Page 20 of Freeing Souls

Ryker grunts and faces me, raising his hand to rest on the back of my neck as he pulls me close. “I’m sorry you were ever scared or worried about me. But if I go out to Rage’s, I won’t rest. I’ll be too worried about everyone else. I will stay sitting, but I’m not leaving you.”

Not able to stop my mouth from running away from me, I blurt, “Ever?”

“No, Gray baby. You are stuck with me. I have you now, and I won’t ever let that go.”

My heart explodes within my chest, and before I can overthink it, I grip his face in my hands and kiss him, showing him how much his words mean to me. In between kisses, I smile softly. “I love you.”

His lips stretch into a grin against mine. “I know.” I huff and start to pull away, but Ryker doesn’t let go of me, giving me a hard, bruising kiss. “I love you too.”

After contacting all the victims' families, I sent a message to Bas about the one we received earlier. He said he would call later that night and we would look into it, but based on what I told him he doesn’t think anything will come of it.

Ryker finally dozed off in the chair next to mine, his head resting on my shoulder, but he is quick to jolt awake when the door opens and Cayden walks in with Harley, their faces grim.

“What’s going on?” Ryker rasps.

“We checked in on Lincoln while we were there. They started taking Atlas out of the coma, and he coded. They revived him, but he is back in the coma, and they don’t have any next steps right now,” Harley says as tears fall down her cheeks.

“He saved me when I ran away from Tammy’s. He dragged my ass out of my depression and got me to take back control of my life and now, he is going to lose his, isn’t he?” She gasps, sobs taking over her body. “This isn’t fair.”

Cade wraps her up in his arms and brings her closer to us as we all sit in weighted silence. I don’t know Atlas well, but he is a big part of Harley’s life, and I know he is Lincoln's best friend. I can’t imagine what he is going through right now. The fact that this could’ve been Ryker, Axe, or Sugar in the same spot as Atlas right now sends a shiver of fear through me but also burning fury.

They shouldn’t underestimate us—underestimateme.

I will learn everything I possibly can from Bas and spend day and night working to become the best hacker out there.

Chapter Seven

Harley

FIVE MONTHS LATER

Gasping, my eyes snap open, and I stare up at the dark ceiling. The only light shining into my bedroom is from the moon shining bright outside my window. A heavy arm rests overmy stomach while another body lays on my other side, flopped on his stomach, snoring.

Rubbing my damp eyes, I’m reminded of why I even woke up to begin with. Another shitty dream. They come randomly. Sometimes, it’s about David and the nasty things he said to me; sometimes, it’s about almost losing Cade, the explosion, and almost losing Colton, Axe, and Ryker five months ago. And sometimes, it’s about Atlas.

Like this one. Picturing him lying there…lifeless.

Gently pulling Cade’s arm off my stomach, I crawl to the end of the bed and get up. Glancing back, I notice Grayson missing from the bed. Not that it’s surprising. He is honestly just like Nerds and spends a lot of time in the tech room.

Needing to shower off the bad dream before I head downstairs to check on Grayson, I walk into my connected bathroom. Over the last several months, we repaired all the damage in the garage from the explosion. After everything was completely safe again, we were allowed back into our bedrooms upstairs. Now, Axe is just redesigning the shop he had set up and giving it a bunch of upgrades.

After a quick shower, I braid my wet hair and throw on some leggings with the hoodie Ryker left in here yesterday. Any clothes they leave in my room are fair game–not that they seem to care. I think most of the time, they allforgetclothing in here so I will wear it.

Sneaking out of my room, Ryker and Cayden still sleeping, I head downstairs and find Grayson in the tech room. “Gray, it’s four in the morning. How long have you been up?” I ask as I walk towards him where he sits at the main desk, wearing sweats and a t-shirt. His hair is ruffled from running his hand through it.

Startling, he looks at me wide eyed and then glances at the clock on the wall. “Since two. I just wanted to check a few things. I really didn’t mean to stay down here. Why are you awake?” Hetilts his head at me while pushing his chair back and opening his arms.

Straddling his legs, I wrap my arms around his neck and bury my face in his neck. “Bad dream. I didn’t feel like I could stay in bed any longer.”

“I’m sorry, beautiful. Another one about Atlas?” he murmurs, running his hands up and down my back.

I nod against his neck, not wanting to talk about it. “What were you working on?”

He sighs and tightens his arms around me, knowing I am avoiding talking about it. “I think I am close to getting into the Black Night Ball site. I’m just hesitant because of the trackers. If I attempt to get in and whoever runs this site sees it because I didn’t get past their security walls, I could be putting all of us in danger of another attack like the explosion.”

Raising my head so I can look at him, I ask, “What about Sebastian? Have you talked with him about it since he taught you?”

“I was thinking about that before you came down. I haven’t talked to him in a while. After he taught me everything he knew, he gave me those test sites to see how my hacking skills were, and everything went my way with no issues. I’m pretty sure he will just tell me to get out of my head, which he has said a few times, but I don't know. I’m scared.”

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