position and smiled as much as I could while still crying.
Pulling back, I unlocked the door, opened it as fast as I could in case Lee was lying, grabbed his shirt, and pulled him inside.
“What the…?” Lee stumbled into the room, catching himself on the sink so he wouldn’t fall to the floor.
I closed the door without slamming it, locked it again, and resumed my previous position with my back braced against the wood.
Finally getting a good look at my face, Lee dropped to his knees in front of me and placed his hands on top of mine. “Miller, what’s wrong?”
I ignored his question entirely. “I want to go home.” My tears had slowed with Lee’s interruption but made a quick return.
“Okay, okay. Calm down. Everything is okay. Please stop crying.”
“I want to go home,” I repeated. It was the only thought running through my head. I wanted to go home to safety, to Cinder.
“Okay,” Lee said, standing up. He reached down, looped his hands under my arms, and helped me up off the floor. “Let’s go.”
Moving me out of the way, Lee unlocked the door and reached for the knob.
“Wait,” I said, grabbing his arm. He looked back at me, raising a brow in question.
“Can you…” I dropped my hand and twisted it into my shirt. “Can you ask Carson to go to a different room while we leave?”
Shock and confusion bloomed across Lee’s face. “Mills, did he do or say something to you?”
“No,” I said quickly, trying to think of something I could tell Lee other than the truth. “I just don’t want him to see me like this.” I felt bad for lying and ignored the little ache in my stomach.
“Okay, you stay here.” Lee turned back to the door and opened it just enough to squeeze through.
I leaned against the sink and stared at the door as I waited for Lee to come back. Lifting my hand, I slipped my thumb into my mouth and started chewing on my fingernail. It was a bad habit I’d developed to stop myself from sucking on my thumb. Neil had hated it when I sucked on my thumb.
I jumped when Lee knocked on the door, announcing his return. “It’s just me.”
Lee stepped into the bathroom, gently pulled my thumb out of my mouth, and tsked at my ruined thumbnail. “Carson went to his bedroom. He said he’s sorry if he made you uncomfortable in any way. What happened?”
“He didn’t do anything. I just have some hang-ups that caught up with me is all.” I hoped that was enough to get Lee off my back.
I skirted around Lee and exited the bathroom. A part of me still expected to see Carson waiting for us when I came out of the hallway, but the living room was empty. I walked toward the table and scooped up my phone, having left it behind in my panic, and then approached the front door. I grabbed my bag from where I’d stashed it and waited for Lee. Seconds behind me, he grabbed his keys from the counter and motioned toward the door.
“Let’s roll,” he said, reaching for the handle.
Following Lee down the stairs, I couldn’t help looking back. A part of me wanted to see Carson chasing after us, but it was a teeny-tiny, microscopic part that I told to shut up. Most of me dreaded it. When we reached the small lobby on the ground floor, I saw another door that I hadn’t noticed when we’d first arrived. The lobby had been quiet only a few hours earlier, but now I could hear the beat of heavy music coming from the other side of the strange door. I heard laughter and a sharp yelp and blamed it on my imagination.
I rushed out of the building like it was on fire and stopped beside Lee’s car in the private parking lot. As I waited for him to unlock the doors, I saw a black motorcycle parked next to a dusty farm truck and assumed Chelsey and Niles had stayed as well.
I climbed into Lee’s car, and as I shut the door, I pushed away all thoughts of the club and everything else I’d seen. If I just didn’t think about it, I knew I would be fine.
The ride home was a lot different from the ride there. I was silent, picking at the seams of my jeans as I watched the city pass by. The radio was a nice distraction, but I could feel