Page 278 of Wicked Brutal

“I saw you six hours ago.”

“I know.”

“I missed you too.”

She laughs softly against my shirt. It isn’t much of a laugh. Neither of us is any good at pretending tonight.

I finally pull back enough to look at her. Makeup gone. The bruise on her face is fading, but I can still see it. The cut on her lip. Roman. My jaw tightens.

Ally touches my cheek. “Don’t.”

“Don’t what?”

“Go somewhere else.”

My eyes find hers. “I’m right here.”

“No.” Her thumb brushes beneath my eye. “You’re thinking about him.”

I’m always thinking about him. Roman. Victor. Saturday. Switzerland. Planes. Countries. Every horrible possibility Bella dropped into that locker room this morning.

“I hate looking at what he did to you.”

“I know.”

“I fucking hate it.” I catch her hand and kiss her palm, then her wrist.

She watches me. “Anything from Arthur?”

“Nothing useful yet.” Her face falls. “That’s not what I meant.”

“I know.”

I could lie. Tell her everything’s handled, that Arthur has some magic legal document coming tomorrow that fixes all of it. But we’ve done enough pretending.

“Everybody’s moving. Arthur’s working every angle he has. My dad’s making calls. So are the others. Kaid and X have been digging all afternoon. Iz disappeared into whatever terrifying internet hole he lives in. Danny’s helping Arthur organize everything from Thursday.”

“But?”

“Five days is five days.”

She nods. “Yeah.”

I bring her farther inside, and we end up on the couch, Ally curled against my side with her legs across mine. For a while neither of us says anything. I run my fingers through her hair. She plays with the drawstring on my sweatpants. The TV stays off. There’s nothing I want competing with the sound of her breathing.

“What if they can’t stop it?”

There it is. The question I’ve been avoiding all day.

“They will.”

“Ryan.”

“They fucking will.”

She lifts her head. “That’s not what I asked.”

I stare at her. Her eyes are scared. So are mine. I hate that I can’t give her the answer she deserves.