“Is she okay?” I ask.
His voice fills my ear before the words fully roll off my tongue. “You need to get over here right now!” he booms. “How fast can you—” He pauses, then his voice drops in volume even though he’s still screaming. “Hey! Stay there, you piece of shit, or I’ll break your fucking neck!”
Fear clutches my throat first, closely followed by worry erupting inside my chest like a fucking volcano, filling my veins with hot lava. I never stop worrying about Mia, but it’s a controlled kind of unease. One I can cap to an extent.
At least I like thinking I can.
Now? Now it’s a mixture of unrelenting fear and fury jolting me upright in a split second.
“What the fuck happened?” I snap halfway out the building without one word to Logan or Theo. They read the tone of my voice perfectly, following suit, their chairs scraping along the floor as they scramble to their feet.
“I’ve got two guys here,” Johnny says, breathing heavily as if he ran ten flights of stairs. “One’s unconscious, one has a mouthful of hisdickmissing, and your girl is hysterical.”
My blood turns to cherry slurpy, and my stomach bottoms out like a runaway elevator. “Where are you?”
My brothers catch up with me when the engine of my G Wagon springs to life, disturbing the otherwise quiet evening. They hop in, both as tense as I am, both silent when the hands-free system activates, and Johnny’s voice seeps from the speakers.
“Restroom upstairs. This doesn’t look good. I’m so fucking sorry! I had her, I watched her all the time, but your brothers started a fight downstairs. Thirty assholes joined in! We were kicking them out and...” He pushes a shaky breath down his nose. “Mia went back in to grab her bag—” A loud thud sounds in the background, and someone cries out in pain. “What did I say?! Stay there! Don’t fucking move!”
“Johnny!” I snap, gripping the wheel tighter as I back out of the parking space, wheels squealing. “Where’s Mia?”
“She’s throwing up. Fuck, it’s a bloodbath here. I don’t know what went down but from what I can make out, this is too much to handle. She was gone fiveminutes tops before we started looking!” Another thud, quieter this time. More of a thump, really, as if he hit the wall with his fist. “Goddamnit! Where are you?!”
“On my way. Ten minutes. Pull yourself together.” I press my foot down, imagining the scene from the little information I have. Blood. Mia—scared enough to puke. Two men. I grind my teeth, praying those fuckers didn’ttouchher. “Is she hurt?” I rasp, my throat tight, words struggling to come.
“I don’t think so. She’s not said anything. Just told me to get you. I think... oh, man...” he whines, clearly distraught. “There’s blood everywhere.” He takes a few steps; the sound of his heavy boots beats out of the speakers. Another thud—a kick to someone’s stomach judging by the cough and whimper. “What did you do to her?!”
“Johnny!” I boom again, hands shaking like I’m coming down from a week-long drinking session. “Tell Mia I’m on my way. Did you call the cops? Are the triplets there?”
“Yeah, they’re here. I’ve not called the cops, not yet.”
I don’t have to tell my brothers to get it done. Theo pulls his phone out immediately.
“Clear the club and don’t let those motherfuckers get away.”
“On it,” he says quickly. “I’m on it, boss.”
I hack the wheel again when he cuts the call. My pulse is going so fast the drumming in my ears borders on painful.
“Shawn’s on his way,” Theo says, weighing every word.
He knows I can barely hold my composure as I redial Johnny.
“Stay on the fucking line!” I snap when he answers. “Shawn will be there soon. How’s Mia?”
“She stopped puking. She’s okay, not hurt.”
I should be there with her. I should hold her. Calm her down. Calmmyselfdown. Instead, I’m veering around traffic on Main Street, breaking too many laws and willing the miles away. “Are those fuckers still there?”
“Yeah, both unconscious now.” He lowers his voice to a whisper. “One isn’t breathing, Nico.”
My foot falters on the gas pedal.
Not breathing? Fuck. Gruesome scenarios flood my brain, but I push them away.
Mia’s safe.
She fought them off.
