“Ens, open your eyes,” a voice whispers from far away.

And what’s up with that annoying ringing in my ear? It’s seriously rattling my brain.

“God, please just open your eyes.” The owner of the voice sounds so distraught.

I want to comfort them, want to open my eyes and tell them everything will be okay, but my eyelids feel so heavy.

“Ens,” Carter pleads.

Carter?

Carter is the one worried about me?

I peel my eyes open and the ringing in my ears starts to subside as Carter’s worried face comes into focus. He’s cradling my head between his hands and has a small cut on his forehead.

“What happened to your head?” I reach up and lightly brush my fingers across his wound.

“You don’t remember?” More worry pours from his eyes.

“I don’t…” My gaze drifts to the cracked windshield and my jaw drops. The front end of the car is close to a tree, the hood bowed up, as if we ran into it and then backed up. It all comes rushing back to me. “Shit, we crashed.”

He nods, still cupping my face between his hands. “You remember, right?”

Nodding, I sit up in the seat and look behind me, relieved to see El. She looks fine, except for the tears in her eyes.

“Ens, are you okay?” she whispers. “You hit your head pretty hard.”

“I think I am…” Although, my head does hurt a bit. “Are you okay?” I note the empty spaces beside her. “Wait. Where are Gaige and Holden?”

“Outside, taking care of the problem.” She twists around in the seat and Carter moves his hands away from my face so I can track her gaze.

Fear instantly whips through me.

Gaige and Holden are standing near the back of the car with their guns out. Kneeling between them, are two men dressed in all black, and behind them is a car lying upside down on the side of the road.

“They crashed when they hit us,” Carter explains, picking up his gun from off the console. “Stay here, okay?” His fingers fold around the door handle.

I snag ahold of his sleeve. “What’re you going to do?”

He shoves open the door. “I’m going to find out who they work for and what they’re doing. I’m going to find out who they told our location to.”

I don’t let go of his sleeve just yet. “And then what?”

“We’ll deal with that problem when we get there.” He gives me a quick kiss and then hops out of the car.

I watch him walk around to the back, joining Holden and Gaige. He says something to Holden, then Holden grins and aims the gun at the taller of the two men.

“This is some crazy shit,” El whispers as she kneels up in the backseat and stares out the window. “I mean, a week ago they were my annoying brother, my annoying friend, and my annoying brother’s annoying friend. And now they’re like these badass mafia guys.” She angles her head to the side as Holden punches the taller guy in the jaw with a grin on his face. “Holden seems kind of crazy.”

“Yeah, he definitely does.” I can already see where this is going.

“It’s kind of hot.”

I internally sigh. Just like I thought. “I knew you were going to say that.”

“What?” She peers over her shoulder at me. “So, you’re saying that you don’t find Carter hot right now.”

My stomach flutters as I watch Carter get in the shorter guy’s face and say something, his face all intense. Then he rises to his feet and points the gun at the guy’s head with a trace of a smile. “I don’t know.”

“You so do.”

“Okay, maybe a little. But that’s kind of messed up, considering the situation we’re in.”

“But what’s even going on?” she wonders. “I mean, we’d know if we were out there, but instead, we’re hiding out in here like cowards.”

She has a point. Plus we’re only in this mess because of me.

We stare at each other, silently making an agreement. With a nod of understanding, I push open the door to get out and then lift the seat so El can climb out. Then she loops arms with me and steers me toward the back of the car.

“Tell me who you work for,” Carter demands with his finger hovering over the trigger.

“Go to fucking hell,” the guy spats, blood trickling down his nose.

Carter presses the barrel to the guy’s head. “No, I think you’re the one who’s going to hell.”

A manic grin possesses the guy’s bloody face. “Go ahead. I’ve always known this was coming.”

Carter cocks his head to the side, considering something, and then he lowers his gun. “You know what? I think I have a better idea.” He flips the gun and raises it to clock the guy with the handle, but freezes when his gaze finds me. “Why the hell are you two out of the car?”

