She nods, puts her arms around my waist, and holds on tight.
Bear walks up to us. “Everyone okay?”
I nod. “How did you—? I mean...”
He shrugs. “I called in backup.”
“Fuck, man, I’m glad you did.”
Seconds later, Knox is running into the construction site. “She went out the balcony, John.”
The worried look on his face has me holding back. “It’s okay, she’s fine. We’re all fine.” I look over at Bear. “Can we get outta here?”
He looks over at the sergeant in charge, and she gives Bear a nod. Obviously he’s already talked to her about how us being here never happened. We never want the credit. The less people know about us, the better.
Bear looks at us. “Yeah, let’s get outta here.”
Bear and Knox drive his truck to the airport, and I drive our rental car. She’s quiet the whole way, and already I’m wondering what she’s thinking. I should talk to her about it, but I can’t. Not yet. I’m still reeling from the fact that she was almost in the line of fire.
She pops up next to me. “Ethan?”
“Ethan was dropped off at a locked rehab by Knox and Bear this morning. You’ll see him when he gets out,” I tell her, leaving out the part where she’ll see him when I think he deserves to see her.
She mutters “Thank you” and gets out of the car as soon as I park. I drop the keys off at the rental car desk and start walking through the airport.
“This is us,” she says, pointing at the airline sign we rode here on.
I grab her hand and pull her with me. “We have Walker’s jet. Aiden’s flying us home.”
She pulls me to a stop. “You can go with them. I’ll go...”
I laugh and then stop when I see that she’s serious. “No.”
She pulls her hand from mine. “You’re not my boss, John. You can’t tell me what to do.”
I let out a sigh and shove my hand through my hair. People are walking by us, staring. I’m used to it. Usually they’re staring at my body, which is covered in tattoos. But this is different. I know it’s obvious how mad I am. My body is literally buzzing with adrenaline. I take a step toward Madison, and thankfully she doesn’t back away or even remotely look scared. She knows, even if everybody else doesn’t, that I wouldn’t hurt her.
I lean down until we’re face to face. “You’re right. I’m not your boss. But I just had a gun aimed at my face and then probably lost ten years off my life when you showed up like you did. I need you with me. I need to know you’re safe until we’re in Whiskey Run.”
There’s no way I’m going to let her go when we’re in Whiskey Run either, but she doesn’t need to know that. Not yet.
She nods, and I grab her hand again and pull her with me to the opposite end of the airport. We make it through clearance easily, and Aiden has already done flight check. We’re no sooner seated and Knox and Bear come in the door, and we’re taking off.
13
Madison
Nobody is talking, and it’s driving me insane. I check my phone for the hundredth time and find it weird I haven’t heard from Jenna once. I hate to ask John, but I need to know. “Have you heard from Jenna?”
John shakes his head, and Knox speaks up. “I did. She and Dylan are at the hospital. It’s time.”
“Fuck. Why didn’t you tell me?” John asks.
Knox leans back in his seat and lays his head back with his eyes closed. “She told me not to until we were on the plane and everyone was okay. She didn’t want you to worry. Aiden knows. We’re landing at the air strip in Jasper so you two can go straight to the hospital.”
John nods, but I watch as his jaw tightens and his knuckles turn white from how hard he’s gripping the hand rest. It’s all my fault. All this is my fault. I should never have told Jenna what was happening. I should never have gotten John involved. Emotion is bubbling, and I know I’m about to start crying. I take off my seat belt and start to stand up when John grabs me by the waist and hauls me into his lap. “Stay.”
I take a shuddering breath. “I need...”
His arms tighten around me and he presses my head to his chest. “You need to stay right here. Cry, scream, hit... do whatever you need to do... but I need you to do it right here.”
And I can’t stop it. Tears start to roll down my cheeks, and I rub and wipe at them, but nothing I do can make them stop. Knox and Bear get up and move to the front of the plane, leaving John and me to ourselves. John doesn’t say anything. He just keeps holding me, stroking my back and telling me it’s going to be okay.