Page 63 of Pretty Lethal
“Yeah, no, good call. Ihatemarshmallows,” Wilder drawls lifting one of the three remaining mugs—all of which lack whipped cream and marshmallows.
Kai gives him a deadpan stare for a long moment before straightening and pulling a bag of marshmallows from his back pocket. “Wanna try that again?”
Despite tonight’s events, Wilder’s face lights up like the fourth of July, offering a small reprieve to the heaviness shrouding us. I’ve no doubt it’s all for Emilia’s benefit, a distraction for her, but it just shows how much he truly cares for her.
“You love me.”
Kai simply blinks at Wilder, and I’m reasonably certain he has no idea how to respond. After a moment, he scoffs and shakes his head, grabbing the last mug from the tray and moving to sit beside me. “Don’t get ahead of yourself. You’re barely tolerable.”
I find an old Ryan Reynolds movie and put it on, feeling like I just achieved world peace when Emilia rests her head on my shoulder and smiles up at me, some of that vacancy receding from her eyes.
Wilder doesn’t even complain, even though the only thing he enjoys watching is superhero movies.
One movie bleeds into another. Once he’s finished with his hot chocolate, Kai moves to lie between Emilia’s legs, his head resting on her lap. I imagine he needs to feel as close to her as is physically possible. I know I do.
Emilia appears to feel the same way as she sighs contentedly while stroking her fingers through his hair, ensconced between the three of us where she can let down her guard, rest, and rebuild knowing she is safe from harm.
Eventually, she falls asleep, nestled into Wilder’s side. His arms are wrapped around her, and I swear every time I’ve looked over, he’s been watching her instead of the movie.
“It’s not your fault,” I say quietly, careful not to wake our girl.
Slowly, he lifts his gaze to meet mine. Shadows churn in his chestnut depths, a giveaway to how close to the surface his demons are. “If I hadn’t had a bitch fit over her showing up here, perhaps none of this would have happened.”
“If you wanna look at it like that, then if Emilia hadn’t left after Pac, perhaps none of this would have happened.” He scowls at that. “Are you going to blame her?”
“Fuck no,” he hisses instantly.
“Then you can’t go blaming yourself, either.”
“Hawk’s right,” Kai chimes in. I’m not sure if Wilder realizes it, but his admission is a big thing. Kai has always tolerated Wilder, but he wouldn’t go out of his way to be nice to him. If he thought Wilder was to blame for tonight, he wouldn’t let him anywhere near Emilia.
“Besides, I’m the one who left her alone in your room at the frat.” I blow out a breath, shaking my head. “I should have stayed with her. Sheaskedme to, but because it was meant to be her night alone, I wanted to be respectful of that. Now look where that got us.”
Wilder shakes his head. “Not your fault, man. How were we to know? I never thought… It seems stupid, I should have, but I never thought they’d do anything like that. It was… fuck, I don’t think I’ve ever been so scared in my entire life.”
His throat tightens over the final words, and careful not to jostle Emilia, I reach out and pull him in for a side hug.
“She’s okay. She’s here and safe, and we’ll get through this together.”
All three of us stare at the miraculous woman sandwiched between us, the glue that holds us all together. The reason why we get up in the morning, the bright light in our otherwise dark lives. The star in our universe.
“We’re not going to let them get away with what they did tonight. I don’t know how yet, but wewilltake each and every one of these assholes down,” Kai vows, and I can tell by Wilder’s savage grin that he’s eating up this vicious side of Kai. “I want to live in a world where Emilia is free to be herself. I want to see her smile light up a room and watch the way her whole body reacts when she sees something for the first time. None of that can happen if people are constantly chasing us.”
He glances at each of us, his expression more severe than I’ve ever seen. “We won’t rest until she is safe in this world.”
Chapter20
EMILIA
Icall into work sick for the rest of the week and hide away in the cinema room, burrowed beneath a blanket and surrounded by all three of my men. None of them go to class or work, all of us taking a much-needed home-cation.
We watch movies, Kai tells us about his family, we plan out our camping trip and decide we’re going to go early spring when the weather gets better but before the trails get busy with tourists and hikers, and Wilder even confesses that he’s been toying with the idea of working for Nocturnal Enterprises alongside Kai when he’s graduated.
That one thing alone ultimately improves my whole week. The fact he took in what I was saying and actuallywantsto make something of himself warms my heart, and if I wasn’t already madly in love with Wilder’s crazy ways, I would have totally fallen for him at that moment.
Even Kai was taken aback by his admission, and although he was steadfast that Wilder would have to follow orders and couldn’t go rogue, he agreed with me that Wilder has the right personality for the job—the guts to dive head-first into the danger and the instincts to navigate complicated situations. Honestly, by the end of Kai’s little speech, I was nearly telling both of them they couldn’t do the job.
Obviously, in the back of my head, I knew what Kai did came with its risks, but because he hasn’t been out in the field since I came to Ridgeway, I’ve never had to worry about him. It will be an adjustment when he eventually goes out on a case again.
