try and figure out another plan."
Tatum reached forward and took my hand, squeezing my fingers tightly as I drove and I held onto her, needing her close right now. Because for the first time in a long time, I was struggling to see a way out of this mess. And if this was a problem I couldn't fix, then I had no idea what the fuck we were going to do.
“S hit. This is bad.” I paced back and forth in the little apartment in the movie theatre, determined to figure this out but unsure how.
Saint was sat on the end of one of the beds, his fingers steepled together as he worked over a plan. He was as still as a statue, utterly rigid, a single crease formed in his tight brow as I could practically see the cogs turning inside of his brain. If anyone could come up with some kind of miracle escape plan to get us out of here before the army turned up and arrested me, dragged me back to a freaking lab and had me tested on like a lab rat until they killed me, then it was him. But he hadn’t offered a single idea yet, and if he was stumped, we were definitely screwed. So, so screwed. I was trying to have faith in him, but fuck, these might have been the worst odds we’d faced yet and as much as we all liked to believe Saint had superpowers, he really was only human and he couldn’t fly us out of here like superman even if he wished he could.
“It’s really bad isn’t it?” I pushed when none of my men replied to my initial outburst. “Like, no way out of it bad-”
“We’ll figure it out, princess,” Nash snarled like demanding it from the universe would be enough, but we all knew it wasn’t.
Saint still said nothing. Did nothing. Just sat there thinking with tension pouring from him so tangibly I could taste it in the air. Blake looked just as concerned as I was and I chewed my lip to stop myself from saying anything else that wouldn’t help us, but shit, this was really freaking worrying.
“There’s only one option,” Kyan said at last, his expression dark and I stopped pacing, staring at him where he was leaning against the wall, realising what he was going to say.
“Kyan, you already owe your family too much. I can’t stand to think what they’ll make you do if you ask them for more help,” I said, shaking my head in refusal. He’d been trying to avoid those people for as long as I’d known him and yet one way or another, he just kept getting tangled up with them again. And it was often my fault. I loved that he was willing to do anything to help me, but I hated him having to pay a price on my behalf.
“They’re the only choice we can make. They’ll be able to get us out of here,” Kyan growled. “And I can face whatever the payment is.”
“No,” I insisted. “There has to be another way.”
Blake and Monroe shared a look, their expressions saying they were unsure about it too. But that wasn’t enough. I needed them to stand up and say it outright. We couldn’t let Kyan pay the price for this. It was our mess. And we needed to figure it out together.
“There isn’t,” Saint announced, rising from the bed and folding his arms, looking like he hated saying those words while speaking them all the same. “Kyan, call your family. I’ve weighed the options, there is nothing else we can do.”
“Saint,” I growled. “I’m not letting Kyan pay for this.”
“It’s not up to you, baby,” Kyan said in a hard voice that sent a tremor of anger through me.
“You don’t get to make decisions like that for the whole group. Nash and Blake won’t agree.” I looked to them, but they seemed even more doubtful now.
“Are you sure it’s the only way?” Monroe asked gravely and both Saint and Kyan nodded.
“Then we have to,” Blake said in low voice, his eyes on me. “Anything to get Tatum out of the city and that vaccine into the right hands.”
“Don’t make this about me,” I growled, fury pulsing through me.
“It is about you,” Saint said sharply. “And we have all vowed to protect you. None of us take that lightly. I would bleed in Kyan’s place to ensure you are not caught by my father,