"Go with your sister, I’ll follow in my car."
I look at him, not sure if I can trust him to keep his word after I broke mine. Not knowing why it bother me so much. We only met a couple of hours ago and yet in that time I’ve gone through a range of feelings and now ended on, what?
He found my sister.
Gratitude is what I’m feeling. I’d do well not to mistake it for anything else.
I look around, Laurie has her window down, watching me, and after everything she has been through this week, I need to be with her right now.
"Luka, you stay back and organize the clean-up," Yakove finally says and my shoulders sag with relief. "I’ll follow the SUV’s to the safehouse."
Yakov takes my hand, his is warm, solid, covered in blood that's mostly not his, and leads me to Laurie.
"Get in," he says. "I’ll be right behind you."
"How do I know?" I ask.
"Because I keep my promises, Laney." I take the dig. I deserve it after entering the warehouse and causing more trouble than not.
He closes the door, and for a second we just sit there in the darkness, breathing, coming down from the adrenaline.
"I can’t believe you found me," Laurie says, breaking the silence and taking my hand in hers.
"It was him, I mean I was close, but if it wasn’t for him, I’d have been joining you in that shipping container under the same circumstances as the rest of you."
"He is certainly something," she says as she drops her head onto my shoulder and drifts off to sleep.
Yakov
I knew she wouldn't be able to stay in the car. The fury that floods through my veins is hot and spiky. Even though I know I’d have done the exact same thing in her situation.
I follow the SUV close enough that is she turns in her seat, she could see me, then pull up right behind it when it stops outside of the small gated property that the safehouse sits on.
The doors open and Pav gets out of the driver’s side, opening the back door and waiting for Laurie to climb out. Laney quickly climbs out of the other side, rounding the back of the SUV and coming to help Laurie.
Our eyes meet, and as much as I want to be wrong, I know I won’t be able to fight whatever this is inside me. The urge to be near her, with her, is going to consume me.
It’s late, I should be helping with the clean up and leaving these women to be cared for by the medics and men who aren’t as scary as I am. But I couldn’t leave her and I knew she couldn’t leave her sister.
Her scent still lingers in the car, mixed with leather and the coppery tinge of blood that is pouring from my shoulder wound a little more freely than I’d like.
I don’t move, instead, I watch as she makes her way up to the front door of the safe house, lights already on inside, the other women already there. Twelve of them in total. I pull out myphone and text Adrik with a few details. Enough to keep him updated but not so much that it takes me ages to type out.
It’s almost midnight when I finally get out of the car and head inside, no longer able to ignore the wound on my shoulder.
As soon as I enter the house, Laney is there, looking at me with a combination of confusion and curiosity.
"I thought you’d changed your mind," she says quietly, twisting her fingers together.
"About what?" I ask.
Her big eyes drop from mine and it’s clear to anyone who looks at her that exhaustion is warring with what’s left of her adrenaline, and beginning to win.
"Me." Her voice is quiet. Timid almost, like finding Laurie has finally given her body the opportunity to relax, but it’s taken all the fight from her too. I hate seeing her like this. She needs rest.
"No," I say. "I couldn’t even if I wanted to. But you do need to rest. Go be with Laurie while I get patched up."
Her eyes flit to my shoulder and she winces. "You’re going to need stitches," she says.
