“Come on.” Elijah picked up his pace.

The car kept coming.

We were at Brute’s fence, and Elijah launched himself over it. He opened the door just as the car approached us. I braced myself, not knowing what was next—if a bullet would hit us first or if we’d be thrown into the back of it and whisked away. Nothing happened. They slowed down, and a woman wearing a baseball cap pulled low looked at me. It was the cop who had taken me to the police station a year ago. She met my gaze. A warning was in hers, and her lips were turned down.

I was grabbed and pulled into the back lawn.

The car sped back up. As Elijah shut the fence, I was hauled to the corner to a clump of trees.

This whole thing was wrong. Something was going to go wrong. I felt it in my gut, but I didn’t say anything. My body was in a cold sweat. It had been a discussion before, but now that we were here, it was real. Too real.

“Was that a cop?” Elijah asked me, keeping his voice low.

I just nodded. A big lump was sitting at the bottom of my throat. I knew I couldn’t talk, so I wasn’t going to try.

“Wait, what?” Luke grabbed my arm. His eyes were fierce. “That was a cop?”

I felt myself nodding again. My whole body was tense. I didn’t know how my muscles could move.

He cursed under his breath. “You recognized her?”

When it was too late. I wanted to say those words to him, but my mouth didn’t move. I couldn’t.

“What’s your problem?” Elijah asked him as he pulled out a gun—a gun. My ex-boyfriend had a gun, and he was checking it for bullets, taking out the clip like it was the most natural thing in the world.

I couldn’t look away from his gun as I heard Luke say, “My problem? Are you kidding me? If I’d known that was a cop, I would’ve forced Brielle to go with her. She doesn’t need to be here.”

“Hey,” Elijah snarled back at him. I still couldn’t look away from his gun, even as he slid it back into the front pocket of his sweatshirt. He added, “Look, I didn’t know she’d be with you. I needed back up, and you’re good in a fight. I didn’t know. I thought,” his eyes darted to me, “I thought you had a different chick back there.”

Luke growled at him.

“I didn’t know the two of you were back on, but she’s here.”

They were talking about me. I was there, but it was like I wasn’t. Elijah had a gun. I had a knife. I don’t remember what weapon he gave Luke… We were all armed. Somehow that should’ve been the start of a joke, but I wasn’t laughing. I couldn’t even talk.

Elijah continued in a whisper, “And it’s Bri. Yes, I could’ve figured out a way to talk to you without her around, but you know her. She would’ve gotten it out of us somehow or just followed us like last time. Remember last time?”

“Yeah.” Luke surged forward, getting in his face. “I remember last time. I remember Brute holding a fucking knife to her throat.”

“Yeah, and she found us then, like she wouldn’t have done the same thing this time,” Elijah argued back. “She’s here. It’s done. She’s a good fighter. She can handle herself.”

“I’m going to kill you,” Luke snarled. “If Brute doesn’t do it, I’m going to do it.”

“Piss off. It’s done. You were all about helping me at your bar. Now you’re here, and you’re crapping your pants? My best friend’s in that house, and he’s dead if we don’t get to him.”

Emerson was dead. Hearing those words centered me. All the fear started to ebb, and I could speak again. Moving between them, I touched a hand to both of their arms. They were like cement, glaring at each other. “Stop,” I chided quietly. “Emerson’s one of us. We have to get him out.”

“What’s the plan?” Luke asked the question, and both of us waited for Elijah to answer.

He hesitated and then shrugged. “It’s still morning. Most of Brute’s crew will probably be sleeping. I don’t know who they have in there, but the plan is to go in, start a fight, and try to run out with Emerson. He’s holed up in a bathroom. I told him we’re close. Once he hears yelling, he’s supposed to bolt out with us.”

That was the plan.

I glanced at Luke. I could sense a storm rising in him. “So…” he drew that word out. “We go in, wave a gun around, and hope that works?”

“Pretty much.”

Luke grabbed the back of his neck, his Adam’s apple moving up and down, as he continued to stare at Elijah. “That’s the worst fucking plan I’ve ever heard.”

“You have anything better?”

“Yeah,” Luke clipped out. His hand moved up to his hair, and he grabbed a fistful of it. “What bathroom is he in?”

“Uh.” Elijah pulled out his phone and texted Emerson. A minute later, it buzzed back. “He said the second floor, south side of the house.”

We all scrutinized the house, searching the second floor windows, and as we did, Emerson appeared in one of them. He was looking for us, too. We could see him, but he couldn’t see us.

“Okay.” Luke pulled our attention back to him. “Text him and ask if he can open the window.”

“You’re serious?”

Luke shot Elijah a dark look. “Your plan sucks, and you’re questioning mine?”

“Okay, okay.” His fingers moved over the buttons, and he hit Send. We waited. Another minute that seemed like an hour passed before Emerson replied. “He said he can, but he’s on the second floor—”