Molly wasn’t sure how she felt about the thought of John “taking care of” her. On one hand, it was an alluring temptation. On the other, it was terrifying. Deciding to deal with that later, since Cara was right about their deadline fast approaching, she cleared her throat. “Thanks, Norah. We’ll talk more about this later. Maybe. For now, let’s figure out the plan for tonight.”

“The warehouse looked dead, although that isn’t a guarantee no one was in there. Despite what some people think, I wasn’t dumb enough to go inside to check it out.” Cara gave Molly a pointed look before continuing more mildly. “Did you find anyone willing to be your backup?”

Molly shook her head glumly, holding up her phone to show a sad lack of return text messages. “No one responded except for Christian, and he just wanted me to know that he wouldn’t get within fifty feet of Sonny Zarver. Fifi and Charlie are chasing a solid lead, plus they’re a twelve-hour drive away, so they’re out.” She turned toward John. “How about you? Any luck?”

“Nope. Pretty much the same as you, although more people wanted to tell me that I’m an idiot.”

His words made her stomach roil with sudden guilt. “I’m sorry for dragging you into this.”

Wrapping his arm around her shoulders, John pulled Molly into a side hug that was almost ridiculously comforting. “You’re not. I’m here of my own free will.”

When she didn’t respond, he gave her a gentle shake.

“Hey. Can you see anyone making me do anything I didn’t one hundred percent want to do?” he asked.

“No.” Despite that, she knew that she was the reason he’d been in danger—multiple times. Tonight would be the worst of them all. “But—”

“But nothing. I chose to be here, and I want to do this. You never asked. It’s all on me.”

Unable to come up with an effective counterargument and aware of the ticking clock, Molly let it go. It still ate at her, though, that John was in such danger because of her. She could’ve convinced him at the very beginning to leave her alone, and he would’ve listened. She’d enjoyed his company too much to send him away, however, enjoying that safe feeling having him with her created—and loving just having him around. She jolted at the last thought and then immediately banished the L-word from her mind. This wasn’t the time to be distracted.

“Fine,” she said. “Just…be careful tonight, okay?”

Pulling her in closer, he pressed a kiss on the top of her head. “Always. You too.”

Shivers—pleasurable ones—ran from the base of her skull to the bottom of her spine. Cara’s throat-clearing finally brought her out of her haze, and Molly dragged her gaze away from John’s. “Right. Okay. So one of us will go to the Langston address that Cara checked out this afternoon, and one will hit up the Denver location.” She looked at her sisters, seeing the apprehension Norah was trying to hide. “You’ll only be called in as backup if the world is ending, got it?”