I have to get Brooks out of here beforeherfather finds her.
I blow through the line of cars, looking to my left for long enough to give my father’s lieutenant a quick salute.And then we’re speeding into the night, heading for the safe house and a quiet moment–I hope–to figure out what we’re going to do next.
***
The church is old and broken down, missing half its roof, but no one else knows about it.
And the rain has stopped, so we’re not getting wet.
I carry Beau to the nearest bench and lay him gently on it, pausing long enough to glance at his shoulder.Brooks is right; there is a lot of blood.It does need to be stitched up.But first...
I turn to her, take her in my arm, and seal my mouth over hers, desperate for the reminder that she’s alive and safe, and that I still have her with me.She opens her mouth and lets me in, the kiss long and deep and saying all the things we haven’t been able to say to each other yet.
Thank God you’re alive.
Thank God I found you.
Promise me you’ll stop putting yourself in these situations.
When I pull away, I’m breathing hard and furious.“Your brother can’t be here.He was working with your father.”
“Then you’re going to have to leave, because I’m not leaving him,” she says quietly.“He’s my brother, Lucien.I know he’s on our side.I know it.”
“You can’t possibly know that!”
She puts her hand up and brushes her fingertips slowly down my nose, looking at me like I”m the most beautiful thing she’s ever seen, and shakes her head.“Would you ever in a million years believe that Corinne was on the wrong side?”
I don’t even have to think about it.
“Never,” I whisper.
“Then you know why I know Beau isn’t.”
She’s got me there, and I pull her against me and kiss her again, so overwhelmed with the night–the fight, the chase, my father coming to our rescue–that all I want is her.The comfort and warmth of her body, the history between us, the future that we–
“God, I’ve just had the worst week of my life, and now I have to wake up tothis?”
Brooks and I break apart, laughing, and turn to Beau.
“You’ve decided to join us, eh?”I ask, my voice just as dry as his.
He makes a face at me.“Sorry, I sort of got shot.”
Brooks has already dropped to her knees next to him to prod at the wound.“It went through clean, but I need to find some supplies so I can stitch it up.It’s bleeding an awful lot.”
Beau recoils like she just sent a bolt of electricity through him.“Youwant to stitch it up?Are you crazy?Do you think I’m crazy enough to let you get near me with a fucking needle?”
She crosses her arms, immediately the bratty younger sister.“Would you rather sit there bleeding to death, asshole?For your information, I’ve stitched up lots of wounds!”
Now he looks scandalized.“People let you do that?Were they already dead?”
And that’s enough of that.I cut in between them, physically separating them, and look down at Beau.
“Enough.What do you know, Beau?What can you tell us?Spill, or I’ll let her come at you with a needle.”
That does the trick, because though he looks tired and like he hasn’t eaten in a week, he immediately starts talking.“The girls are being divided into three different groups.Some of them go to the ships, to international destinations.Some of them are kept here, for...auctions?”
Brooks nods at that, and I remember how close she was to being sold at an auction herself.
