“I’m not going.” Cara folded her arms over her chest, her icy glare cutting through me.

“Yes, you are,” I ground out. “If I have to drug you and carry you there myself, you’re going.”

“Braiden!” She tried to feign shock, but Cara knew me. Darkest secrets and all. And she knew I wasn’t fooling around. I’d do whatever it took to keep her safe.

I stepped forward. She stepped back. I went left. She went right. And for the next couple of minutes, we danced a game of cat and mouse until I ran to her, tackling her into my arms. “I need you safe,” I whispered against her hair.

“And I’m safest here with you.” Her arms went around my neck as I pulled her to me.

“Cara, don’t fight me on this. It’s not permanent. I just need to figure this shit out. And I can’t do that while I’m worried about you.”

I’d seen the flash of surprise that quickly morphed to fear when I had told her about the message. I never wanted to see that look again. And knowing it was my fault burned. It burned real fucking bad.

Her eyes softened as she stared at me. “And what about you, huh? Who looks out for you, Braiden?”

I closed the distance, slipping my free hand into her hair and kissing her hungrily. When I pulled back, she inhaled a sharp breath; her eyes glazed over with lust. Dammit. I wanted to take her back to our place and kiss every inch of her—seal my silent promise never to let anyone lay a hand on her—but the clock was ticking.

“Time’s up, beautiful,” I said.

“Braide—”

Her words turned into shrieks as I hoisted her up and over my shoulder, carrying her to the car.

CARA

“Is this really necessary?” I watched Braiden pull away. Everything about this felt wrong. Every damn thing. But he’d insisted I stay at Jackson’s while he tried to smoke out whoever had broken into our apartment and left the threat.

Maybe I should have cared that someone had been in our apartment—the place we lived. I could have been home. What would have happened then? I knew about the guys my father and Braiden worked with, and I’d witnessed enough to know how they solved problems. Revenge was a powerful motivator. Someone consumed with the need for vengeance wouldn’t care who got hurt. Collateral damage was a given, but I couldn’t find it in myself to care, too blinded by my concern for Braiden.

“You’ll be safe here,” Jackson said in a tone that did little to ease my discomfort.

“Will I?” I let the curtain slip through my fingers and glanced over my shoulder. “And what about Braiden?”

I wasn’t angry with Jackson because I knew how stubborn Braiden could be. After all, he’d walked away from me once in the name of doing the right thing. But this was different. Someone out there wanted to hurt him. Someone who wasn’t even supposed to know where he was.

Jackson’s lips pressed together in a flat line. He felt it too. Everything about this was wrong.

“I should call my father.”

Five words I didn’t think I’d ever hear myself say. Of course, he called occasionally, but Mom mainly acted as a conduit for our strained relationship. As dysfunctional as it made us, he’d done the best thing he could for me when he’d let me go. He’d given me a shot at a life away from his life. His business ... or, at least, we thought he had.

Jackson dragged a hand down his face. “Braiden said—”

“I don’t give a shit what Braiden said. He’s blinded by his own guilt, Jackson. Can’t you see that? What’s he going to do? Run around town calling out whoever the hell this is?”

“Two days.”

“Excuse me?”

“I gave him two days. And then I’m making the call.”

A lot could happen in two days.

“No.”

“Cara, you’ve known Braiden, what? A few months? I’ve known him my whole life. He needs to do this. He needs to exorcise his demons. Even if it leads him back to us to ask for help. Just give him this.”

It was too much to ask. I’d almost lost him once. I didn’t plan to lose him again.

“Jackson, I—”

“You love him. I get it, I do. But Braiden isn’t used to having someone look out for him.”

The fight left my body, and my arms hung limply at my sides. I hated this. Hated that he felt he needed to do this alone. Didn’t he know how much I loved him? I’d given up everything—school, my family, my friends—for him. Wasn’t that enough?

“Do you want to come to the hospital with me? I know Ana would love to see you.”

I nodded.

What else could I do?

~

WE DROVE IN SILENCE. What was there to say? Braiden was off on some personal crusade, and we had to go on pretending everything was fine. When we reached Ana’s floor, Jackson said, “Tell Ana I’ll give the two of you some time alone.” He lingered back as I reached the door to her room.

“Are you sure? I don’t want to intrude.”

Jackson smiled. “She’ll be pleased to see you. She’s already going stir-crazy.”

“I bet.”

“I’ll hang around in the cafeteria and come up in a bit. Listen, Cara, I don’t want to worry her—”

“You want to keep it a secret?”

“She doesn’t need any more stress, not with everything.”

