Total pages in book: 98
Estimated words: 93942 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 470(@200wpm)___ 376(@250wpm)___ 313(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93942 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 470(@200wpm)___ 376(@250wpm)___ 313(@300wpm)
Not the jerk who’d been cruel to her at the beginning. Not the guy who’d been teasing her, giving her orders, getting her worked up and excited these past few nights. But who I was when I didn’t constantly have to prove myself.
“Almost done,” I told Emma. “See how they’re just barely set? That’s perfect. Take them off the heat.”
She did as I hovered nearby, waiting to spring into action if she seemed in danger of getting burned. Then I showed her how to plate them and added some toast I’d made while she wasn’t looking, with a little fruit on the side.
“You made that,” I told her. “All by yourself.”
She smiled for the first time since we’d come downstairs.
We brought the food back out to the table. I grabbed a few other things from the kitchen—some cheese, crackers, and a carafe of juice—and set it all out. No one was eating much except Emma, who dug into her eggs with surprising enthusiasm. But I saw Zoe reach out and take Mrs. Martin’s hand again, just holding it as the woman cried quietly.
I talked to Emma, asking her about school, about what she wanted to be when she grew up, not wanting her to notice her mother’s tears.
“A doctor,” she said at the end of a long list of other careers. “Or maybe a chef.”
“Yeah? Well, you’ve got a good start on that last one.”
She smiled again, a little wider this time.
We sat with Emma and her mother for another twenty minutes until someone burst through the restaurant doors.
It was Dennis. His face was flushed, his eyes bright. “They’ve found them,” he said, looking at all of us. “They’re on their way back.”
There were four gasps, and then none of us dared breathe until we knew for sure.
“All of them?” I couldn’t keep the urgency out of my voice. “They’re all okay?”
Dennis smiled. “It sounds like it. A little banged up, but they’ll be all right.”
Mrs. Martin was already on her feet, pulling Emma up with her. They rushed past Dennis, heading for the lobby.
Zoe and I followed more slowly, our eyes finding each other. As glad as I was for the Martin family, I needed to see for myself that my friends were okay. I knew that Zoe did, too.
When we got upstairs, the lobby was crowded. Henry was sitting on one of the couches, a blanket wrapped around him, his face scraped and red from the cold. His father sat beside him, one arm around his son, the other holding a compress to his ankle. They both looked exhausted and cold, but alive.
Emma threw herself at her brother, and Mrs. Martin attempted to hug both her husband and her son at the same time.
Kai and Landon stood off to the side, looking beat. Kai’s face was red from the wind, his hair wild. But it was Landon who worried me. His face was ashen, his eyes hollow.
I pulled out my phone and contacted my sous chef, barking out enough orders that he’d be able to run the dinner service.
My friends were more important than a dining room full of strangers.
So I stayed with Zoe, watching as the Martin family held each other. Watching as Kai tried to talk to Landon, who barely seemed to hear him.
“They just need time,” Zoe said quietly. “Kai and Landon. To decompress.” I nodded, but we both knew that the real concern was Landon. What had it done to him, to go on this rescue when the last one had resulted in the death of his partner?
With a gentleness I’d never seen, Kai was leading his brother away.
We gave them a head start, then made our way to the hideaway, too.
The three of us had planned a sex lesson for tonight. It was supposed to start with hand jobs and progress to oral. Before all this happened, I’d been excited about it. About touching Zoe again and watching her face as her body shook with pleasure.
But now—
Landon was on the edge of the armchair on the far side of the room. His hands were red from the cold, but that wasn’t what disturbed me. It was the way his elbows were on his knees, his head in his hands, his whole body curved in on itself.
Kai was standing near the fire, looking lost. When he saw us come in, he walked over quickly.
“He’s barely said ten words since we got back. Not even to me.” Kai’s voice was rough with helplessness. “What do I do? Should I get him drunk to forget? Try to make him talk? I don’t know what’s best.”
I’d never seen my friend look so uncertain. So completely out of his depth.
“I don’t think we do anything,” I said.
Zoe looked up, concerned.
“We have to,” Kai insisted. “He shouldn’t be alone right now. It’s not healthy to think too much after something like this.”