Giving her a quick peck on the lips, I make my way around to the driver’s side and start the engine, letting it idle to warm up.
“She is coming back to ours,” Victor states and I nod, putting the car into first gear.
“Where is Riggs?” Fae asks.
“We knew we needed more room, so Felix organised one of his people to drop off a car for Riggs to take the others to the safehouse,” Victor responds. Fae’s body stiffens as she twists in her seat. I sigh. Shit. I forgot about that.
“Others?” she demands, her voice hard as she looks back at the warehouse, making Hazel whimper and bury herself deeper into Victor.
Victor shoots Fae a glare. I immediately see the shift in her expression when she realises she has upset Hazel. I can already tell she is about to apologise and it pisses me off. Fae goes to speak, but I’m quicker. I press my palm over her mouth and shake my head. I don’t need to speak for her to understand what I mean.
I turn my attention to Victor with a frown. He rightfully looks sheepish. I don’t need to say anything for him to know that whatever this reunion is, it’s because of Fae. Hell, she practically talked Hazel off a knife edge. It is not her fault the girl is jumpy and like fuck will I let her apologise for it.
“You didn’t hear on comms?” Victor asks, changing the conversation as he pulls Hazel tighter into him.
“No,” she mumbles. “I lost it in a fight.”
Victor nods as he looks at me in the mirror; I give a slight nod back to let him know it’s okay to tell her.
Victor starts going into details about his and Riggs’ discovery as I tune out and focus on the drive. The engine hums low beneath my hands. Streetlights streak across the windscreen in long gold lines as ‘Forever by Noah Kahan’ plays on the radio. This style of music isn’t for me and I almost turn it off. Almost.
But then I glance sideways at Fae, who is sitting there listening intently to Victor. She is close enough that her knee brushes my hand every time I change gear. She is still covered in blood, it’s in her hair, her fingernails, the creases of her knuckles, but despite it all she looks soft.
Alive.
I have done unforgivable things in my life. I have built weapons with these hands and broken men with less hesitation than it takes me to breathe. I had accepted a long time ago that love was not designed for someone like me. That men like me guard and destroy but never get to keep beautiful things.
Then she came along.
Fae smashed apart those thoughts with her laughter, with her warmth, with her light. Every time I see her next to me, it feels like a gift. Like somehow, against all odds, she chose a guy like me.
The song swells, something about forever and I nearly laugh at the arrogance of it. Forever is fragile. I know that better than anyone. I have seen how quickly it burns. But if forever exists anywhere… it’s in moments like this.
God.
She has no idea what she does to me. She has no idea that every time she sighs softly, I am rewriting every rule I ever made about myself. That loving her feels less like weakness and more like something holy. Like I am being handed something breakable and real and being told don’t ruin this.
“Is she asleep?” Fae asks Victor and I’m pulled out of my musings as I glance at him in the rearview mirror.
He bends slightly, swiping his hand softly over her cheek to move her hair from her face. It’s almost like a lover’s caress and I grit my teeth. I can cope with her being his long-lost sister that he failed to mention, but a lover? I’m not fucking with anybody who thinks it’s acceptable to shag minors and I try to breathe deeply to stop myself from pulling over and stabbing him on the side of the road.
“Yeah,” is all he mumbles.
“Want to tell us who she is now?” I ask like a question, but he knows it’s a demand.
“Her name is Hazel.” He takes in a deep breath and I shoot him a glare in the mirror as he watches my reaction.
“No fucking shit,” I snap, “and people call me the literal one…”
“Don’t you recall how all the scholarship students went missing?” he asks. Before I can open my mouth, he starts again. “Hazel is a scholarship student. She went missing last year. I… I have been looking for her for ages. We had a little thing, but I knew it couldn’t go anywhere because she was the year above me and she was already promised to Thomas. I never thought I would see her again.”
Victor’s voice cracks at the end of that sentence and I shoot a look at Fae to see how she’s handling the news. Her face is controlled, but she squeezes my hand, so I know she’s not unaffected.
“That is weird, right?” Fae asks. “The same man that had an issue with Robyn is the same man that was promised to Hazel… please tell me I’m not the only one who connects that.” As I go to open my mouth, she cuts in. “And why did they both go missing at the start of third year? And why are they both scholarship students?”
“That’s not all they’ve got in common,” Victor says, taking in a deep breath. He twists his head to look out of the windscreen. I can see his eyes tracking the streetlights as they pass. Fae and I sit in silence, waiting for him to collect his thoughts.
“She is also Dr Fisher’s daughter,” he says it in a monotone voice and Fae gasps.