Nightfall (Devil's Night #4) - Penelope Douglas Page 0,131

neck.

“What the hell?” I mouthed.

And then I spotted something to the right and squinted.

Alex crept up behind Taylor, already in the room with a thick, wooden candlestick in her hand, and I widened my eyes, sucking in a breath.

Shit. What was she doing?

But before I could locate the opening she’d slipped through, she’d raised her arm and brought down the candlestick in a hard blow across the back of Taylor’s head.

He jerked, froze, and fell over, collapsing onto the floor, and she stood there, breathing hard and staring down at him.

In a moment, Will had shot to his feet, wiping the blood from under his nose. “Alex?” He gaped at her.

She didn’t look happy, though. “What the hell are you doing?” she snapped, whispering over Taylor’s unconscious body on the floor. “You could’ve handled that guy. I’ve been watching you get your ass kicked for days! What are you doing?”

He just stared at her, stunned. “What the fuck are you doing here?”

She paused and then said, “That’s it? That’s all you’ve gotta say?” She waved her hand at her head. “Not a word about my hair?”

I almost snorted, despite my pulse racing. I’d never actually seen them interact together. I met Alex long after Will was sent here.

She was so comfortable with him.

He blinked at her, wiping his nose as more blood dripped out, and then he grabbed her hand. “Fuck,” he cursed, swinging open the door and yanking her out of the room. “Goddamn, son of a bitch…”

He bolted with her, and I stilled, wondering if I should jump out and run with them, but I stayed in the walls, racing down the corridor instead.

I peered into every room I passed, afraid he was taking her upstairs to his room, but he wouldn’t risk keeping her out in the open that long.

I passed the drawing room, peeked in quickly and was about to fly off to the next room, but then I saw him slip inside, pulling her behind him, and close the door, securing it with a chair.

I looked through the thin slit in the bookshelf I knew was on the other side of this wall, watching as she threw her arms around him, nearly knocking him over.

I pressed on the wall, about to open it, but…I stayed, watching.

His arms hung limply at his sides for a minute, but then he snapped out of it and wrapped them around her, squeezing her tight. She sobbed quietly, pressing her lips to his cheek as he closed his eyes, smiling—really smiling—for the first time since I’d been here.

My heart ached.

“I missed you, kid,” he said.

She nodded, still hugging him. “We’re going home.”

They held each other for another few moments and then pulled away, staring into each other’s eyes.

“How’d you figure this out?” he asked, pulling off his shirt to wipe down his face and the remnants of his fight with Taylor.

“I didn’t,” she replied.

“Rika?” he asked.

“Misha and Damon figured it out, actually.”

A laugh bubbled out of him, the deep, rich sound like déjà vu. He was a teenager at the Cove all over again.

Rika. He meant Erika Fane. I’d heard she was engaged to Michael Crist, one of his best friends. Kai was married and a father, as was fucking Damon Torrance. Shocker.

Misha Grayson was his younger cousin. He went to Thunder Bay Prep, too, but that was after my time.

Alex knew all of them. She was a part of his life now. Friends with his friends.

“Damon and Misha…” Will mused. “Like in the same room?”

“There may have been blood,” she joked.

A knot twisted and twisted in my stomach, listening to them.

But then he grabbed her, squeezing her arms. “You want to tell me what you’re doing here? Huh? This was stupid.”

She looked at him, worry etched on her brow, and then he released her and walked away, tossing his T-shirt onto a chair. The black ink all over his body melted into itself in the dim light.

She approached him. “It’s been a year. You had to know we were going to figure out something was wrong,” she told him. “Your parents are telling everyone you’re doing humanitarian work in…like South Sudan or something.”

He started laughing as he rubbed his forehead.

She knit her brow. “Why are you laughing?”

“Because I don’t know if I’m more hurt that it took you all so long to come after me, or aggravated that you had no faith that I’d be able to get myself out of this on my own?”

“At least you’re not mad