I offer a weak smile. “Does he know you’re here?”
Mace taps the camera pinned to his vest. “I’ve been livestreaming the whole thing to him. I would have brought him along, but I hear Mommy doesn’t let him stay out late.”
I look down the lens. “Can he hear us?”
“Would I be calling my new bestie a mommy’s boy if he could hear?”
“Absolutely,” says Hunter. “Mace doesn’t waste his breath insulting people behind their back.”
Mace winks at me. “He can hear.”
I’m still looking at the camera. If Strider’s listening, he’ll know our mission to save Blake has failed. He’s going to be devastated. “We tried,” I tell him, my voice wobbling. “Thank you.”
I wish I could give Strider a hug, and I’m grateful that I have Reid’s arms around me, arms I never want to leave. He only loosens his grip long enough to slip Ash’s bulletproof vest over me.
“We need to get you back to the helicopter. Are you good to go?” he asks, fastening the last strap.
I cup his face in my hands and tip my head back to look at him,reallylook at him. “Not yet,” I whisper. He’s traced my body from head to toe, but I need just a little more of his worshiping.
Reid pulls my body to his, and when he covers my trembling smile with his, our mouths meld. His tongueparts my lips, and as our kiss deepens, Ash clears his throat.
“We’ll wait outside.”
From the look everyone gave me when I walked into the diner, I was sure I must look like I’d just stepped out of a horror movie, but as I check myself in the restroom mirror, I simply look disheveled. I suspect the attention I’d drawn had more to do with my arrival in the helicopter that landed in the parking lot ten minutes ago.
There had been a change of clothes waiting for me when we’d reached the helicopter, and I’d stripped out of my blood-soaked t-shirt and jog pants behind a wall constructed of the broad backs of Griffin brothers. Wet wipes had helped clean up the bloody smears left on my skin, but there was nothing I could do about my hair. At least the blood isn’t noticeable with my chocolate brown hair coloring, but the metallic smell lingers. It should revolt me, but I’d gladly bathe in Ilya’s blood for what he did to Blake and countless others.
As I step out of the restroom, Reid’s waiting for me. “Do you want to stay in here and wait, or go back to the others?”
I glance out the window towards the three men pacing in front of the helicopter.
“Can we stay in here?” I ask. “I don’t think I can cope with their…” I pause to find the right word. “Their enthusiasm right now.”
Reid guides me towards an empty booth, pulling me to sit next to him as if the width of a table would be too much separation. “They want to look after you.”
“Yeah, that’s going to take a bit of getting used to considering I thought they wanted to kill me an hour ago.”
We were meant to head straight for the jet waiting to take us back to Chicago, but I’m not the only one impatient to know how far Ilya’s lies had gone. Ash was piloting the helicopter, because of course the head of the Griffin empire can fly one, and he’d made the unscheduled stop at the all-night pharmacy Mace had found online. All I had to do was pee on the stick.
I place the pregnancy test on the table in front of us. Now we wait.
Reid circles his arms around my waist. “I want to look after you too.” He squeezes me tighter. “Iwilllook after you.”
Before I can respond, a waitress appears. “What can I get you two?”
“Coffee’s fine for now,” Reid says.
The waitress glances at the test Reid and I are actively ignoring. “Sure thing, I’ll give you a few minutes.”
I’m pressed shoulder to shoulder with Reid, but I keep my hands clasped in front of me. “Are you sure you’re ready to be stuck with me?”
“Have you not been paying attention?” he asks. “I don’t want a life without you, Quinn. I’ve had a taste of that over the past few days, and sorry, but it’s not for me.”
“I really am sorry I put you through that.”
“I didn’t know if I’d lost you, or if I’d never had you in the first place,” he admits.
“You had me,” I say. My hands fidget in my lap. “Youhaveme, Reid. If you still want me?”
