JJ pulled away from Baz, but she held firm to his arm, not wanting to let him go. She turned, scanning the faces for Brantley as she swiped at the wetness on her cheeks.
“I think it was an old ballet studio,” she told him when she found his concerned gaze peering at her from a few feet away. “Not far from the convenience store where they found me.”
“I know where it is,” Slade said.
Brantley looked at Slade and nodded. “We’ll follow you.”
“We’re gonna go back out there with the sheriff,” Reese explained. “See if we can find them.”
“I’ll get an address,” Luca noted. “Carson Briggs is still in Manor. I’ll have him head that way.”
JJ watched the conversation. She felt invisible for a moment as they came up with a new plan of action, one that involved finding the people responsible. She appreciated their drive to avenge her, but she knew it was pointless. Molly and Sonny were gone.
Brantley stepped forward and touched her cheek. “You okay?”
“I will be.”
He leaned in and hugged her. JJ threw her arms around him. She’d trusted that Baz and Brantley would hunt the earth until they found her. She knew they wouldn’t have stopped until they did.
“We’ll be back,” Brantley said, kissing her forehead. “You should let Baz take you to the hospital.”
“No hospital,” she told him.
Brantley smirked. “I knew you were gonna say that.”
Baz’s arm came around her shoulders, and she leaned into him.
“We’ll be back in a bit,” Brantley told him, then looked her way one more time.
“I’m fine,” she assured him. “Really. Go find those assholes.”
With that, he was heading for his truck, Reese and Tesha with him.
Baz guided her away from Slade’s truck as Atticus was getting in the front seat.
“Come on. Let’s get you inside.”
JJ leaned into Baz as they made their way into the house.
“Ladybug, you gave us a scare.”
JJ smiled when she heard Wes’s gruff, worried voice and his nickname for her. She went willingly when Baz’s father held out his arms. More tears fell as he enfolded her in them, resting his chin on the top of her head. She couldn’t remember her father ever giving her as many hugs as she’d received from Wes in the short time she’d known him. The same with Baz’s mother. They were very affectionate people, and JJ hadn’t realized how much she’d needed that in her life until she met them.
“Please don’t tell me I need to go to the hospital,” she mumbled against Wes’s shirt.
Wes pulled back, chuckling. “I wouldn’t dare.”
A moment later, Brantley’s parents were there, both hugging her.
“You gave us quite the scare,” Frank said, a gruffness to his tone that told her he was fighting emotional overload.
JJ knew the feeling. Frank and Iris had been her role models growing up. After Jeremy died and her parents split, JJ spent more time at her best friend’s house than anywhere else. She’d become part of the Walker family, and she’d never taken that for granted.
“We’re gonna shoo all these people outta here,” Iris told her. “Give you some breathin’ room. But if you need anything, you let us know.”
Since Iris looked at Baz as she was talking, he responded with, “We will.”
Iris patted her arm and then startedshooingpeople out of the house, just as she promised.