I didn’t like keeping this from her, but he was right. Ana needed to find her calm, not go off the deep end with what was happening outside the hospital.

“Okay.” I slipped into Ana’s room and closed the door behind me, shutting out Braiden and Jackson and locking away the panic churning in my stomach.

ANA

“Oh, thank god! I’m going out of my damn mind.” I smiled at Cara as she came and sat on the chair next to the bed.

“How are you?”

“Tired. Bored ...” My voice dropped. “Scared.”

“Everything is going to be okay, Ana.” She smiled, reaching for my hand and clasping it in hers. “Jackson said hopefully you can come home in a couple of days.”

“Hopefully,” I replied, narrowing my eyes at her. Something wasn’t right. “Cara?”

“Hmm, yeah?” Her eyes dropped away. Only for a second, but I caught it.

“Is everything okay?”

She flashed me an overzealous smile. “Of course, it is. Why wouldn’t it be?”

“Okay.” I lifted my head. She was lying. I could see it written all over her face, but I didn’t push. Changing the subject, I said, “How was school?”

“I’m thinking of dropping out,” she blurted out, and I widened my eyes. “What? Why?”

Cara shrugged, her gaze settling on the wall past me. “It’s just not where my heart is anymore. Not since everything.”

“And where is your heart?”

Her mouth curved into a smile. “Well, now that is the million-dollar question. I’m twenty-one, and I have absolutely no idea what I want to do with my life. How pathetic.”

“Does h—” I gulped, forcing myself to say his name. “Does Braiden know how you feel?”

Something flashed over her face, but Cara was quick to school her features. “No. Can you imagine? He’d march me to class every day.”

“You’re not wrong.” I managed a strained laugh. “But you’ve come so far.”

CARA

I eased back into the chair and stared out the big window across the room. Braiden’s comments about getting me pregnant had thrown me for a loop. I wasn’t ready to be a parent; I was barely an adult myself. Yet in some ways, I felt like school was holding me back and tethering me to a life I no longer wanted. It was crazy, but I could picture him. The fair-haired little boy with ice blue eyes. My little boy Blue.

“Cara?” Ana’s voice perforated my daydream, and the little boy evaporated in front of my eyes.

I turned to her. “What was it like when you took the test?”

“Huh?” She stared back at me blankly.

“The pregnancy test.”

“Oh.” A bright smile lifted her whole face. “I’d been feeling a little strange. Tired. My boobs weighed a ton, and I couldn’t stand the smell of milk, of all things.”

“Was Jackson with you?”

She shook her head. “No. I didn’t know how he’d take it.”

“What? Why?”

“We hadn’t talked about starting a family. Believe it or not, it’s taken us a long time to get to this point in our lives.”

I knew that. They’d been through a lot. We all had.

“But he was excited?” Knowing Jackson now, I couldn’t imagine him being anything but over the moon. His love for Ana seeped out of him, affecting everyone around them. You felt this kind of love; experienced it through the two people sharing it. Next to Ana and Jackson, Braiden and I were like a couple of horny teenagers in that annoying can’t-get-enough-of-each-other phase. Maybe that was all we’d ever be.

“He was ecstatic. I stood there a quivering mess with the test in my hand, but with one look in his eyes, I knew I had nothing to worry about.”

“And she’s almost here.”

Ana patted her bump. “Hopefully not for a few more weeks yet,” she said, turning her attention back to me. “Cara, is there something you want to tell me?”

I shook my head, a sudden rush of tears pooling in my eyes. Swallowing them down, I forced a weak smile. “I’m fine. Don’t worry about me.”

ANA

Pressing my lips tight, I buried the words on the tip of my tongue. Something weighed heavy on her heart; I saw it on her face, in her eyes, and in the way she held herself on the chair. I’d been that girl, carrying the weight of the world, but if she didn’t want to confide in me, I wouldn’t push. She had no one else, except for Braiden, and I knew how intense guys could be with their sullen moods and the inability to share their feelings. Even though I could see a change in Braiden, I still found it hard to accept that he was kinder. Softer. He hadn’t been any of those things when I’d known him in Chastity Falls. Cruel, cold, calculating—I’d use those words to describe him. And even they didn’t do justice to the living hell he’d made my life. But he loved Cara; that much I knew. I guess, in some ways, their story was like Jackson’s and mine, which was why I felt so close to her. Why I tried to forget that the guy she loved had tried to keep me from the guy I loved.

“If you ever need to talk, Cara, about anything, I’m here.”

She didn’t meet my eyes as she replied. “I know, thank you.”