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There’s a part of me that believes if I wanted, I could get away with murder. It’s the part that I’m sure annoys the shit outta him. It’s the part that I should learn to shut off, but I’m selling my soul every second I’m back in South Philly with my dad, so the least I could do is return to my soul by being with Luna. Give myself that. And I do.
I slow into a longer stroke inside her warmth, and when I pull further back, I see blood on my shaft. Shit. Fuck. Immediately, I stop and go rigid, my pulse spiking. I rest her ass back on the counter. Cupping her cheek, I ask, “Are you hurting?” I wasn’t that rough, but I’m not gentle either, and blood could mean one of two things. “Huh?” She’s in a sex haze. I murmur, “You’re bleeding, Luna.” I start to pull all the way out, but she catches my wrist. “Wait, I…” She looks down, flush ascending her neck. “I think I must’ve just started a period.”
Omg i got scared
Luna Hale belongs to me.
I skim her. “Have you had sex on your period before?” She stares at the vape in her hand. “I wanted to.” I stiffen. I’m not gonna like this story, I can already tell. “What happened?” “Andrew said it was unhygienic.” My brows shoot up. “That fucking—” “I shouldn’t have believed him. It was dumb—” “No, he’s a fucking dick.”
“Everyone likes all different things.” She shrugs. “I think he was just turned off by it.” “So what if he was?” Heat flames my chest. “His go-to was to make you feel like shit instead of just saying that.” I motion to her lamp. “Lava lamp, ceiling, Moondragon—new life update: I now severely hate her asshole of an ex.” Luna tries not to smile. “Donnelly.” “What a fucking loser.” I’m stewing. “I wanna kick him outta Philly.” He’s not even from here. “Wishes.” “Will come true someday,”
“It’s different this time. I want it to be different.” She nestles against my side, her cheek on my shoulder. “Why?” “‘Cause you don’t deserve to be in pain while I deal with my family, and that’s what being physically away from each other is starting to be.”
“There’ll be tomorrow,” I say. Hope tries to fill her eyes, and the only regret I have is not making that a promise. The kind of promise on her planet. Tongue to tongue. It’s all I think about as I truly leave.
Donnelly and I think she’s powered by Cobalt fuel. It’s inexhaustible stuff. But strangely enough, Thatcher is wired the same way. He acts fine with only a few hours of sleep. I’d be an exhausted roly-poly wanting to curl into myself. I’m powered by Hale fumes. Running on empty. But maybe it’s potent stuff too. Just in a different way.
Sulli chimes in, “As long as you and Jane are down, I’m fucking down.” She rattles the BB8 toy. “Carpenter! Come here, right fucking now.” The cat has leapt onto the armrest of Jane’s rocking chair, but he springs off to stalk Sulli instead.
Lol
DAD It’s what dads do. And I love you more than chicken tacos Spicy chicken tacos From the food truck outside S&S
“I don’t know exactly what’s going on between you and Donnelly, aka Wonder Bread”—I heard she found out about our Fanaticon usernames—“but he better know I am still your Number One Protector.” I smile. “Always.”
“He’ll come out eventually,” she nods resolutely. “Like you.” Her green eyes dart to my amber. “I don’t like seeing you locked away.” Me either. “It was just a week of total seclusion, really.” “For you, that might as well be a millennium. You’re my child who’s either traveling by imagination or by foot.”
TOM We’ll be there in thirty or you’ll be turned into a square ELIOT We can’t let that happen.
Once I find her phone in the cup holder, I manually call my dad. “Hey, Lil.” He answers on the first ring. “Lo, we have a problem.” “Mom!” I shout, just as the sedan tries to cut us off. We almost slam into a brick wall of an old laundromat. Ohmygod. I can’t blink. I hear my rattled breath. She speeds out of the close encounter, and I still haven’t moved an inch. “Lily!” Dad shouts, panic shooting in his voice. “Luna?” Donnelly calls out, his concern palpable. He’s with my dad. Eating dinner together at the office, I picture them huddled around a box of pizza or to-go cartons of burgers.
“Find the safest place and pull over,” Dad forces. “They’ll run you both off the fucking road.” “I’m going to pull over,” Mom says, even though I’m shaking my head a hundred miles a minute. “No, please,” I say “It’s Boom Box.” “Stay in the car,” Donnelly tells us.
We’re in a dead-end. “Lily?” Dad calls out. “I’m trying to get out of here.” Mom attempts to reverse, but headlights glare in our rear windshield. She hits the brakes. Boom Box is right behind us. We’re trapped. “Where’s here?” Donnelly asks. I scramble with my cellphone to drop a pin of our location. “I sent you a pin. We can just stay parked, right?” I ask Mom. She nods, already putting the car in park.
“Lock the doors,” Dad says urgently. “Just wait in the car. We’re coming to you.” “Security’s on their way too,” Donnelly tells us. “You alright, Luna?” “Yeah.” I try to control my racing heartbeat with a few breaths.
