Page 2 of Renegade Ruin

Fuck.

Willow crosses the space between us, her heels clicking like a ticking time bomb. When she reaches me there is zero hesitation. She hurls herself against my chest and wraps her arms around my waist.

“Whoa there, Kitten. I’m happy to see you too. Surprised, but happy.”

She tenses and pulls back. Her glistening stare meets mine openly scrutinizing what she sees, searching for something that isn’t there.

“Shit,” she whispers, and I can’t help but chuckle because I know for a fact this woman was raised to be a proper member of society and therefore rarely curses. “You don’t know.”

My brow furrows. “Know what?”

She tries to step back, but I interlace my fingers at the base of her spine and hold her in place. I’ve waited far too long to have her in my arms again to let her go now.

“I’m so sorry,” Willow says, her eyes falling to my chest, fresh tears brimming against her lower lashes.

“Sorry?”

What could she possibly have to be sorry for?

“Shit, I thought—Adrian was supposed to call you.”

My agent? I think back to the plethora of missed calls.

“Whatever it is he very well might have. I’ve had my phone on Do Not Disturb since last night. I wanted to be in the right frame of mind for court this morning. I just got out.”

“Fuck,” she breathes.

“What’s going on? You’re starting to scare me.”

“I don’t—shit I don’t know how to tell you this. I figured you already knew and wouldn’t want to be alone. Okay, that’s not true, I was worried you were on the plane, and then when I found out you weren’t I figured you wouldn’t want to be alone.” Tears flow openly down her cheeks and each one only serves to up my anxiety.

I reach up and wipe them away, “Whoa, whoa, whoa, take a breath.”

“I’m sorry. You know I ramble when I’m nervous.”

I do.

She takes a steadying breath and continues as I wrap my arms back around her. “I didn’t want to be alone. And you’re the only one who would get it. Then Adrian said you were in court, so I came here.”

“I’m here. But what happened?”

“There’s been an accident with the plane.”

Time slows and my field of vision narrows until there’s no one else but me and Willow, standing there on the steps of the courthouse.

“The—I don’t have all the details yet but—” She chokes on a sob. “They’re dead, Bishop. The team. My father. They’re all gone.”

If I thought time slowed before, it comes to a standstill as I try to process what she just said. I heard her words, but my mind refuses to believe them. It doesn’t matter that it adds up. They didn’t answer when I called. I try to reason that it wasn’t because they’re dead. They’re just busy. They’ll call back.

They have to call back.

“No,” I mutter.

My arms drop as if she burned me, and I take a step back needing the space to think.

“Bishop, I?—”

“No.” I vaguely feel my head shaking, but it’s like I’ve been plunged into the deep end of a pool—everything distorted and disorienting. “It’s not possib—they—no.”

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