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“Come on, Cook,” I murmured, waiting for whatever their message was.
“Oh my God,” muttered Roni. Her bottom lip trembled, and she could no longer look at me.
My head started shaking. Back and forth, faster and faster. Something had happened to Cook. I could feel it in the center of myself. I didn’t want the message. I wanted him. Needed him.
Tears sprang from my eyes, and I heard someone yelling, “No-no-no!”
Melanie took a step toward me. Pity shone in her eyes, but her voice held absolutely no emotion. “Maddie—”
“Shut up, Lanie.” Bou slipped around Mel and descended on me. She placed her hands on my shoulders, though I was already glued in place. “We’re going to the hospital in Vegas.”
No. I didn’t want to.
No Vegas. No damn hospital.
The guys were in Vegas—my guy.
My Cook.
Daddy.
“Wh-what h-h-happ—?” I asked, forcing the sounds, not quite words, past my lips.
I was overreacting and had to breathe. Cook was okay. He’d be fine. We were just going to get him. Maybe something happened to the bike he was riding. It wasn’t his bike, after all.
If he were here, Cook would slap my ass or put me on a task. He would help me focus. Daddy wouldn’t let my brain spin out of control or spiral into dark thoughts.
He would help me before I could help myself.IfI could help myself.
Cook had to be fine. I needed him to be fine.
Everyone else knew their love was safe. They would get to hold their men and kiss them. Feel their muscles and, and everything. Their men were still standing and living.
“Maddie, look at me,” Bou said.
I shook my head and she gripped my shoulders tighter.
“Give me your eyes,” she insisted, and I stretched them wide, taking in her midnight blues.
Not Daddy’s chocolate brown.
I blinked again.
“Focus on me, Maddie. And breathe.” Bou took in a deep breathand blew it out, then repeated the process with me until I nodded. At last, she said, “Stay with me so we can get to Cook. He’s been shot, but he’s going to be okay.”
But she’d betrayed me before. I wrenched out of her grasp, stumbling a few steps as the world spun around me. I was spinning too, too quickly. I thought I was going to vomit. I fell to my knees, gravel digging into the skin.
“Maddie!” Mel knelt beside me, dragging my hair behind my ear. “Just breathe. Everything is going to be okay.”
It wasn’t. Not without Cook.
I would lose myself without Daddy. I needed him to anchor me now. And forever.
Without Cook, I wasn’t safe. The Gambinos and whoever else would take me again, using me like they had done before. I couldn’t live in a place with so much violence.
“We need to go,” said Bou, standing over us with her hands on her hips. “Maddie, get up.”
My legs were like jelly. My body, a noodle. Honestly, they should’ve left me there to wither and die.