And then all four of their car doors swing open. Four doors? “Wait…” Wait. My pulse is in my throat. Is Boom Box riding with more cameramen? The two of them couldn’t have opened all four doors. “What?” Donnelly asks. “Luna? You alright?” Dread wraps around my windpipe like a vice, and I can barely breathe. “What’s going on?” Dad questions. “Lil? Is she okay?” “They’re getting out of their car,” Mom tells them. “Jesus Christ,” Dad curses
I hardly blink as these tall figures emerge on either side of our doors. It’s dark, rainy, but as I twist to my window, I catch sight of his hands. There is no camera. “That’s not Boom Box,” I say. “Donnelly!” “STAY IN THE CAR!” he yells. They smash our side windows.
Omgomgomg
“Get out of the fucking car!” someone shouts. “LILY!” Dad screams. Everything happens so fast. Mom tries to reverse and run them over, but an arm swoops through her broken window, caging her by the collarbones and pulling her against her door. He’s wearing a black ski-mask. I unbuckle, reach over, and spray his eyes. “Fucking bitch!” he swears, not letting go of Mom, not even as she fights harder against his iron-like hold.
Omg
“Donnelly,” I cry out. “Which one of us is she asking for?” A chill rakes my entire body, and my head whirls like I’ve sucked on too much helium. “Fuckin’ shut up,” someone else snaps. I hear mutterings behind me. “Where’s Xander?” “Not here. Just these two.”
Omg its his family
Breath ejects. Pain flares. Black spots blur my vision. Dizzy, I barely realize I’m moving. I’m being hoisted in another pair of arms. I go limp, trying to blink away the throbbing in my temple. My skull is pounding, and I imagine these are his arms. They’re his arms. My pulse slows. He has me. I’m okay. He’s right here. He’s always with me. Donnelly.
Please tell me its really donnelly
“I’m not some broken toy.” I don’t know why I say it, but I do. “Great.” His voice is sharp. “Because I’m not trying to fix you.” I nod again. Same Goal: Make Loren Hale Like Me…Then Make Him My Best Friend—it’s going alright. Room for improvement.
“What do you think I’d be like?” His face contorts. “That I’d be excited you were in a violent household? That I’d be glad for you.” He starts clapping. I tilt my head and watch, smiling. “Appreciate the applause. You can send me a fruit basket next.” “I’ll do that,” he says dryly. “Right to 2149 You’re Not Funny Lane.” “Sending the basket to yourself?” I nearly laugh. His eyes are knives. “Oh that’s right. Your address is 460 You’re Never Dating My Daughter Avenue.”
“What you came from is…” His nose flares. “It’s not anything I’d ever want her to experience.” “She won’t,” I assure with everything inside me. We want the exact same things for Luna. He nods tensely, his gaze tightening. “I’m sorry you had to go through that.” “So sorry you keep sending the fruit basket to the wrong place.” He rolls his eyes, but we’re both starting to smile. His fades first.
“That’s alright, Xander’s dad. Not everyone has good taste.” He reaches for his water on the desk. “That’s exactly what I was thinking about you.” He flashes a dry smile. “Like minds.” I give him a rock on gesture. “Yeah, no—” He’s cut off by his phone’s loud Skrillex ringtone.
I ask for Frog again on comms, and this time, she hears me. “Frog to Donnelly, we’re meeting our clients at Putt Palace.” “Reroute,” I say quietly into my mic and text her the pin. “Luna and Lily are in trouble. Paparazzi. I sent you their location.” “Got it.” Her voice is tight.
I click my mic, sick to my stomach, but I’m speaking. “Someone call 9-1-1. Frog has the location. Lily and Luna are being attacked. Can’t talk. I’m with Lo.” Bodyguards flood the comms channel, but I tune them out and shout, “Lo, watch it!” He hits the brakes as traffic slows. I ask, “Can you driv—?” “I’m fine!” he shouts, clearly not fine. Neither of us are, but someone needs to drive—and he’s already behind the wheel.
Ahhhhh
“LUNA!” Lily wails. “DON’T HURT HER, PLEASE! PLEASE!” I’m being stabbed repeatedly, and if a knife is plunging into me, then a bulldozer is running over Lo’s whole being. He’s sheet-white, and when we reach a red light, he opens the car door. And vomits onto the cement. Shutting the door, he wipes his mouth, and the light turns green. He hits the gas.
“Text my brother,” Lo tells me in a single breath. I assume I’m supposed to tell Ryke Meadows to meet us. So I briefly shoot him a message about the situation. I keep it short but urgent. Lo has a hand rooted over his mouth, the other on the wheel.
“What are they doing to her?” Lo chokes out. “I dunno.” “They’re your family!” “I DON’T KNOW!” I yell with every breath inside me. “You think this woulda happened if I were closer to them?! You think I woulda let it happen?! They tell me nothing.”
“Lily!” Lo shouts in the light rainfall. I shadow Lo, not stopping. Where’s Luna? “Luna!” I call out, my heart pounding. “LUNA!”
Omg
“Lily.” His voice is punctured, fractured…obliterated. “Lily, Lily.” “She’s still breathing,” Frog says shakily, but she staggers to a stance, her hands to her mouth while she sees Lo shatter completely. “Lily. No, no, no,” he cries into a scream, his face twisting and his fingers featherlight across her battered skin.
