We stay sitting with the family and Dax for another hour or so, but then Cali turns to me. “Let’s just go.”

I begin to shake my head, but she stops me.

“Really, let’s go. We can’t see her anyway and it will only stress her out if she knows we’re all out here waiting for her. Besides, Dax’s here.” She turns to him and he looks up from where his face was buried in his hands, his eyes red as if he were hiding his emotions. “You’ll call us if they tell you anything else?”

He nods. “I’m not going anywhere,” he says as he gets up and walks away from everyone, but we know what he means.

We make our way downstairs and out the front door to find the boys are in the exact place we left them.

They never did pull away.

A smile graces my lips, and we climb inside, dropping Cali at her house before heading back to mine.

Ransom shifts us both, pulling my upper half to his chest as he rests sideways, and I lift my legs onto the seat.

I close my eyes, focusing on the touch of his hands as he runs them through my hair.

It’s relaxing, calming.

He’s addicting.

But bubbles are meant to be popped, and the one we placed ourselves in was thin from the start, so when Beretta’s troubled “heads up” is spoken, I should have known the needle was close and pointed our way.

Ransom’s body grows tense beneath me, his hands freezing in my hair, and my eyes open.

Slowly, I sit up, realizing we’re on my street, a car-length distance away from my driveway.

My driveway... that my mother stands directly in the center of.

Waiting.

“Oh shit.”

Arsen slows to a stop. Her deep frown is usually vacant, but currently her severely pissed-off eyes fall on mine. She doesn’t spare the boys a glance and she doesn’t wait for me to climb from the car.

She gracefully turns on her heels and walks inside, knowing full well I’ll follow... like a good little daughter would.

I silently climb from the car, spinning to face them, but I don’t know what to say.

Turns out, I don’t have to.

They understand.

Ransom pushes up in the back seat and grabs my hand, tugging me to him.

He grips my chin, jerking his head toward my house. “Go.”

I hesitate, and he nods, letting me know they’re fine, and they don’t have to remind me they’re only a call away because I already know.

My palm falls to his chest and I take a deep breath.

I head inside, prepared for her wrath, and counting down the minutes until she’s gone again, but as I pass through the threshold of the door, dread cools my veins.