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My heart is tight as I watch him pull on his jeans, drag a shirt over his head, and pull a jacket on. He stuffs a gun into his pants, shoves his feet into his boots, and then turns and looks at me. I take him in, really take him in. The way his damp hair falls over his forehead, the way his eyes seem so light set amongst his olive skin.
I can’t bear the thought of something happening to him.
Yet I know I can’t stop him from going and the idea of him leaving while we’re fighting is too much to bear.
So I walk over and slide my arms under his, pulling him in for a hug and pressing my cheek to his chest. I can smell leather, and the soft scent of soap from his shower. I inhale deeply, and close my eyes, needing to feel him for just a second longer.
His arms go around me, and his chin rests on the top of my head. He hangs onto me for what feels like ages, but is likely only minutes, short minutes, that will never seem long enough.
“It’ll be okay, babe,” he says, his voice thick and rough, like he’s trying to fight back the same fears I am.
“I’m scared, Tatum. I just got you back and now ...”
“I’ll come back,” he says to me, stepping back so I’m forced to look up at him. “Do you hear me? I’ll come back.”
I nod, because there is no point in fighting it, even if part of me doesn’t believe it. Even if I’m terrified.
“You stay here, keep the doors locked, and sit tight. Don’t want anythin' comin' back on you two girls. Ethan was plannin’ on stayin' with you two, if we ever had to do this, but now he can’t so you’re on your own. You know how to load and shoot a gun?”
I narrow my eyes, “Of course, but why would I need to?”
“Just in case, Jo. These men are unpredictable. You have anyone come that isn’t meant to be here and they try anything, you shoot and ask questions later, do you understand me?”
I nod. “Okay, yes.”
“Promise me.”
“I promise, Tatum.”
He nods, leaning down and pressing his lips to mine. “I love you, Joanne. Now isn’t the right time to say it, but I can’t leave without you knowin’ that.”
My heart explodes and I smile a happy smile. “You do?”
“Yeah, I do.”
“I love you, too,” I whisper, hugging him again.
He hangs onto me tightly, so tightly I can barely breathe, then pulls back and says, “Alright, that’s enough of that. I have to go.”
I watch him go, and I say a prayer.
Please, please don’t let anything happen to him.
Please.
~*~*~*~
“SO YOU TWO ARE A THING?” I ask Callie, trying to keep my mind off the fact that the boys have been gone for two hours, and no amount of vodka, pizza, and movies seems to be taking our mind off it.
Callie is holding strong, but I can see in her face she’s scared, of course she is. She feels exactly like I do right now, and we both know we’re suffering, but we’re trying to make the best of a terrible situation by distracting ourselves.
“Yeah,” Callie says, “He left Madeline, and said he wanted to be with me. He wants to try.”
“And you’re good with that?”
Callie nods. “It hasn’t been easy, it really hasn’t but I love him and that’s got to be worth something. I don’t know if it’ll work, or if eventually our issues will be stronger than our love, but I have to try.”
“I think you’ll both be okay,” I tell her. “I think you’ll both move past it and make a great future together.”
Callie smiles, “I hope so. What about you and Tatum?”
“He told me he loves me,” I say, grinning.
“He did!” Callie squeals. “And you’ve waited until now to tell me this. Here I am trying to focus on this stupid movie when you had far better gossip the entire time.”
I chuckle. “Well, I was saving it for the right time. You know, the right time to distract us.”
She beams. “I’m so happy for you, Jo. I really am.”
“The only problem is,” I tell her, my smile dropping, “figuring out where we’re going to live. I love it here, and working for Alarick is awesome, but I know Tatum has always lived back home and he might not want to leave.”
She nods. “Yeah I’ve thought the same thing. Tanner’s entire family is back there, yet the idea of going back there makes me cringe. I don’t want to forever live in the place where the most pain in my life was created. The one thing I have been truly happy with since leaving, is being somewhere where nobody knows me and I’m free.”
I nod, completely understanding that. “Do you think Tanner would consider moving?”
She shrugs, pursing her lips, “I honestly don’t know. I think maybe he would, but I also know he loves his family and then they’ve got the garage and all the boys back home ...”
“Yeah,” I murmur, “it’s going to be a damned hard choice.”
“It really is.”
Callie stands, “I have to pee, and I have a bottle of vodka stashed in my room, you know, back up.”
I laugh. “Okay.”
She disappears down the hall, and I flick the movie back on.
I never considered when Tatum warned me earlier, that we were actually in danger. Not once did I think we’d have anything to worry about. After all, they are out there, fixing this problem once and for all, and we’re here, where it’s safe.
At least, that’s the plan.
It’s the plan until one minute I’m sitting, smiling at the movie, and the next the window in my living room smashes. I scream and launch backward as a man climbs through, a man I’m more than familiar with because I was locked in his basement for a few horrible fucking days.
He’s holding a gun, and two other men climb in behind him, the sound of broken glass crunching as they bust through it like it’s nothing. I can’t move. I can’t even breathe. My hands go up instinctively, because what else am I meant to do?
I pray Callie doesn’t come running out.
She could get help.
She could get out.
She is our only chance.
He steps in the glass, crunching it into my floor, and comes closer, gun pointed right to my head. “Hello, Joanne.”
He is supposed to be where the men are, not here. He’s meant to be getting shot right about now, not in my house.
No.
God dammit.
Where’s my gun?
I left it in my apartment because I didn’t consider that I’d need it.
What the hell is wrong with me?
“Where’s Callie?”
Get your shit together, Jo. Lie. Callie hasn’t come out yet, which tells me she probably knows they’re here and is hiding. God, I pray she’s hiding. If she’s not, it’s all over for us. I take a deep shaky breath, compose myself and say, “She’s not here.”
He snorts. “I doubt that.”
“They aren’t stupid, you know,” I go on, making up a lie as quickly as I can. “They suspected you might come after us, so they separated us. They’re not going to let you win.”
For a moment, he looks shocked, then he narrows his eyes and clicks his fingers, “Go and check the rest of the apartment.”
God dammit.
Callie.
Hide.