AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I started to drift in and out of sleep while I waited for Lance. But then warmth enveloped my hand. I peeled one eye open and to my surprise and relief, my gaze met Atticus’s winter-green gaze.
He was here. He’d come for me…again.
* * *
Atticus
If the last forty-eight hours had taught me anything, it was that I couldn’t leave Gwen alone for anything. Yesterday, someone tried to shove her onto the tracks of the tube, and today she happened to have an allergic reaction?
My brain tried to rationalize with me.
You were supposed to stay away. The way you just acted, if your father has people watching you, he'll know.
I didn't care. She was sick and she needed me.
We’d left McIntyre in the bathroom and come straight here. I knew she might not want to see me, but she was alone and over my dead body was Lakewood going to be the one to comfort her.
Slowly, she peeled her eyes open. “You're here.”
“Right where I'm supposed to be.”
She tried to pull her hand back, but I held on tight. “You realize this is confusing for me?”
“I know. I'm sorry. But there's no way I can know that you were sick and not come.”
The fear that had knotted my gut when we’d gotten the alert about her allergic reaction started to unfurl.
She’s okay. She's okay. She's okay.
Over my shoulder, one of Pierce's men, Rowan, murmured in my ear. "We checked with the restaurant, and there were no mushrooms in any of the food. But for some reason, she had an allergic reaction. Lakewood is on his way.”
Fucking Lakewood. I’d sent him thousands of miles away and somehow I still couldn’t get rid of him. Where the hell had he been tonight? Why had she been on a date with shit stain?
Her hand seemed so fragile in mine. Her delicate fingers, long and elegant. The flash of fury that bubbled up at the sight of her bare ring finger made no sense.
Yeah genius, she gave it back after you left her. You only have yourself to blame.
“Atticus, I can’t.”
“Shhh, you don’t have to do anything, Ness. I’m going to get you to a doctor.”
Gwen, being Gwen, of course she tried to fight me. “No. I injected myself with my EpiPen. I’m fine. I just want to go home.”
“You’re not fine, Gwen,” I bit out. “Stop saying you are and let me look after you for once.” The words came out harsher than I meant them too. But the frustration was a real tangible thing, though I should have turned it on myself.
“You don’t get to throw your weight around anymore.”
“That’s not what I’m?—”
This time it was Gavin who interrupted. “Atticus, listen. Lakewood is here. Let him take her home. You have bigger problems right now,” Gavin said. “Your father’s gone. Our guys lost him. We can't find him anywhere."
"Fuck." I was out of time. The clock had run down.I wasn’t supposed to be here, with her. But I was done with that.
I was done with being separated from her. I couldn’t leave her. I was getting my fiancée back. And this time, I was going to marry her.
Chapter 10
GWEN
