Page 10 of Back To You

She’s worried, probably scared. Maybe she’s grateful that I knew she didn’t want to go alone but didn’t want to say so.

But then she blinks, and that moment of vulnerability is gone as fast as it came.

My hands itch to touch her, my arms ache to be around her, my lips beg to tell her that she doesn’t need to be so guarded all the time, that I am here to love her and protect her and show her that she doesn’t have to do it all alone, but I resist every urge.

The same way I always do.

“We’re coming with you,” Drew finally says, bringing me back to the moment. Annie’s attention swings to our friend, and she knows better than to argue with Drew when she puts her foot down. Emmett nods his head once in agreement as he helps his wife out of the high-top chair.

Annie has her own history with Emmett, and I know he sees her as a sister. When I started working for him, I learned quickly that he wasn’t as scary as he pretended to be—Annie is much scarier—and there is no doubt that if Annie is in any kind of danger, he’ll be right behind me in making sure she is okay.

“Us too,” Mia and Eddie say at the same time, the two always being on the same page. The newlyweds are two of the most stubborn people I know, but they are also two of the most loyal, not just with each other but with all of us.

Plus, both of them throw punches when they’re pissed, so they are the perfect people to have in your corner.

“No, absolutely not. This is your guys’ night,” Annie tells Mia and Eddie before turning to Drew, “and you’re about to pop. I don’t even know what I’m walking into,but an apartment that was just broken into is no place for someone who is nine months pregnant.”

Annie’s face is hard, her features tight as she looks at our friends.

She’s scared, but that’s when she fights the hardest.

Drew crosses her arms the best she can over her stomach. “You’re not about to go there alone,” Drew says, her voice softening. She steps forward and extends a hand that Annie grabs.

“We’re coming,” Mia adds, stepping next to Drew and reaching for Annie’s other hand.

I must not be the only one who can tell Annie is scared.

Annie’s face relaxes, and the three girls pull each other in for a group hug.

Emmett and Eddie watch the girls with soft smiles on their faces, but the smiles don't reach their eyes. They’re pissed.

The Lenny’s crew—as Mia’s brother deemed us a few years ago—was built on issues with our own families, some more than others, and the five of them having to deal with a lot of shitty cards being handed to them.

Between Annie’s dad leaving and her mom’s diagnosis, the shooting at Drew’s school, Emmett losing his sister, Mia’s boyfriend’s suicide, and Eddie almost killing his abusive, alcoholic father, it’s safe to say that all of my friends have had the universeactivelyworking against them.

The worst I’ve had is a father who treats me like spare parts for my older brothers.

Either way, because we know what each other has been through, we are all protective to a fault.

“So it’s settled,” I announce. I look at Annie, and even as her eyes narrow in her signature death stare, I give hera smile I hope still makes that black heart of hers beat faster. “Lead the way, Annie girl.”

Chapter 5

Annie

“You’re lucky, Ms. Mitchell. I know a break-in can be scary, but it was good that you weren’t here, and that we were able to catch the kid,” the police officer in charge explains as if I’m incapable of understanding how the situation could’ve beenmuchworse.

“I’m lucky?” I question the man, handing him the list he had me write of all the things I saw were taken: my laptop, my headphones, my TV, and some jewelry I kept on my nightstand.

Looking around the disaster of an apartment just reminded me how little I can afford; how little I have of what others could perceive as valuable.

The cop is old enough to be my grandfather with an annoying sense of superiority as if he just solved the world’s biggest cold case, even though all he did was catch some 19-year-old who took advantage of a faulty window.

The kid was able to get in through mylockedbedroom window, run off with my shit to just get caught, and leave me to deal with it.

And I’m lucky?

I asked my friends to wait in the hallway, so it’s just me and Officer Grandpa—or Collins, as he introducedhimself. Mr. Dominic and a few other officers are looking at the window near my bed.

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