Instead of hearing her voice, I heard loud, uncontrollable sobbing.
“Fuck, hold on. Boys, I need to take this.”
I moved from the room, taking the stairs two at a time until I reached my bedroom.
“Princess?”
…
“Fern?”
…
“Fuck, you’re freaking me out. Tell me what you need.”
“You,” she forced out in between sobs.
“You need me to come over?”
“P-please. Charlie, I’m so scared.”
“I’m coming. I’m leaving right now. Stay on the phone. Is Jarrid there?”
“Outside, I think.”
“You need him to wait inside till I get there?”
She sobbed again. “N-no. I just need you.”
I threw some things into an overnight bag as we had an interview at lunchtime tomorrow about our America trip and headed back downstairs finding the boys lining up the shots.
“I’m calling a life emergency. I need to leave.”
They both glared at me. “We never leave, unless it’s areallife emergency,” Archer reminded me. He was right. No matter what, we never canceled or showed up late for our weekly dinners.
“So, you know how serious this is when I say it’s an emergency.”
“You’re not just going to fuck some groupie,” Fox asked, raising his eyebrows accusingly.
I ran my fingers through my hair. “Have I ever done that? No. I promise. But I need to go. Enjoy yourselves with my booze, and I will see you tomorrow.”
I pressed the phone to my ear. “I’m on my way.”
They obviously noticed the tone in my voice because their ribbing ended instantly.
“Go,” Archer instructed. “We’ll lock up. Call us if you need us.”
Twenty minutes felt like a lifetime when you were listening to a woman sob down the phone, unable to tell you what was wrong. When we pulled up outside Fern’s house, I ran from the car, only to be stopped by a man standing on her doorstep.
“Can I help?” he muttered, pressing the butt of his gun to my stomach as he pulled me close.
“Fern called me.”
“Name?”
“Charlie. Charlie Wyatt. This guy is with me.” I pointed to my bodyguard behind me.
He muttered something into his wrist and pressed his ear as he listened to the reply. Seconds later, he holstered his gun, released his hold on me, and stepped to the side.
