“Then he can ask Alexei.”
“You think he knew? He looked fucking blindsided.”
“That’s their problem.” River took Locke’s place on Folk’s other side. “And they’ll figure it out. It’s why they’ve got fancy titles and shit and we’re just grunts trying to keep them alive.”
I stewed on that, but not for long. Folk’s skin was too cold, and we’d forgotten to put a shirt on him before Locke had placed the IV.
Body heat.I moved closer, lacing our fingers together, and the hiss of the oxygen tank became the shittiest way to count the seconds and minutes that took me closer to when I had to leave him.
“I’m not going anywhere,” River said. “Or I can take Ivy if you want. Dude, any of us can. We’ll take care of her.”
I knew that. But I’d already been absent when she’d woken up when I’d promised to be right there. I’d heard her ask Orla where I was as she’d danced downstairs for breakfast. I could hear hernow, giggling in the yard as she played a game with Liliana, waiting for me to come find her. “Thanks, but it’s gotta be me. Look after him?”
“Always.”
I dragged myself off the bed and forced myself to leave without looking back.
Ivy was by the outdoor kitchen. She already had paint on her cardigan, but I had spares in the car. No clue where my bike was, I’d left it at the side of the road. “Come on, bug. Time for school.”
“Folksie calls me bug. Because I’m notlittle.”
“I know.”
“Is he back yet?”
The lie choked me. “No.”
I drove her to school and walked her into the classroom.
Her teacher waited for me at the door. “Everything okay?”
She’d asked me that every day since the police had told them where Lauren had gone. Until now, I’d given her the same generic answer, but I’d used up all my bullshit lying to Ivy about Folk. “Not really. It might not be me who picks Ivy up later.”
“Who is it?”
“My brother.”
“His name? I’ll put him on the list.”
I blurted the first name that popped into my head. “Rubi. Ivy knows him. She’ll be excited to go with him.”
Of course she would, but as I walked away, it occurred to me that it would’ve been far less complicated for me to have said Mateo.
God, I was tired. Only the horrible knowledge that Folk was so much worse off had me jogging to my car and burning it back to the compound at record speed.
I abandoned the SUV in the first space I saw and dashed into the clubhouse.
Cam was at the bottom of the stairs, phone pressed to his ear.
He stepped out of my way.
I reached Nash’s room and pushed the door open.
Folk’s bare back greeted me. He was sitting up, facing the window, leaning heavily on his bent knees as Locke and River flanked him.
River backed up, making room for me.
Locke stayed and I realised I’d walked in on some kind of stand-off.
