Ryder does the same and follows Dex from the room.
There’s so much I still need to find out about. I must have fallen asleep before I could find out everything.
After I use the bathroom, I make my way downstairs and find them all in the living room. Micah gets up and strides towards me, jerking me into his arms. “It’s so good to see you walk around that corner, shithead.”
I smile despite myself at that nickname. “It’s good to see your face too.”
He steps back, and I go straight to Gage, sliding onto the chaise between him and Leo. I need constant reminders that he’s here.
“Hey, Pretty girl,” he greets, tucking me into his side and kissing me on my head.
“Tell me what I missed,” I say to the room.
One by one, they fill me in on Nina loving life in New York, Leo’s mom still with Rocco because Viktor is still a threat, them keeping tabs on Viktor, Alexey, and Dmitri moving out, Playboy getting clean and stepping up looking for Zane and me, Lucas and Landon being homeschooled by Gerald and Boone, the alliance between Ghost and Squid, and then Gage tells me about what happened after he was shot.
“Then these fuckers shipped me off to Cabo,” he finishes. “Can you believe that shit?”
“If I were here, I would have done the same,” I tell him, and he rolls his eyes. “You could have died, Gage. No one could live with that.”
“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell him,” Leo says, squeezing my knee. “He won’t listen to me.”
“That’s because you shove it down my throat,” Gage argues, looking around me at Leo.
“Because you’re fucking hardheaded,” Leo says with a sickly-sweet smile aimed at Gage.
I see an apparent old argument brewing between them, so I turn to face Gage. “We want you here with us. The thought of you not being here crushed me. There is no life without you in it.” I lay my hand over his heart and soak in that it’s beating healthy and strong. “Let him worry about you. Letusworry about you.”
He slowly nods in agreement, with tears filling his eyes. “I’m sorry, Pretty girl. I let them get the drop on us.”
“No. You didn’t. This isn’t on you, so wipe that from your head. I didn’t take the threat of him seriously enough. Now I will,” I tell him.
“We have people out looking for him, and Holden is trying to track him down,” Dex says. “We will get him.”
“He’s got money,” Ryder adds. “He’ll try to skip the country, so Holden froze his accounts.”
I smile at that. “Where is Holden?”
Ryder and the guys exchange a look before Ryder looks back at me. “In his office.”
“What am I missing?” I ask.
“He stays in there, Baby,” Leo answers quietly.
I pat both Gage and Leo’s legs before standing up. “I’ll go get him.”
I pad softly to the office, my feet still killing me, and knock once before opening the door. Holden is sitting in his chair in front of his many monitors, tapping wildly.
“I told you I’ll be out in a minute,” he says without looking up.
“It’s me.”
His head jerks up at my voice, and he’s out of his chair before I can blink with me wrapped in his arms. His whole body is vibrating with emotion. “Bright eyes.”
I hug him tight and soak in Holden’s warmth. “I missed you.”
“I missed you too, so damn much,” he says, inhaling. “I missed this smell.”
I almost didn’t use it when I took a shower because Jay made me wash with it. But in the end, I knew the guys loved it and wanted to give them something.
