I pull the door open and my eyes widen. “Holy fuck,” I blurt. “Sawyer, what happened?”
He tilts his head sideways, his lip bloody and his eyes swollen. He’s even got blood dripping from his nose. “Got into a disagreement.” He tries to smile, then winces.
“Oh my god, you need a doctor!”
“No, I need to come inside.” He winces when I tug on his arm.
In full-blown panic mode, I move aside so he can come in, and I lock the door behind us.
“Didn’t wanna come here,” he says. “Didn’t want you to worry, but you’d only see me tomorrow and there would be no hidin’ it.”
“Hiding what?” I shake my head, heading to the bathroom to grab the first aid kit. “What were you doing to end up like this?”
“You’ll get mad if I tell you.”
I let out a slow breath, closing my eyes briefly as I let the panic submerge. “I won’t, just tell me the truth.”
“Okay, but you have to pinkie promise.”
My eyes meet his and I’m not smiling. “I’m not pinkie promising anything, you’re scaring me.”
He pouts, his bottom lip pulling up. He looks like a truck has run him over. “Just try not to yell.”
“Oh, Jesus, what did you do?”
He clears his throat. “I went back to The Shady Skull.”
My eyes widen. “What the hell?”
He shrugs. “I had a lead across town, and I thought I’d stop by?—”
“Wait, what lead?”
“Uh, just shit I’m lookin’ into.”
“With?”
“With the Directors.”
“Saw, you know how dangerous that is, can’t you just let Willow do her job?”
He snorts. “Right, since when did NOPD solve anythin’ quickly?”
“What lead was it?”
“The name of the guy involved in my kidnappin’.”
I stare at him for what feels like an eternity. He’s never said very much about any of that, so it completely knocks the wind out of my sails. “Really?”
He nods.
“I thought most of them?—”
He shakes his head.
“Did you know them? Or were they strangers to you?”
“I knew some of them, the ones I used to do deliveries for.”