“Not so good. Quinn’s suffering, you can tell, though she claims she felt better after it was over than she had before. She’s doing okay. Sam…” Her gray eyes darkened with concern.
Riley twisted her fingers together and tried to smooth her expression. “What happened?”
Chloe shook her head. “It made him really sick. I think he’s still a mess, but he won’t let either of us get near him, especially since he’s so worried about you.”
She’d better get out there. “Those guys who were after me—I don’t know what they want, and they might find me again. They weren’t too far away. Sam’s right, we need to leave.”
Chloe stood. “Any idea who they were?”
Riley wasn’t sure how much they should tell others about Numina, at least not until they knew more themselves. Especially since at least one of the protectors had been compromised somehow. But she also didn’t know what Chloe knew already. She’d play it coy.
“Not really.” She moved past Chloe and opened the bedroom door into a cozy living room filled with rattan furniture. The airy, pastel décor flowed into the dining room and a kitchen separated by a breakfast bar. Sam, Quinn, and Nick stood in a triangle at the junction where all the rooms came together.
Riley might as well have fired Nick’s pearl-handled pistol, the shouting cut off that abruptly when she opened the door. All three turned to stare at her. A heartbeat later, Sam had her in a hug.
Riley hadn’t realized how much she’d needed that. He surrounded her, and a completely different kind of warmth and strength suffused her. She closed her eyes and inhaled, pressing her head to his firm chest covered in a soft, long-sleeved T-shirt, and pressing her hands against his back so she could touch as much of him as possible. This had become her go-to move when she needed comfort.
“Are you okay?” His voice rumbled through her. She suppressed a shiver of desire, faint but threatening to grow.
“I’m fine. Chloe took care of me.” She pulled back and looked up at him. “Oh, Sam,” she whispered, raising her hands to the sides of his face. He looked so haggard. Red rimmed his eyes. The hollows of his cheeks were deep, sharpening his cheekbones, and under his dark hair, his pallor had a definite sickly element. “How bad is it?” She kept her voice low so the others couldn’t hear, as close as they were.
He didn’t answer, but shook his head slightly. Riley wished she knew how to heal, or at least to see what was going on inside him. She reluctantly turned back to Chloe. “Are you up to—”
“We need to get out of here,” Sam cut her off. He stepped back to include Nick and Quinn but held onto Riley’s hand. “Where’s Tom? What happened? Was it Vern again?”
“No. Not this time.” She cut her eyes toward Chloe, and Sam understood.
“Do you have somewhere you can go?” he asked her. “I don’t think they’ll be after you, but it’s better if you’re not here if they figure out where Riley went.”
Chloe shrugged. “I’ll go shopping for a couple of hours. Then I’m meeting someone for dinner.” She blushed.
“What?” Sam gaped at her. “After we planned this for today? You didn’t know if it would work, or what the aftereffects would be! Who is this guy?”
The pink rose higher on her cheeks. “Who says it’s a guy?”
Quinn rolled her eyes and stepped closer. “It’s a guy. Anyone we know?”
“No.” She met Quinn’s gaze steadily, her embarrassment already gone. “He’s the first guy I’ve dated since I was leeched. I’ve thoroughly vetted him. We only meet in public places, and he knows what I am and what I’ve been through. I’m comfortable seeing him tonight, and we can set up some kind of system so I know if it’s safe to come home, with or without him.”
Nick nodded. “Yeah, I’ve got some stuff in the trunk.” He glared at Riley, but it didn’t have much heat. “Assuming it’s not smashed.”
“I’m sorry—” she started, but he held up a hand.
“Not your fault. It’s just a car.” But he half choked on the last part.
“Let’s get it set up.” Sam went out the front door with Nick.
Quinn motioned to Chloe. “Let’s pack you a bag in case it’s not safe for you to come back right away.” The other woman nodded, and they disappeared into the back room.
Riley hurried after the guys down the back steps to the overgrown driveway. “Nick!” she called after him.
He looked up from the trunk where he was handing what looked like a camera bag to Sam. “What?”
“Tom was part of it. I think.” She folded her arms tightly around her middle. “I’m second-guessing myself now, but I don’t know how they could have found us otherwise.” She briefly described what had made her suspicious.
“Son of a bitch.” Nick hefted equipment out of the trunk and headed for the house again. “We need to get these cameras set up. Tell us everything. I mean every detail.”
After Chloe left the house, Riley explained everything that had happened when they reached Rhode Island and what she’d done to Tom.
“The car didn’t stop for him?” Quinn asked from her spot on the wicker loveseat. She watched Sam hand tools to Nick, who stood on a chair installing a camera in a fake plant on top of a pine hutch. “And the guys who tried to take you didn’t mention him?”
“No. You think I was wrong?” Riley asked miserably. “That I panicked?”
“Don’t know.” Nick dropped to the floor and put the chair back under the dining room table. “We’ll find out. Did you tell Tom where you were going? I mean, the address?”
“I don’t think so. But John could have.”
Rage roiled off Sam. “I want to know who the hell Numina is and how they’ve infiltrated us. And then—”
“Whoa, slow your roll, cupcake.” Nick took Quinn’s leather duffel from the sofa and helped her to her feet. “We’re not assuming anything yet. Let’s get moving before they find us here.”
They all headed outside and down the stairs.
“Where are we going?” Sam pulled open the car door to get in.
“I know a place up the road a few miles, a summer unit my dad’s family shares. No one should know about it.” Nick helped Quinn into the front seat, though to Riley’s eyes, his fiancée was in much better shape than the last time she’d seen her and was only letting him help because it made him feel better.
“Wait.” Riley dug her heels into the gravel a few feet away. She needed to be with Sam, to make sure he wasn’t alone if the aftereffects of the transfer worsened again as they had the other night. But her conscience wouldn’t let her go with them without at least trying to do the right thing. The other right thing.
“I shouldn’t go with you. I shouldn’t have even come here, but I wasn’t thinking clearly.” Nothing beyond getting to people who made her feel safe.
Sam spun on her. “Fuck that.”
“Listen.” She held up a hand. “If Tom didn’t call them, they’re tracking me some other way. I should lead them away so you aren’t in danger.”
“Because we’re so weak and vulnerable,” Nick snarked, and Quinn laughed. When Riley and the guys looked at her, she rolled her eyes.
“Oh, please. I know this whole thing has cut me down some, but I’m not helpless. You’re not leaving,” she told Riley. “Except to come with us.”
“We’ll watch Chloe’s place tonight and deal with anyone who shows up. Then we’ll head to Tanda’s.” Nick made an impatient motion. “Get in the car.”
Well, at least she’d tried. Their reactions made her feel less guilty. She got into the back seat with Sam and sat sideways, watching through the rear window as they drove up the shoreline road.