Page 74 of Wild Night

“Get on with it,” he urges me to continue.

He’s probably got a million different irons in the fire and is ready for me to get on with the reason I called. It might be after work hours for me, but that doesn’t mean it is for him. Sliding my tongue along my bottom lip, I wet my flesh before I continue.

“Where is Lucian?”

I’m met with silence, then I hear some noises in the background. Some shuffling, and then there is silence before I hear a heavy sigh. “Are you asking me because you wish to speak to him?”

“I’d like to do more than that. However, that’s not what this is about. Someone broke into my office, threatened me with a note, and I need to know if it was him.”

“I can confirm that Lucian Whitmore is no longer an issue for our Posey. It definitely wasn’t him.”

That makes me feel a hell of a lot better. I open my mouth to tell him that, but he continues speaking. “My relationshipwith your group here in California is solid. I can trust that the friendship is mutual across the country?”

Flicking my gaze to Bullet, I don’t confirm until he gives me a nod. And when he does, I tell Monty that the friendship is indeed mutual. I don’t know what the fuck I’ve just agreed to, but what I do know is that this man has helped me in ways that I could never repay. So, whatever he wants, I’ll give it to him.

“Good,” Monty states, then ends the call.

Bullet scrubs his hand over his face. “Well, now that that’s dealt with and we’ve probably made a deal with the goddamn devil, we know it’s not Lucian, so who the fuck is it?”

I open my mouth, though I’m not sure what I’m going to say. I don’t get the chance, though. A waft of hot air and pressure causes my body to fly backward, and then there is a noise, so fucking loud that it’s the only thing I hear. The next moment, I hear nothing before everything around me goes dark.

POSEY

I watch as Dakota drops her phone onto the table with a thud. I tilt my head to the side and snap my brows together. Briana doesn’t notice. She’s rocking Nathan, who has just woken up from a very short nap. Reaching across the table, I notice that whoever called her is still on the phone.

“Hello?” I ask, placing the device to my ear.

“This is John from Justin’s law firm. I didn’t know who else to call,” he begins.

Instead of letting him continue, I feel the need to announce myself. I only met John once, but he did drive me to the bus station. “This is Posey,” I state, so he knows who I am. I’m not sure why, but this seems very important in the moment.

“It’s the law office. The police just called me. It’s on fire. Where is Justin?”

My heart begins to race rapidly inside my chest. In fact, I think it might actually burst out of my body, it’s beating so hard. My rib cage actually hurts from the motion, and I don’t know if I’m even breathing.

“He’s at the office,” I finally exhale right before spots appear in my vision.

I don’t scream. I don’t cry. I sit there at the table, staring straight ahead at nothingness, as John asks me questions. I have no clue what he’s saying. I can hear his voice, but I can’t make out his actual words before the phone is taken from my hand.

Slowly, I turn my head, tipping it backward to look up at whoever took the stupid thing from my hand. I should thank them, because I wasn’t getting anything out of holding it to my ear anyway.

It’s Shocker.

He stands above me, the phone to his ear, and I hear his gruff voice, but again, I can’t make out actual words. Then I watch as his spine straightens. He says something, his voice coming out in hard clips before he ends the call and shoves the phone in the inner pocket of his cut.

His gaze slices over to me, and he jerks his chin. “Gather yourself, Posey, and get in Dakota’s car.”

I nod once, surprised that I actually understood his words. Maybe it was the rough and serious tone that cut through and made my brain focus on him. I watch as he turns toward Dakota and says the same. Her spine straightens, and almost as if she’s in zombie mode, she stands and turns toward the door, walking away.

“What about Nathan?” I ask.

Shocker gives me a small smile, then a wink. “Briana will take him. You girls get in the car. I’m driving.”

Standing, I follow Dakota. I don’t know how my feet move, but they do. One foot in front of the other until I reach for the door handle of the back seat and tug it open. Climbing inside, I look over to the empty car seat, and I don’t know if it’s hormones or fear, maybe a bit of both, but I burst into tears.

Then Dakota turns around, looking over the front seat at me, her eyes searching mine, and I watch as tears silently stream down her face. “Don’t cry, because I’ll cry,” she whispers.

“You’re crying,” I point out through my blubbering.

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