As she trailed off, there was a beat of nothing, though my blood pressure skyrocketed through it, before I heard a muffled sob and felt our chairs move with her body bucking.
Oh no.
No.
I closed my eyes and dropped my head.
“They shot him?” Hattie whispered, her voice not only quiet, but husky with emotion.
So.
Totally.
Into Axl.
“I-I don’t know. He went d-down, and…and I d-didn’t see him again,” Ryn told her brokenly.
I lifted my head, opened my eyes and focused on the door.
“Maybe he hit the deck so he wouldn’t be shot,” Pepper suggested.
“M-maybe,” Ryn muttered.
I stared at the door.
“Think positive, sweets,” Pepper urged.
Ryn didn’t reply.
I continued to stare at the door.
After a few seconds, Hattie asked, “They’re gonna come and rescue us. The boys are? They’re gonna come get us, right?”
They were.
Absolutely.
They would just because that was who they were.
But Auggie was into Pepper.
And Axl was into Hattie.
Not to mention Boone’s brain had already claimed Ryn as his even if Boone as a whole had not.
And I was Mag’s.
Definitely.
We were moving in together.
We were discussing the proper placement of kitchen items.
We both liked John Wick and Iron Giant. And I’d recently discovered, although the film was hotly debated, we both were on the same side and thought Once Upon a Time in Hollywood was a masterpiece.
Not to mention, the last time I caught him on his laptop, he wasn’t looking at homes. He was looking at awesome, top-of-the-line turntables. This meant he liked vinyl. And I liked vinyl. But more, he wanted to make it so we could listen to vinyl.
Together.
He was going to buy a house and I was going to boho the shit out of it and we were gonna live there, listening to vinyl.
And okay, maybe after Mag asked me if I wanted kids, I’d secretly started daydreaming about little boys with electric-blue eyes and little girls with dark curls.
They were good daydreams.
The best.
I mean, Mag teaching little boys to be men like him?
And Mag spoiling little girls like they should be spoiled?
I’d never had better daydreams and I knew I never would.
Not in my life.
So I had plans.
I had good friends.
I had an awesome boyfriend.
I had a bright future.
I had it all.
Finally.
I had it all.
And goddamn it, I wasn’t losing any of it.
“They will,” Pepper assured. “Won’t they, Evie? They’ll rescue us. Right?”
“He hit the deck,” I stated.
“What?” Pepper asked.
“Axl,” I said. “Ryn, honey, he hit the deck. He’s a commando. He’d know once he showed himself that they were going to fire on him, and he’d be prepared. He was thinking five steps ahead. He was thinking, better they take you without any holes in you so when they come and get us, we’d all be all right. That’s what happened. Yeah? Okay?”
“Y-yeah,” Ryn replied on a sniffle.
“Um, I mean, I don’t wanna be Debbie Downer or anything, but how are they gonna find us?” Hattie asked.
“I don’t know,” I answered. “I was in an abandoned warehouse the last time, and I don’t know how they located me then. But I wasn’t there for very long, so obviously, they have ways.”
“I’m totally taking kickboxing courses when this is over,” Pepper muttered.
“Me too,” Hattie said. “Though they had guns on us and I’m not sure I’d kickbox a dude with a gun.”
“It slots in, you know, the instinct,” Ryn said, thankfully sounding like she’d gotten herself together. “Even if he has a gun, when someone has you by your hair and it’s clear they intend to do something to you that you don’t want, the instinct takes over.”
Pepper sounded pissed when she asked, “They had you by your hair?”
“When we’re rescued, first thing I’m gonna do after I down five gimlets is go to the Dry Bar and get a scalp scrub and a blowout,” Ryn declared.
Okay.
Good.
They were talking about blowouts.
We were all keeping it together.
So we’d have it together when the guys found us.
Right.
Good.
Onward.
“This is a long shot as a bright side, but just sayin’. I hope this serves to communicate that you all need to get the lead out and go out with your respective commando,” I announced.
“How about instead, we talk about how we can escape,” Ryn suggested.
Escape?
She wanted to try to escape?
I wasn’t sure that was a good idea.
“They should have zip-tied us,” Hattie noted. “They didn’t. I can start picking at these ropes and I’ll totally get them undone. I’m hell on wheels when the chains on my necklaces get tangled. I went on vacation once, and they all got messed up in my jewelry thingie. Like, seven necklaces. I had them separated in ten minutes flat.”
“I think maybe ten minutes is a bit longer than we should remain tied here,” Ryn remarked.
“Gotcha,” Hattie mumbled and kept mumbling, “On it.”
I was still feeling this was not a good idea.
Before I could impart that, Pepper did.