“Chloe!” I yelled hoarsely.
I took off running toward the carnage as she crawled out from beneath the bike. She limped toward me; her arms outstretched while tears soaked her cheeks. I scooped her trembling body into my arms. I tucked her head into the crook of my neck as I spun around, watching as Dean tuck his gun away beneath his armpit.
And I swear to fuck on high, I had never loved that man more than I did in that moment.
“We need to go,” a man said as he came out of nowhere, grabbing my arm. “Come on, I’ve got a van pulled around the other side.”
I looked back down the road at Dean, and he nodded his head, signaling to me that the man gripping my upper arm was safe. So, I ran as quickly as I could to keep up until we got to a white van that had been pulled to the shaded side of the abandoned brick building. Chloe shook in my arms, crying so hard that she started coughing. And as I held her as tightly as possible, the man threw the doors open so we could get in back.
“We’re going to get you guys to safety. Just hold on, okay?” the man asked.
“Wait, wait, wait, wait,” I said breathlessly. “What’s your name?”
He grinned. “Diego. It’s nice to meet you.”
I sighed as I rocked Natty side to side. “Thank you, Diego.”
He nodded. “My pleasure.”
Then, he slammed the doors closed, locking us away from the rest of the world.
While I held my only friend in the world in my arms so tightly that someone would’ve needed a fucking crowbar in order to pry me off.
Twenty-Five
Frost
I stood there and watched as Diego loaded them into the back of a van. I blinked back tears as I pulled myself from the fog of my own icy demeanor. I felt someone pat me on the shoulder before Texas came up to my side, and it was good to see the man upright.
“Like I said, she’s a hell of a woman,” he said.
And that was all he said before I allowed my shoulders to collapse.
As Diego climbed into the front seat, I took off running. I knew the guys would be able to clean up this mess just fine. What I needed, however, was to be with my family, and Chloe was part of that family. She had helped raise Natty. She had helped take care of my daughter as well as Lexi. And she deserved to be surrounded by people she felt safe with. I caught up to him just as he backed the van out of the shadows, and as I banged my fist against the side of the van, I heard Chloe yelp in back.
Before Diego rolled down his window. “I take it, you want to drive them back?”
I opened the door. “They’re going to need help with clean-up, and I can’t focus on that shit. I’ll drive them back.”
“Lexi? What’s going on? Are they back?”
And after I had switched places with Diego, I closed the door and peeked my head into the back of the van.
“You guys are safe. I’m going to take you back to the warehouse, okay?” I asked.
Lexi breathed a sigh of relief. “It’s Dean, Chloe. We’re safe. He’s going to get us to safety, okay?”
Chloe sniffled and it broke my damn heart. “Please don’t tell me they got Natty. Please tell me she ran like I told her to.”
Lexi giggled as I pulled onto the road. “You did so good, Chlo. You saved my daughter’s life. You saved your niece. You just relax. I promise she’s okay, and she sure as hell is ready to see you.”
“So, she’s okay? She’s really okay?”
I chuckled as I eased out onto the main road. “Natty is just fine. She’s back at the warehouse with a bunch of other kids watching a movie and eating snacks.”
“Oh, thank fuck,” Chloe whispered.
I took them straight back to the warehouse. I didn’t pass go. I didn’t collect two-hundred dollars. I didn’t do shit. I stayed the course until we pulled right up to the front door, and the entire way there I heard Lexi and Chloe crying with one another in the back of the van. I kept my anger under control as much as possible as I parked the van and cut the engine. I pushed through the door and dropped down, scrambling to get the van doors open. When I threw them open, the evening sunlight flooded the back of the van.