“I can’t lose you,” Lo sobs. “You’re okay. Come on, love. You’re okay. Wake up. Please, wake up. Lily…Lily.”
“Donnelly!” Price shouts and catches me by the shoulder. I’m being whisked off to the side, near a black security SUV and the brick wall. Alpha bodyguards huddle around me. Ryke Meadows is rushing past us, his motorcycle helmet beneath his armpit. “LO!” he calls out to his brother.
Omg
“You can’t be sure of that,” Price shoots back. “I legitimately can,” Oscar retorts, rain droplets slipping down his golden-brown skin and stubbled jaw. Curly pieces of his brown hair are wet against his forehead, and he’s squinting through the storm. “Because if Donnelly knew where Luna was, he wouldn’t be standing here listening to you. He’d already be gone.” “I’ll find her,” I suddenly say,
“Donnelly?” he calls out as wind whips through this dead-end. I approach, just as he says, “Luna—” “I’m gonna get her. I promise you.” Lo has no clue I’ve broken every promise I’ve ever made to him, but this one, I can’t break. Because this is the promise that will break me if I do.
Someone sidles next to me. I already know who. His calm, readied demeanor resets mine, a trauma bag slung on his shoulder. There is no wait. No yesterday. No tomorrow if she’s not here. There is only now. Farrow watches the ambulance disappear. “We’ll be with you.” We. Oscar comes up to my other side, dangling the keys. “I’m driving.”
Oscar locks the wheel in place and tries to peek back at me. “No comment back there?” He’s concerned since I’m not ribbing him about sex positions. I see the joke alright. Just don’t wanna make one right now. My legs won’t stop jostling. “Your adult sister has probably been hooking up with someone in the driver’s seat.” Oscar short-circuits. “First off, no. Secondly, I’m sorry I asked.” “Me too,” I mutter.
Pretty sure I’m either gonna walk away with her, or I’m not walking away at all.
My initial question still hasn’t been answered. I ask outright this time. “Where’s your son?” Ripley. He’s the baby. He’s biologically a Donnelly, and I want to make sure he’s nowhere near South Philly tonight.
“Hey, Thatcher and Akara aren’t telling me a goddamn thing. My dad isn’t picking up his phone. My uncles are being cagey, so what the fuck is going on, Farrow?” “Does he always come in this hot?” Oscar asks Farrow, and I imagine Farrow is either rolling his eyes or glaring at him. “Oscar and Donnelly can hear you,” Farrow warns his husband. “I’m in the car with them.” “I’ve been told to go to the hospital to see my mom—I’m not about to come in fucking cool,” Maximoff retorts.
“Farrow—” “I can’t tell you what happened, wolf scout,” he says, his voice abnormally constricted. “Not while you’re driving.” Long dead silence tries to eat away at me. “I can drive,” Maximoff finally replies. “I’ll be fine. You know I can handle it. Just tell me what the fuck is going on. Please.” “I know you can drive. I know you won’t wreck.” “Then why are you doing this to me?” His hurt is crushing. “Man, don’t say it like that,” Farrow breathes, tortured too.
“It’s not about Ripley.” Farrow lowers the brim of his baseball cap. “Promise me something and I’ll tell you.” “Anything.” “Don’t follow me.” “What?” Maximoff says. “Where are the three of you going? Why aren’t you with my mom?” “Promise me, wolf scout.” “…it’s my sister?” “Promise me.”
I want to tell him to trust me. I want to tell him that I’ll die a hundred times over trying to save her. I want to tell him that there is no stop in me. There never really has been. I’ll do more for her than he ever could. He’s got a husband. He’s got a son. He’s got another baby on the way. She’s all I have. She’s all I want.
I shift my weight. “You’ve gotta be in touch with someone who’s involved.” “Involved with what?” He looks me up and down. “I can’t help you unless you’re honest with me.” “Lily Calloway was jumped tonight, and someone took her daughter.” His face plummets. “They didn’t…Jesus.” He takes out his phone again.
He has trouble looking me in the eye. “I know Flynn and Hugh’s kids have been talking to some shady ass journalist at some media firm.” “Why?” “For the money. They’re two degrees from those families through you, and they couldn’t give a shit about burning your career alive.”
don’t think it’s a good idea if they know how much you like this girl—” “I don’t—” “Now you don’t bullshit me,” he interjects, his breath smoking the cold air. “I saw it when you said her name. I’m betting her dad hates you because you fell in love with her—and you’re attached to scum of the fuckin’ earth.”
“And they can’t know how much you love that girl. You can be concerned about her, but remember we’re here to protect them. Otherwise, they won’t give us what we want.” “I just want her,” I admit. He eyes me for another extended beat. “We’ll get her.”
another man sneers, descending the staircase. Is Luna up there? Can’t see beyond the darkness of the stairs, and I’m rocketed back to a memory. The townhouse in the Rittenhouse-Fitler district. The fire. I ran into the burning house. I ran to the staircase and looked up. I was looking for Luna. Back then, I was ordered in another direction and I couldn’t go find her. I couldn’t make sure she was okay.
