“What?”
“I want you on top of me.” I don’t move at first, but then he reaches for me, pulling my body on top of his. My head rests in the crook of his neck as he wraps his arms around me. Hedoesn’t speak and neither do I. We just lie like this until I feel his breathing even out and I know he’s asleep.
Slowly, I climb off of him and slide off the bed. I walk toward the door, careful not to wake him up before sneaking out. When I get to the main room, no one else is awake right now. I blow out a breath of relief as I pull open the basement door and creep down the stairs.
I see Beth with her head hung in the chair. They really did leave her there.
“Get up,” I say loud enough that she can hear me. She lifts her head, and I can see the line of dried blood on her cheek.
“What the hell do you want?”
“Not to see you dead. Get out of here,” I tell her as I grab the knife and cut through the binds that hold her in place. I find the keys to the cuffs on the table and unlock them, setting her free.
“Why are you helping me?” she asks.
“I don’t know. Just…get the hell out of here.” With that, I walk off and back up the steps and straight to the room. I sneak back in and climb back into bed next to Tide, curling into his side. He groans and rolls toward me, holding me against him.
My eyes slowly drift shut when I hear someone banging on the door. Riley barks, waking both Tide and me up.
“What the fuck?” he mumbles as he throws his legs over the edge of the bed and sits up. He stands and walks to the door, throwing it open. I’m too tired, too drowsy to listen to what’s being said until I hear him yell my name.
“Mylah!”
Chapter 23
Tide
She didn’t. She didn’t fucking do this. She wouldn’t have. She would have left it to me to handle. No. Mylah is a different breed. She did this. She let her go. She fucking let Beth go.
I turn to look at her as she sits up in the bed, rubbing her eyes.
“What?”
“Don’t you fuckin’ what me. You let her go. What the hell were you thinkin’?” I roar louder this time. I’m pissed, beyond pissed. I had Beth down there for a reason, and now Mylah has fucked that up.
“You can’t kill her, Tide.” I scrub my hand over my face at a loss for words right now. Why is she getting in the middle of this? Why is she in my mess? I crack my neck from side to side as I look at her. Riley must feel the tension in the room because he’s on high alert sitting next to her.
“You had no right, Mylah. No fuckin’ right to do that!”
“Yes, I did. She didn’t deserve that.”
“We don’t know the full fuckin’ story, Mylah! She could be lyin’. She could be involved in this. We don’t fuckin’ know right now. She’ll fuckin’ disappear now, and I’ll have to hunt her ass down,” I tell her. She shrugs her shoulders and lies back down on the bed like nothing is happening.
“Then she’s gone.”
“You don’t get it, do you? These people had you fuckin’ taken, Mylah. You want them to walk for that?”
“No, Tide. I don’t want them to walk for that, but I also don’t want them dead. You said you weren’t going back to prison, and I want to keep it that way.” Fuck. Why does she do this to me? Why does she make me crazy? I run my hand through my hair at a loss here. I get where she’s coming from, but this is how we do things.
I turn and walk out of the room, needing space, needing air. I storm past the guys and out the front door, where I grab a cigarette and light it up. The door opens, and Ban comes out, standing next to me.
“She’s a stubborn one,” he says as I smirk and nod my head.
“That she is.”
“She has a good reason, Tide. She doesn’t wanna lose you, and I get that. We don’t want you back in the pen either.”
“But that means lettin’ them walk, Ban and I can’t do that. I can’t know that they’re the ones that did this to her and let it go.”
