She blinks, her screams drying up as she takes me in. She’s slow to register that it’s me, but after a beat, she sucks in a breath and squeaks my name. “Ty.”
“Yeah, I’m here. Are you okay?”
She’s a shaking mess, of course she’s not okay! Her eyes dart past me to the guy on the floor, her lips trembling as she stares at him.
Grady’s already behind me, checking on the man, who has obviously had too much to drink.
“He’s out cold,” he murmurs. “Hey, buddy! Wake up, man.”
“Is he breathing?” Dani whispers, her voice a breathy mess.
I take in my friend and the prone guy on the floor… and suddenly it hits me like a sledgehammer.
Holy shit.
Atlas.
I whip back around to check on Dani, and I see it in the glazed look on her face. She’s back there, relieving every awful moment of finding Atlas on the bathroom floor and trying to wake him.
Grady manages to rouse a groan from the guy, and I brush my thumbs across her cheeks. “He’s fine. He’s gonna be okay.”
“We still need to get him to a hospital,” Grady murmurs. “Hey, Zander! You out there?”
“Yeah, man.” Zander’s head appears. “What do you need?”
“This guy needs checking out. We either need to call an ambulance or take him to the hospital.”
“Ben’s already calling 9-1-1,” someone shouts from behind Zander, and then a tall guy with shaggy spiral curls appears. I recognize him from the basketball team. “An ambulance is on its way.”
Zander disappears from view to no doubt double-check on that phone call, so I focus back on Dani.
“Hey,” I whisper, rubbing her cheeks again. “Come back to me. It’s okay. No one’s dead. Everything’s fine.”
She lets out a shaky breath, her body shuddering. I need to get her the fuck out of here.
“Come on.” I stand up, taking her hand and pulling her to her feet.
Wrapping my arm securely around her, I try to shield her from view as I walk her out of the party. Bug-eyed stares and whispers follow us, but Wily and Zander soon create a barricade.
“She okay?” a concerned voice asks, and I glance up to see Asher Bensen and Liam Carlisle join the line, walking us out of the party like our personal bodyguards.
“Yeah, she’s gonna be fine,” I answer, hoping with everything I’ve got that it’s true.
As soon as we get outside, our human shield disperses and I walk Dani down to my car, only just remembering Nix.
“We need to let Nix know that we’re leaving.”
“She’s gone already,” Dani rasps. She’s still shaking, so I hold her a little tighter, slowing my pace to match her shuffle.
“What do you mean, she’s gone?” I ask as calmly as I can.
“She left. Ricky’s cheating on her. She saw it, and she bailed.”
“Holy shit.” I blink. “That asshole.”
“That’s what I said.” Dani closes her eyes. “And then I slapped him. Twice.”
“Really?” I can’t help my instant smile. Squeezing her a little closer, I kiss the top of her head, relieved that she’s starting to talk coherently. She’s coming back. This nightmare can be over, and we can move on. We can put this behind us and?—