Gaige and Holden glance our way. So do the two guys kneeling in front of them. The guy Holden was threatening grins in delight.

“And there’s his first.” His beady eyes scan me over. “You’re a pretty little thing, aren’t you? I think I might have some fun with you before we torture you.”

Wait… “First?” I ask.

The guy grins. “So, you don’t know. Don’t worry, sweetheart, you’ll probably remember when we torture you. I hear pain makes people remember things they might not want to.”

Carter looks as confused as I do. So does everyone else.

El lifts a brow. “You don’t really seem in a position to torture anyone. Only be tortured.”

The guy continues to grin. “You think I can’t get out of this?” With a wink, he springs to his feet and reaches for Carter’s gun, which Carter is holding backward with the barrel aimed at himself.

I don’t think. I just react, racing forward and kicking the guy right between the legs. He cries out in pain, hunching over.

Carter moves quickly, clocking the guy over the head hard with the gun. The guy collapses to the ground, face first, completely knocked out. Holden doesn’t miss a beat, smashing his fist into the other guy’s face. The guy tips forward, his eyes rolling into the back of his head.

“That was fun,” Holden remarks, wiping his bloody knuckles on his jeans.

“You’re fucking insane,” Gaige mutters, tucking his gun away.

Carter puts his gun away too and then strides toward me. “Why the hell did you get out of the car?”

I shrug, feeling silly. “I created this mess. Thought I should help.”

“And help you did,” Holden muses, rolling up his sleeves. “Although, you were kind of the reason the guy was able to attack to begin with. You had lover boy all distracted.”

Carter shakes his head with a sigh. “Can you just find out who they are?”

With a nod, Holden crouches down and fishes a wallet from the shorter guy’s pocket.

My heart races as I wait to hear the answer, as if knowing his identity will somehow explain why he said all that stuff about me not remembering and how I was the first. In reality, though, that’s probably not how this is going to work.

“They’re Winston’s men,” Holden announces, tossing the wallet onto the unconscious man’s back

“Which means there’s probably more on the way.” Carter tugs his fingers roughly through his hair and I notice his knuckles are split open. “How did they even find us, though?”

Carter and Holden trade a look and then their gazes zero in on Gaige.

Gaige’s jaw ticks. “You guys are fucking crazy if you think I’d do anything that’d hurt El or Ens.”

“How do we know that for sure, though?” Holden points his gun at Gaige’s head.

Rage simmers underneath my skin as I rush over and step in front of Gaige, putting me in the line of fire. “Back the hell off, Holden. Gaige is my friend and I’m not going to let you hurt him.”

Holden shakes his head with his gaze trained over my shoulder at Gaige. “There’s no way Winston’s men could’ve found us so easily. Someone had to have told them.”

“I didn’t fucking tell anyone anything,” Gaige grits out. “Why the hell would I? I fucking hate my father and everyone he works with. They’re the reason…” He trails off with a gulp.

My heart beats erratically in my chest when Holden makes no move to put his gun down. I look to Carter for help, only to find him grinding his teeth.

“Please tell your friend to back off of mine,” I beg, my eyes pleading with him.

With another grind of his teeth, Carter turns to Holden. “You know as well as I do that they could’ve been following us for a while.”

“No way,” Holden insists. “We were too careful.”

“We were in a hurry,” Carter reminds him. “Which means we weren’t as careful as we should’ve been. Besides, if Ens says he wouldn’t do it, then I believe her.”

Holden steps back and lowers his gun. “Fine, but if anything else happens, it’s on you.”

Carter nods then rubs his hand across his forehead. “We need to get out of here.” He glances at the unconscious men lying on the side of the road. “Tie them up and throw them in the trunk of my car.”

“I need to call cleanup,” Holden stares at the upside-down car on the side of the road, “So they can get rid of that.”

“Cleanup?” Carter questions, his brows lifting to his hairline.

