“Right,” he began, drawing out the word, “you don’t know.” Shifting forward in the chair, Thatch gripped his hands and released a harsh breath. “Remember how Rush left the office yesterday in the middle of us trying to figure everything out? Didn’t say a word to anyone, justleft?”
I thought back through what I could remember of yesterday that hadn’t been life-altering. News that Mallory was pregnant. Mallory bleeding out in her kitchen.
Life-altering.
A grunt rumbled from me when I vaguely remembered Rush stalking through the main office in the middle of Briggs giving out orders.
“It’s because he was heading out to take care ofhispart of the plan. Briggs sent him to New York to get Peyton—to make sure there weren’t any ‘Davises’ there—because she still wasn’t answering their calls or texts.” The way he drifted off let me know that wasn’t the end of it, so I just waited as he glanced from the door to Mallory.
“Briggs has been in a bad way,” Thatch muttered. “With what happened to Monroe and because he almost abandoned his part of the mission before he could finish it when he got a text from Rush, mid-flight.”
A curse slipped from me. “What happened to Peyton?”
Thatch lifted his hands before clasping them again. “It was a screenshot from Peyton with an address and the wordhelp. It’s the first either of them have heard from her since Briggs’ wedding, and Rush was telling Briggs that she still wouldn’t respond after that.”
Unease slid through my veins as I thought over his words. “That...Thatch, he’s walking into a trap.”
“Walked,” he corrected. “This was still yesterday. And they both knew that, but it’s Peyton. Briggs already lost one sibling, he wasn’t about to lose the other. And Rush...” Silence settledbetween us for a second before Thatch continued on a sigh. “He’d go running into battle unarmed for Peyton.”
My brows shot up. “Does Briggs know this?” I asked slowly, cautiously, then demanded, “Wait, how doyouknow? And why didn’t I?”
“Because it was a lifelong secret Rush only admitted to me when I thought he was going after Chloe, and I think he’d planned on taking it to his grave.” Hesitation bled from Thatch before he mumbled, “No way Briggs doesn’t put it together after this trip though. I don’t know how he didn’t put it together with how Rush nearly came unglued at the thought of Peyton being in danger yesterday.”
A confirming grunt rumbled in my chest.
And knowing Briggs, he’d either lose it and unleash his fury on Rush, or he’d shut his best friend out completely. I didn’t envy Rush either way.
But that was the very least of my worries right then.
“You saidwalked,” I realized. “Did he find a Davis there?”
“I don’t know,” Thatch said as he leaned back in his chair, shrugging as he did. “All Briggs knows is that Rush found Peyton. Rush didn’t say if she was okay, alive...nothing. And now he isn’t responding. Briggs is close to a breaking point.”
My head dipped as I thought through everything he said as we settled into a weighted silence. “I heard you, but get Briggs to go home.”
“No chance,” Thatch muttered, then jerked his chin at me. “Sleep. I’ll let you know if there are any changes with Monroe.”
A smirk tugged at my mouth, but there wasn’t an ounce of amusement in my body. “It isn’t that easy. I?—”
“Gray, I get it,” he said softly but earnestly. “Your eyes have darted to the monitor behind me about a hundred times since I’ve been in here. You’re not sleeping because you’re studying that thing and tracking the changes every time it goes off.” Hegave me a look full of understanding. “Trust me to take this watch.”
I held his stare a while longer, mentally going through every argument against why I shouldn’t let myself relax enough to truly sleep. But each one only led down a path I refused to go down.
With a reluctant nod, I settled deeper next to Mallory, my body still tense as I waited for the next time the blood pressure cuff would start up again.
But the next time my eyelids shot open, it was to the nurse coming in to get the baby’s readings as my chest pitched and heart wrenched in the most bittersweet way, because a dizzying array of memories were flooding my mind...
I remem?—
“Time for you to go,” the nurse said unapologetically to Thatch, who just smirked at me.
“Good nap?” he asked, then jerked his head at the monitor and whispered, “Look at your girl.”
Hope flared so fast and so great that I nearly choked on it as I tried to understand what I was seeing.
Higher numbers.
All of them.
