“You’ll be good, Mace,” I said quietly. “I promise.” I gave her shoulder a tight squeeze.
She tied her sneakers and took a moment for herself to slow her anxious breaths, and then she stood tall. “Yep,” she answered a little too brightly. “Sure. Good.” The fear was still there but she was determined to push through it, the way she always had.
We made our way through the house like ghosts on a mission. Macy stayed close enough that her body heat pressed against my back. I moved down the hall with confidence, crossing through the living room and to the door that took us to the garage.
My bike sat there, ready to help us get away quickly. I gave Macy a push towards the bike just as breaking glass sounded on the other side of the house. “Hurry!” I whispered, shoving my key into the ignition and jumping on the bike.
The engine roared to life as the garage door lifted.
A gunshot disturbed the peaceful quiet in my neighborhood. Instead of looking around, I gunned it and we shot out of the garage like a bullet. The sound of rounds tearing through the air behind us a constant, physical threat. Macy clung to me, her head pressed against my back, her arms tight around me.
Trusting me.
I didn’t look back and we didn’t get hit. Thank fuck.
The road blurred before me and I pushed my bike harder and faster, adrenaline burned through my veins. My desperation to keep Macy safe was a tangible thing pressing down on my chest and it was only when we were blocks away, the gunshots a distant memory, did I take a full breath.
They had found us.
They’d found Macy, which meant the danger wasn’t just theoretical, not just some future fucking date. It was here.
And it wasn’t going away until someone ended it.
That someone had to be me.
I promised.
Chapter Eighteen
Macy
They found me. Theyfuckingfound me.
The thought looped in my head like a chant I couldn’t shut off. No matter how fast the bike had gone. No matter how hard Drew had pushed it. No matter how far we were from the house when he finally slowed and pulled us into the lot behind the clubhouse. They were here. They’d found me anyway.
I sat on an uncomfortable metal chair at the back of the clubhouse, my arms wrapped around my body with my hands tucked under them. The clubhouse buzzed around me in low voices and motorcycle boots shuffling across the concrete floor. The scrape of chairs each time someone joined or left a table. The sounds were distant though, like I was hearing everything from underwater. I watched the world move all around me, but I wasn’t part of it.
Last night, I’d fallen asleep in Drew’s arms, thinking we’d have more time together. More time for there tobea Drew and me. Time for us. Time for more orgasms and laughter, for waking up tangled together like that’s how it was supposed to be.
I had stupidly let myself believe in a fucking fairytale. I knew better than that. My life was only a fairytale in the twisted German version, but I’d let myself believe. That friendship and fucking could maybe—eventually—turn into something more.
But the past didn’t give a shit about what I wanted.
Never had.
“Hey.” Ellie’s hand landed softly on my shoulder, and I gasped before I could hold it back. My heart kicked hard against my chest and my breaths came out too fast. With concern etched in her eyes, she crouched in front of me. “Hey, sorry. It’s just me.”
I nodded, willing my lungs to work how they were supposed to. I focused on her face, her soft, girl next door beauty darkened by concern. And exhaustion. “Hey,” I said, trying for casual.
She smiled. “How are you holding up?”
It was such a ridiculous question to my mind, but as I looked at this woman, I realized that despite her worry and her exhaustion, shewasn’tfreaking out.Lucky her.A bitter laugh escaped and I shook my head. “I don’t know. Scared shitless is at the top of the list, though. Guilt is a close second. That I brought all this to your doorstep.”
She didn’t flinch and she didn’t look offended. “That’s understandable,” she said as she got to her feet and pressed a cold bottle of beer into my palm. “Drink. It’ll help.”
I did, letting the icy drink go down my throat while I waited for it to work. The beer was decent, but the carbonation helped, making my eyes water and reminding me I was still here.So are they.
Ellie took the empty chair across from me. “This isn’t easy. It never is.” She sighed, but her voice was quiet and reassuring. “The good news is that you’re exactly where you need to be. The boys will handle it.”