“The agency has a cleanup division that handles situations like this,” Holden digs his phone out of his pocket and punches in a few digits while glancing from Carter’s car. “Is your car drivable?”

“There’s only one way to find out.” Carter starts for the driver’s side of the car, then glances over his shoulder and catches my gaze. He gives a slight nod, indicating I should follow him.

“I’ll be right back,” I tell El, slipping my arm from her hold and then heading for the front of the car.

I hear Holden tell El and Gaige to get some rope out of the trunk and tie the men up as I walk away. The entire situation is crazy and leaves my head spinning.

Am I going to be able to handle this all the time?

When Carter reaches the front of the car, he assesses the damage with a frown. Then he lifts the hood up and his frown deepens.

“Bad news, I take it?” I ask, rubbing some dried blood off my arm.

He shakes his head. “As long as the engine starts, it should be drivable. But I’ll need to take it into a shop as soon as possible.”

“Why do you look so sad then?”

“It’s just been a stressful day.” He lowers the bowed hood and pushes down on it with all of his weight until it locks shut.

“Are you upset that your car’s wrecked?” I ask. “I know you worked really hard to fix it up.”

He nods, looking at me. “I didn’t realize you knew that. Not a lot of people do.” The corners of his lips turn upward as he reduces the space between us, heat blazing in his eyes. “Are you saying that maybe sometimes you watched me like I watched you?”

I shrug nonchalantly, even though my heart thunders from the heat in his eyes. “I may have.”

A smile takes over his face. “Glad to hear I’m not the only stalker in our relationship.”

I start to smile but then grow serious. He must misread me because his smile fizzles too.

“We don’t have to be in a relationship if you don’t want to,” he quickly adds. “Honestly, it’s probably the worst timing ever.”

“No, it’s fine. I want to be… I mean, if you do… But we don’t have to…” I start babbling like an idiot.

His smile returns. “You’re cute when you ramble.” He inches toward me with an intense look on his face. “And I definitely want to.”

“Good. So do I.”

He dazzles me with a heart stopping smile as his lips gravitate toward mine.

Right before our lips meet, I whisper, “Thank you for letting Gaige go. For trusting him.”

“It’s more that I trust you, Ens.” His lips brush mine, his fingers tangling through my hair.

“Even after everything?” When he nods, I whisper, “I trust you too—”

His lips come down on mine as he backs me into the side of the tree, pressing up against me. His tongue slips into my mouth as I grasp his shoulder, my legs wobbling, about to buckle.

I feel like I’m falling again…

Falling…

Falling…

And I kind of want to fall this time.

But then something occurs to me. Something that’s been bugging me.

I pull back and Carter groans in protest.

“I’m sorry,” I say. “But I have to know something… About what that guy said. About me being the first and not remembering. Do you know what he meant by that?”

His eyelids flutter open. “I’m not sure. I’ve actually heard Winston call you Gregor’s first too and I always assumed he meant first born, but…” He yanks his fingers through his hair, causing blonde strands to stick up all over the place. “I’m not sure about the remembering part, but maybe he was just trying to fuck with us. Make it seem like he knew valuable information so his life seemed more valuable.”

“Yeah, maybe.” But my stomach churns, as if sensing something awful is about to happen.

“Everything’s going to be okay,” he promises me. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”

I offer him a small smile and he leans in to kiss me—

“Yo, you can make out later!” Holden shouts. “If we don’t get out of here soon, more of Winston’s men are probably going to show up.”

Carter shakes his head. “When this is all over, you and I are going to spend some time alone.” His gaze meets mine. “Unless you’ve changed your mind about doing this?” Hope fills his eyes.

“No, I still want to do this.” The truth of my words shocks me. Am I afraid? Hell yeah. But I want—no, need—to do this. If I don’t, I’ll feel guilty for the rest of my life.

I cross my fingers, though, that this will end soon. That Carter and I will get our alone time.

That we will all make it out of this alive.