Page 61 of Pretty Lethal
What the fuck happened tonight?
I race down the stairs, nearly tripping over my own goddamn feet in my haste to get to my Sparrow.
Shoving open the frat house door, I race into the night, spotting a figure approaching from across the field, carrying something in his arms.
No, not something.Someone.
Without having to see his face, I know it’s Wilder, and I bolt toward him.
“Is she okay? What the fuck happened?”
I don’t once take my eyes from my dirty, bloody, unconscious Sparrow lying like a broken bird in Wilder’s arms. There are scratches over her face, and her clothes are torn. Cuts and dirt mar her feet as though she was running barefoot around campus.
How is that even possible when she was supposed to be tucked up in Wilder’s bed?
With an aching need to touch her, to feel her warm skin against mine, I reach out to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear and cup a part of her cheek that doesn’t have scratches or cuts on it. I’m too afraid to do anything more in case I hurt her.
Despite whatever the fuck she’s been through, a small smile lifts the corner of her lips and she burrows deeper into Wilder’s chest.
“I’ll explain in the car. Let’s just get the fuck out of here.”
Wilder barges past me toward the parking lot and I curse him out as I hurry after him, peppering him with questions that he only continues to ignore until he’s tucked up in the back seat of my car with Emilia on his lap.
Even though he’s sitting behind me, he must be able to see how close to imploding I am, because he thankfully starts explaining the shit that went down tonight. As he does, my hand repeatedly flexes around the steering wheel, my anger growing to boiling point.
Fuck, I should never have left her alone in his room.
She fucking pleaded with her eyes for me to join her, too.
I thought I was being respectful by obeying the rulessheput in place, but perhaps if I’d been with her none of this would have happened.
“They did this because you missed one meeting?” I ask incredulously, periodically glancing up at the mirror to look at Wilder and check on my Sparrow sleeping soundly in his lap as I speed through the streets toward the brownstone.
“Who the fuck knows, man?” he responds, without taking his eyes off Emilia’s sleeping form. Every time I look in the rearview mirror, he’s staring at her with anguish and self-loathing plainly written on his face. “I mean, I think so. The King said it was because I broke their cardinal rule—Elites before anything else.” His lip curls in a sneer as he spits out the ridiculous rule that he apparently broke.
“Maybe they’ve been keeping tabs on you and noticed how close you and Em have gotten recently? If they are questioning your loyalty, then they would definitely view her as a threat.”
“Anything’s possible,” he responds in a deflated tone that has me once again glancing up at him in concern. My eyes skim over the blood splattered across his face.
“So, uhh, are there dead bodies we need to clean up?” I ask cautiously.
“No idea. Don’t think I actually killed anyone, although I fucking wish I had. They tried to hold me down and force me to watch that sick fucking game they were playing with her.”
“And let me guess, you went full Wilder on their asses?” I ask with a smirk.
“You bet your motherfucking ass I did. Thank fuck I had Marie on me.”
“Like you go anywhere without her.”
“It’s just as well I don’t!” Wilder counters, fired up now. “She’ll be coming with me even if I’m just going to the grocery store to get a quart of milk.”
“So long as you don’t get arrested for flashing that thing in public,” I drawl.
Wilder scoffs in the back seat. “If I’m flashing mythingin public, it’s because Emilia is horny and in need of some sweet relief. Woman is a dirty little exhibitionist.”
I simply shake my head, having already been regaled of every fine detail of his and Emilia’s bookstore date. I have to admit, I was impressed. He really went all out to apologize to her and try to make up for the shit he’s put her through since she arrived in Ridgeway, and I’d well believe that date went a long way toward getting him back in her good graces. I know she will have appreciated his effort, and no one can argue that it demonstrated how much Wilder truly cares for Emilia.
I can admit, though, that I was jealous I hadn’t thought of the idea. Perhaps because until now, our relationship has mostly been confined to the four walls of the brownstone, but it hadn’t even crossed my mind to take her out on a date and actually woo her the way she deserves. Both Wilder and Kai have taken her out now. I’m losing brownie points in this whole boyfriend competition and will need to get my act in gear if I wanna keep my self-proclaimed title of best boyfriend of the year.
