I stiffen.“She doesn’t go anywhere without me.”
“No argument here,” Chux says.
“But she does go,” Nitro adds.“You both do.Because wherever Greene shows up next, he’ll bring backup.”
Kelly slips her hand into mine.I squeeze lightly.She squeezes back.
Nitro pauses, watching us.“You good enough to move?”
Kelly nods.“Yes.”
I interject.“She’s rattled.”
“I’m not,” she whispers.
“You shot someone,” I remind her.
Her chin lifts.“To save you.”
Every man in the room stills.I go absolutely rigid.And then something happens, something I feel before I see.I turn toward her.Step in closer.Grabbing her waist with one hand, tilting my chin up with the other.
And then with my lips against her temple, I mutter, voice shaking, “You saved me.”
Kelly swallows hard.“I wasn’t letting him take you.”
“You remember us,” I whisper.
“I do.”
“Then remember this too,” I share not caring who is here.I need her to know Voice shaking, I admit, “I love you.”
Kelly blinks, breath catching, tears filling her eyes faster than I can stop them.
I didn’t plan to say it now.nIt came out of me the same way a dam breaks—too much pressure, too much rage, too much fear.
But once it’s in the air, neither of us can pretend it’s not real.
So I whisper, “I loved you before.I know I still do.I want a chance to make new memories with you, Sunshine.”
Twenty-Two
Kelly
Every memory that returns feels like a flame igniting and Riot is the spark to set it ablaze.
This other compound is nothing like the previous places.It feels older.Deeper.As if it was carved from the earth itself long before the Kings existed.I knew they were a group of outlaws, but to have so many places across the state is crazy to me.
Thick concrete walls.Steel reinforcements.A long hallway lined with dim amber lights that hum quietly like distant bees.Doors with biometric locks.Rooms built not for comfort, but survival.
Riot never lets go of my hand as he guides me through the entrance tunnel, and I don’t try to pull away.My fingers fit in his too naturally, like this isn’t our first time walking like this.
Maybe it isn’t.
Maybe I’ve done this before followed him into darkness because his presence cut a path I could trust.
Chux walks ahead, barking orders to the brothers escorting us.Stunt and Nitro flank our sides.Shaft and Mellow take the rear.Their weapons are out, their steps heavy.
It should scare me.All this force.All this tension.But instead, I feel something else rising in me.
