Page 146 of Fearless

The second she’s in my arms, I tug her onto my lap and press a kiss on her hair, sucking in a deep hit of her scent.

No one speaks as I do so, but the air is heavy with questions. Mostly from Cash. Griff and my brothers are more than aware of the situation here.

“Did you find anything?” Mav barks, beginning to lose his shit.

I get it.

I’m fucking desperate to find these two before it’s too late as well.

“Nothing yet. But we’ve got guys in every inch of Harrow Creek. If they’re in town, we’ll sniff them out,” Cash assures me.

“I want to know every single place you looked. I want to know who you’ve spoken to. Every single fucking thing.”

Griff and Devin take a seat, leaving Ezra and Ellis standing next to JD. Mav rests his ass against the windowsill, while Cash loiters somewhat awkwardly by the door.

“Appreciate you helping, man,” I tell him when there’s a moment of quiet.

“Anytime, you know that,” he says the words with such sincerity that it takes me right back to a time when life was much simpler.

Just a bunch of boys running around town trying to be big bad gangsters like our fathers.

Maybe not so much in JD and Cash’s case. But still, they were happy to play the game. Both now and then.

I can’t remember when we started to drift apart. I guess while I got closer with JD and Knox, Cash found himself hanging out with a few other junior members.

And then when I found out the truth about Victor, I put up walls so high that no one was able to scale them, even former friends. How Alana managed it is still beyond me.

We’re listing out places yet to be searched when there is an almighty bang from upstairs.

Alana startles on my lap before she dives toward the door.

Mav, JD, and I all move in the same direction less than a second later.

“We’ll wait down here,” Ezra calls as we race toward the stairs.

“Kristie,” Alana cries as she flies into the room.

The place is a mess. Furniture is upturned, ornaments are smashed, the picture that was on the wall has been thrown across the room. The glass inside the frame shattered and there is blood dripped across the carpet and up the wall beside where Kristie has collapsed in the corner.

“Shit,” JD breathes, taking in the devastation around us.

“KK?” Alana whispers, dropping down in front of her sister and approaching her like she would a wounded animal.

“No,” Kristie cries when she gets too close. “I can’t do this. I can’t,” she wails before striking out and slapping Alana across the face.

I react on instinct, moving before my brain has even registered what I’ve just witnessed.

“Reid, no,” Alana shouts as I scoop her off the floor and into my arms. “It’s okay, put me?—”

“She hit you,” I argue.

“It’s okay. It doesn’t hurt.”

“I don’t care, Pet. No one hits you. Ever.”

As I carry her away, Kristie begins to scream uncontrollably. She claws at the clothes Alana has loaned her. They hang from her small frame, which really is saying something because Alana is pretty tiny as it is.

“Kristie, you need to stop,” Mav begs, taking Alana's place in front of her.