Page 106 of Point Proven
CHAPTER FORTY
MATTHEW
Acouple of weeks had passed since the infamous sleepover, and we hadn’t had a chance to catch up all together since then. Oren and Thorne were busy collecting information, using Oren’s past to retrieve accounts even Liam didn’t know about.
Simon and Liam chimed in over the phone, and I couldn’t blame them. They’d spent so much time apart, and their recovery was necessary. None of us blamed them for keeping a bit more distance, but they both made efforts to check in for updates.
But Lev and I?
We frequented the Graves’ house often, partially so I could hang out with Thorne and he could hang out with Oren. We’d all grown closer, and the first time we’d hung out, just the four of us, I sobbed.
I didn’t realize how much it meant to me for them to not only accept Lev, but toacceptme without any judgment. I’d caused so much pain in their lives, but neither of them looked at me with even an ounce of ire. They truly loved me, and I knew that’s what I’d been missing for so long.
I’d tried to do life on my own, shoving everyone away, but I understood now it was a trauma response meant to protect me. But that supposed protection hurt me until I ended up in that bunker alone with scattered pills and empty liquor bottles.
Something I refused to ever do again because I had loving friends and aboyfriend—a boyfriend who loved me endlessly.
Lev was the best thing to ever happen to me, and I’m pretty sure I gained new wrinkles from all the smiling I did around him. He filled my life with such radiance, and I couldn’t explain it, not even to Thorne. There was something so drastically perfect about him that I couldn’t help but fall further in love.
Love.
When had I ever used that term… but forhim? For Lev?
That was the truest statement possible. What we had was love, and I wanted to tell him that in person. He was everything I wanted,needed, and I couldn’t wait to see his face when I told him.
And well, Imighthave made Oren bake a batch of his favorite cookies to give him with my sentiment. The box sat in the passenger seat along with the flowers I’d picked from the local florist.
Was this too much?
Possibly… but it felt right, and I refused to keep myself from a life I wanted—a life with him.
Gripping the steering wheel, my thumb tapped against the leather as I waited for the light to turn green. Still about twenty minutes away, I huffed in frustration. The traffic was fucking ridiculous, and I missed him.
Clicking through the screen on the center dash, his name popped up,Little Fox, and I smiled. God, I was fucking smitten as I pressed the call icon.
With the light turning, I pressed on the gas as I shifted gears. Nothing was quite as sexy as a manual transmission, and it earned perks with my sweetheart too.
All it took was one ring before the ringing ended. Grinning, I spoke before he could. “Hey, sweetheart.”
“Well, hello, my beautiful raven. What’s your ETA?”
Driving around an elderly woman on her fucking deathbed, I sighed. “About twenty minutes. Traffic is fucking awful, and I just want to be there already.”
“Just as I want you here—” A muffled shout sounded from the other end, cutting Lev off from what he was saying. Pausing, he listened before he responded, not to me, but to whoever had spoken. “What the fuck do you mean you accepted a package?—”
The line crackled before the call ceased. “Lev?” I blurted, as if the phone hadn’t already been hung up.
Weaving around another car, I clicked the call button again. Trying not to think the worst, I inhaled, my breaths shuddering with each passing second, the ringing didn’t end.
When it reached voicemail, I panicked, cursing out loud as my foot rammed the gas pedal down. Too many people wanted him dead, and he wasn’t unfamiliar with unsolicited gifts. He didn’t recognize the mail he received, and that commotion?
It sounded bad. Maybe… maybe I was overreacting and nothing happened, but dread seeped further.
Curling my hand around the wheel, I shifted once more, darting between cars as if I were being chased. There wasn’t time to waste, and every minute I lingered was another minute something… something could be happening to him.
Rooted so deeply in worry that I didn’t notice the turn I needed to take, I had to haul my wheel right to make it. Nearly hitting a sedan, their horn blasted at me, but I was too occupied with the building in front of me.
Half of it was crumbling, and parts were on fire as smoke billowed into the cloudless sky. I didn’t even remember parking the car or getting out, let alone when I started running toward the burning compound.
