Dulce

31

When Reese opens her mouth to speak, I hold my hand up to stop her.

“Not now. First, I need to find Scott. I don’t know if he lied about Sarah or if she’s fine or—”

Dmitri is beside me a moment later, wrapping his arm around me.

“Sarah is fine. Casey really is in the hospital. That’s why I was gone when you woke up. As the headmaster, I got the call because his next of kin didn’t pick up.”

“Are they both okay?”

“Yeah. He was hit from behind and knocked out. When he woke up, he was in the hospital with a hysterical Sarah beside him, trying to explain how she got a phone call from Scott saying he’d been attacked with a baseball bat.”

“Only he’d have no way of knowing that unless he was there or the one doing the attacking,” Cain tells me, climbing to his feet.

“That’s why you’re here.” I look up at Dmitri, who nods and then backs up so Cain can see me. But Cain isn’t looking at me. His eyes have fallen on his brother, crumpled on the ground with my knife sticking out of his eye.

“Someone needs to tell me what the fuck is going on?” Reese snaps. I ignore her and pull away from Dmitri, moving over to Abe. I squat and take a closer look.

His eyes are open and staring into nothing. There is no spark of life within them, no rise and fall of his chest.

The knife wasn’t long enough to penetrate his brain. It should have maimed him but not killed him. As I look closer, I see the pool of blood and realize that when he fell, he must have hit a jagged rock, which likely cracked his head open like an egg.

I stand, ignoring the throbbing pain in my arm, and walk slowly toward Cain, not wanting to spook him.

“I’m sorry.”

Cain’s head turns to look at me. His face is completely blank, but his eyes… Oh God, his eyes are so full of pain it hurts to look at him.

“Me too.”

He turns and walks away. I move to stop him, but Reese calls my name.

“Let him go. There is a medical unit pulling up. They can check him over. You should go too, and we’ll meet you after for a debrief. I need to get rid of these bodies first.”

I nod before frowning.

“Bodies?”

“Oh, yeah. Don’t worry about finding Scott. We got you covered.” Lollie grins.

“You need to get that shoulder sorted now. Go,” Reese orders me.

I hesitate but nod, too wiped out to wade through this mess right now.

“I got her,” Dmitri reassures them, but his words have the opposite effect on the girls.

“If anything happens to her, I’ll feed you to my alligator,” Lollie warns him.

Hunter snorts from beside me.

They think she’s kidding. She’s not.

“If Charlie comes anywhere near him, I’ll turn him into a lovely new pair of shoes.”

Lollie gasps with her hand over her chest. “Not cool, Dulce. Not cool.”

Reese rolls her eyes at us. “Either go now, Dulce, or I’ll pop your shoulder back in its socket myself.”

“The fuck you will,” Dmitri snarls.

“Spare me the testosterone bullshit. My dick is bigger than yours, and I have shit to do.” Reese turns away, effectively dismissing us all.

It’s rude as fuck, but it’s also Reese. She never did like it when I got hurt.

“Come on, let’s go. I’d rather not have you gelded before I can figure out what’s happening here.”

“Nobody is touching my dick but you,” Dmitri grumbles.

I start walking back the way we came but spin abruptly when something dawns on me.

“Where’s Sugar?”

“Well, now it was the strangest thing. She suddenly felt the undeniable urge to pray,” Lollie calls out, looking devious. I can’t help it, I chuckle. I should have known.

“What?” Hunter asks, looking at me for help.

“She’s gone to church.”

And somehow, I doubt it will still be standing after she’s finished.

* * *