I feel him leave, his distance making the room swim once more. I feel unsteady when he’s gone. I need him to come back.
I need him back.
I glance up, trying to focus on something in front of me, when I see the bartender staring at me intently.
Something flashes through his eyes. Guilt? Maleficence?
I don’t know, but whatever it is, it’s not good.
My vision grows hazier the longer I stare, and when the bartender steps up to me, his hands landing right before me, I blink up at him.
“You okay?” he asks, and I open my mouth to say something, to tell him that I’m not okay, when he shifts even closer.
“You should drink more. You’re dehydrated.”
He lifts the cup up to my lips, and I swallow the water he pours onto my tongue.
The room twists even more, the colors blurring together in a wild kaleidoscope.
“Wh—”
And then I feel someone behind me, arms wrapping around my waist, and my body being lifted up. I can’t move. Can’t even speak.
And when I hear the voice whisper in my ear, I know who it is.
“Gotcha.”
Henry says it with anger, with malice. There’s no point struggling, no point in trying to escape. They have me.
I knew I shouldn’t have come here, should have turned around the first time my stomach clenched.
I failed. I fucking failed.
I let my eyelids close, let myself be carried away from my family, from the people I love, the people I’d die to protect.
From Georgiy.
His name makes my heart rate pick up.
Oh, when he gets back and finds my seat empty, he’s not going to like this one bit. Not one fucking bit. I shouldn’t have let him leave me, even for a second. I should have made him stay.
He was right. He’s always fucking right.
But the one thing I’m sure of is Henry better pray Georgiy doesn’t find him.
23
GEORGIY
Irush away from Bane, peering back to see him leaning against the bar, his forehead on the slick wood counter. Something isn’t right. I need to get him out of here. But the men we arrived with aren’t where I want them to be. They’re not close enough. I want to call, but my phone is dead. We should have planned better. Should have known this would happen. A contingency is never a bad idea.
I round a corner and find Casey first. Jax and Kit just behind him. They’re wandering around, looking at the slot machines, Casey eyeing the women around him. No one seems concerned about the fact that Bane is alone and waiting for me. That he’s in distress.
“We need to leave!” I bark and their lax bodies snap upward, their gazes swinging toward me.
“Why?” Jax asks, but I don’t answer, just point back to where I came from. I can’t see Bane anymore, but I will. I just need to step forward. Just a few more steps.
My body rounds the corner and I feel the air leave my lungs.
