He furrowed his brow.“You don’t remember?You were kidnapped.”
Faint memories drifted through my mind, and I closed my eyes.I didn’t remember—or at least couldn’t remember fully.Diya and I had gotten into a fight, and then I left, and someone had come up to me on the street and …
Tears filled my eyes.I didn’t evenwantto remember.
“Where are the others?”
“Calix and Rush are in the lobby, sleeping, and Frasier got kicked out for shouting at a nurse about your IV,” he said, glancing at the door.“Arch has been by your bedside all night.He hasn’t stepped out since he got here.”
“Arch?As in my stepbrother Arch?”
A low chuckle left his mouth.“Yes.He didn’t want anyone else in the room with you, said he’d kill them first.So, we all camped out in the lobby once we found out that you were breathing again.”
My lips twitched into a small smile.Arch had so much emotion that he didn’t know what to do with it, and I thought it was actually … kinda cute.He hid behind his coldness, but I was beginning to see through it.
Little by little.
“Rush and Arch killed the guy who had taken you,” Cairo said.
I sucked in a breath and nodded.I didn’t want details.
“Oh yeah, and Mira’s dead too.”
Eyes widening, I sat up.“She is?”
“Arch,” he said, as if that answered my question.
“He … killed her?Why?How?”
“For an hour or so, we thought that they had dumped your body off at the Overlook.Arch went in the water to try and find you, but?—”
“Wait, wait, wait.Arch went into the water at the Overlook?Is he crazy?!”
“I know, but we found Mira instead, so he kinda … sorta …” He shrugged and made a kicking motion.“You know?”
While deathdefinitelywasn’t something to laugh over, I found myself giggling.Yes, giggling for some sick reason.As much as Arch didn’t want to admit it, that asshole had feelings for me.I’d even go as far as to say that the fucker loved me.
And honestly?I loved him too.
CHAPTERNINETY-ONE
ASTRID
Sunlight floodedinto the hospital room through the blinds, and I sat up in bed.My entire body ached in places I hadn’t even knowncouldache.God, I was getting so old, and I was still in high school.
I grabbed the water that Cairo had in his hand and sipped it.He had fallen asleep in the chair next to me sometime in the past hour, his soft snoring filling the room.My head throbbed, and my throat was burning.
While Cairo had told mesomeof what had happened in the past forty-eight hours, I was still trying to piece it all together.Who had taken me?What had Diya had to do with any of this?And most importantly, where were my other guys?
The door creaked open, and Calix stepped in quietly, probably still thinking that I was sleeping.Messy hair, wrinkled shirt, clenched jaw, he looked rough.His eyes met mine, and he blew out a sigh of relief.
“Thank fuck,” he murmured, hurrying over to me and kissing me on the forehead.“Arch said you were awake.”
“How are you doing?”I whispered, wrapping my fingers around his.
“How areyoudoing?”
“I’m fine,” I said.“But I was asking about you.”
