatever it is she’s looking for. Her eyes widen, and her face pales. “Wes?”

I follow her gaze, immediately understanding why. Wes is slowly getting out of the van. His pants are soaked with blood, and he looks like he’s about to pass out.

Athelia takes off toward him, and I’m right on her heels. She grabs onto him just as Wes starts swaying.

With a tired smile, Wes twists a strand of Athelia’s dark green hair around his finger. “There’s my girl. Was wondering where you were.”

“Wes, sit down. You—oh!” Her knees buckle as Wes collapses. She tries to keep him upright, but she’s not strong enough.

“Cal,” I shout as I take the bulk of Wes’s weight. “Get over here!”

Athelia scrambles out of the way as Cal rushes over. He jumps into the van and flings his medical kit open as I pull Wes inside and lay him out on the floor.

“Put pressure on it,” Cal commands as he pulls out the supplies he needs. “And for fuck’s sake, Wes, say something next time.”

“Wanted… wanted you to do Haven first.”

Shit. He already sounds weak.

Cal shakes his head. “Goddammit, Carver. You’re an idiot, you know that?”

Wes winces when I press against the wound on his thigh. He’s already lost a lot of blood. Potentially too much.

“Thelia,” Cal says, “I need you to find someone here who has an O negative blood type.”

“Xander does,” I blurt.

“Then get him over here. Now.”

I look around to find him, only to realize that he’s already sprinting over with Kellan.

“Heard you say my name?”

“Wes needs blood,” I say.

“Shit,” Kellan mutters. “Is he unconscious?”

“Fading in and out,” Cal replies. “Xander, get in here.”

Carefully, Xander climbs into the van and pushes his sleeve up. “Ready when you are.”

Athelia turns and buries her face in Kellan’s chest while Cal gets the blood transfusion set up.

“Keep your arm raised,” Cal tells Xander. “We need gravity on our side. Lucas, keep pressing hard while I cut his jeans off.”

“You got it. Athelia, where’s Haven?”

“Colton has her,” she says. “She’s okay.”

Knowing she’s taken care of, I give Wes my whole focus. Pressure doesn’t seem to be helping enough to stop the bleeding, and Cal notices, too. He rips his belt off and tightens it right above the stab wound.

“You can stop now, Luc.”

As I sit back, Wes opens his eyes. He stares at the ceiling for a second before focusing on Cal, who’s leaning over him to clean the wound. It’s only for a few seconds before he passes out again.

“Come on,” Cal grits out as he starts suturing the wound. “You’re not fucking dying on us.”

The tension in the van is at an all-time high as we watch Cal carefully stitch up… something. An artery? A vein? I don’t know, some type of blood vessel.

By the time Cal is done with that and halfway through closing up the wound, Wes comes to again. He looks a little more alive this time but still pretty damn awful.

“Ow,” Wes groans weakly.

Cal rolls his eyes. “You’ve handled worse than this, you wimp.”

Wes winces. “I don’t… think you’re very good at this.”

“Oh, stop your whining,” Cal grumbles.

“Asshole,” Wes says, his voice barely audible.

“At least I’m not the idiot who got stabbed.”

“I see your bedside manner hasn’t improved, Dr. Graham,” Kellan says dryly. Then he winks at Wes and whispers, “I say you sue him.”

Wes gives him a tired grin that turns into a pained grimace a moment later. “Where… Thel…”

“She’s here,” I say. “You want her?”

It takes Wes a second to be able to speak again. “Need.”

Tentatively, Athelia turns around to face us. I move farther into the van so she has room to sit next to Wes. With a sniffle, she runs her fingers through his brown hair.

“Hey,” she whispers when he finds her. “I’m here.”

Wes’s eyes fall closed for a few seconds before he looks up at her again. He tries to reach for her face, but his hand only makes it halfway.

“Don’t.” Athelia intertwines their fingers. “Just—just stay still.”

“My soul,” he whispers. “Why are you crying?”

“I’m just scared, that’s all.”

“It’s gonna be okay, baby,” Cal says without looking up. “He’ll be fine. Just take a deep breath for me, all right?”

Wes frowns. “You can be nice to her, but not me?”

“Shut up and let me concentrate.”

“Typical,” Wes mutters. He weakly squeezes Athelia’s hand. “I’m gonna sue Cal.”

That makes her laugh, even as her tears fall. “Yeah?”

“Mmm.”

Cal moves on to bandaging the wound, and then he removes his belt. “Need to keep an eye on his pulse, but he should be okay.”

Thankfully, Athelia is too focused on Wes to catch the worry in Cal’s tone. Wes is out again, but he’s still holding Athelia’s hand. Kellan and Cal are watching them both with concern.

“Hey,” Colton says as he walks up. “Is Wes stable?”

“Yeah,” Cal answers. He still has his fingers on Wes’s wrist to keep an eye on his pulse.

“Good. Not to rush this, but we have to keep moving. Lucas, you head back with Haven, Xander, and Wes. Cal and Kellan, too. I’ll drop everyone else off and then see you at home.”

“Can you take Rora back?” I call over to Julie, who’s sitting with Haven on the bench. “She needs to get home as soon as possible.”

“Agreed,” Theo responds, and he cuts Rora a scolding look when she starts to protest.

“Of course I can,” Julie says. “What about Athelia?”

“She stays with us,” Cal answers firmly.

“All right. Let’s go.”

Colton spins around and heads for Haven. He kneels in between her legs and takes both her hands in his. They’re too far away for me to hear what they’re saying, but when Haven desperately shakes her head, I get the picture. She doesn’t want us to be separated.

Gently, Colton tugs her in for a kiss. This has to be hard on him, but he’s head of the Glass Rooks now. That comes with more responsibility, and he’ll never take it lightly.

Haven grabs on to Colton when he picks her up and carries her to the van. “Please,” she begs as they get closer. “Colt—”

“I’ll see you soon, angel.”

When she turns to me, I can see the panic in her eyes, so I take her into my arms and pull her into my lap.

“It’s just for a few hours,” I tell her. “Then we’ll all be together again.”

His jaw clenched, Colton watches Haven for another second before turning away. Kellan closes the door and hops into the driver’s seat, and then we’re pulling away from everyone as they get into the truck.

“I don’t like this,” Haven whispers.

“Neither do I,” I admit, “but we’ll make it through.”

That doesn’t seem to help calm her down, and neither does Xander placing his free hand on her thigh for support. I run a hand down her arm in an attempt to soothe her, but when I look at her, I realize why she didn’t seem like herself earlier.

It wasn’t the dress. It was her hair.

“Hey.” I reach up to touch it, frowning when she shies away. “Where did the purple go?”

“Don’t want to talk about it,” she mumbles.

“Haven—”

“Don’t. Not tonight, Luc. Please.”

“Okay, okay. I’m sorry.”

She turns away from me to hide her face, but I gently grip her chin and guide her back to me.

“Hey,” I whisper. “We don’t have to talk about it, but don’t shut us out. Not when we just got you back.”

“I—I’m sorry, I just—” Her sentence breaks off with a sob, and she lets me pull her into my body.

“I know, little fawn. I know.”

“I want today to be over,” she manages.

The pain in Xander’s eyes matches my own.

“It almost is,” I tell her. “Lean against me, okay? Let yourself sleep.”

“But—”

“Shh, shh. We’ve got you, Haven. I promise.”