Chapter 28

**Xavier Black**

It takes us an hour. An hour to get to the spot where Natalie's location is still blinking in the middle of no where because all my men are driving like crazy people, not that I mind very much. The place she lead us to is surrounded by trees and it's a perfect cover for us to move in the night. We all strap up and take as much as we need from the truck. With silencers ready on each weapon we gather in a circle and stare at each other, everyone waiting for me to open my mouth and say something.

"Okay, move quick and silently." I tell them and just like that we break. Gabe takes my right and Ura my left as we move through the trees. As we move bodies fall and just as we get to the edge of the treeline, house in view a gunshot rings through the air and fear bubbles up in me. Another few goes of and I don't wait a second as I run across the lawn, knowing Gabe and Ura has my back. The sight I see when I barge through the door makes my heart clench.

"Look who finally joined the party." The blue eyed bastard says as I walk further into the house. Skyler's eyes meet mine. She has a gun pointing right at Natalie's head and Demetri has a gun pointed at her head while Tristan is lying on the floor, clearly bleeding from somewhere but his eyes are still open so I take that as a good thing. There's bodies laying all over the floor and I know where the gunshots came from, I just don't know how much of them were caused by Skyler.

"I knew I should have killed you when I had the chance." I say, glaring at him.

"You kill me she dies." He says and I cock my head to the side.

"Are you sure?" Gabe asks as the barrel of his gun touches the side of Demetri's head causing the man to freeze. "I'm sure I'm faster than you are." He says and the gun pointed at Skyler's head is lowered before Gabe takes it out of his hands and hits him on the side of his head, knocking him out. I look over at Skyler, who still has the gun pointed at Natalie, and notice that her eyes are unfocused. I'm not sure she knows we're here and I feel like a asshole for not questioning her so called best friend sooner.

"Gabe." I call out to him, pointing at Natalie as I walk towards Skyler. Gabe takes Natalie by the arm and drags her away, not to gently, I might add. Skyler blinks a few times before her gaze meets mine and just like that the gun crashes on the floor and she looks like she might too. I quickly take her in my arms as my men flood the house, knowing some of them will tend to Tristan so I don't have to care about that at the moment.

She clings to my shirt and the vacant look in her eyes makes me feel so guilty for not listening to her in the first place. I pick her up in my arms, stepping over cold bodies and all walk out of the house. I walk all the way back to where we parked the cars and get into the back of one of them with Skyler still on my lap. We don't talk and she's clinging to my shirt like she's afraid I'm going to disappear if she lets go but I'm more than okay with that.

I don't know what time it is when we're finally driving away from this place but Skyler's fallen asleep and Gabe's given me updates of our two captives and Tristan. He's not sure he's going to make it but we rush back to the city to get him to a hospital because if there's a chance he deserves it. I don't think Skyler will survive if he dies on top of all of this and I hope he holds on to life for her sake. I allow Sniper to take Natalie and Demetri back to the base and Gabe to deal with Tristan and inform everyone that Skyler's safe. As the car stops in front of my house I inform Sam to call the doctor before I carry the sleeping dark haired girl who stole my heart into the house.

Up in my room I try to lay Skyler down on the bed but her eyes open wide and she looks around the room in panic before her eyes lands on mine and she calms down. A whimper leaves her lips and her nails digs into my skin as she holds onto my arms. I allow the silence between us and wait for her to calm down before I say anything to her. The more she stares at me the less her nails dig and her breathing evens.

"I'm just going to go run you a shower, okay?" I ask, almost silently, trying not to startle her and she nods. I slowly let go and when I'm sure she's not going to freak out I move of the bed and head into the bathroom. I quickly turn on the shower, making sure it's not to hot before going back into the room and helping her off the bed. She clings to my arm as we walk into the bathroom and it takes her a minute to realize she actually has to let go of me so she can clean herself up.

"Stay." I all she says before she starts undressing and I find myself looking away, even though I've wanted to see her body since the first time we met I know this is not the place or time. When she's in the shower and the frosted glass is hiding her body I slowly take of all the straps and guns from my body. She takes almost half an hour in there and when she steps out, towel wrapped around her body I can see her skin is raw from all the scrubbing and my heart aces. Her eyes find mine and I can see unshed tears in them and this time when they fall down her cheeks I take her into my arms and allow myself to comfort her more than I'm allowing her to find comfort in me.

I don't know how long we stand there, with her crying in my arms but by the time she stops her hair is halfway dry so I know it must have been a while. I lead her out of the bathroom and into my closet where I hand her a shirt and she slides it over her head before letting the towel fall down to the floor. I grab the brush and brush her hair for her, even though she's probably more than capable to do it for herself. By the time we get downstairs the doctor is already waiting there with Ura watching him from a corner in the room.

It takes him only a few minutes to come to the conclusion that Skyler's fine but in shock and so he injects her with something and tells me to get her to bed. He also makes an appointment for a follow up in a few days, so he can transfer her to a shrink if he has to. The doctor hasn't even left the house before Skyler's asleep on the couch and I have to carry her to bed, not that I mind.

"She's going to be fine. She's strong." Ura says as I walk back downstairs and all I can manage is to give him a grateful look. He nods before he leaves the house, leaving me with a sleeping Skyler and my thoughts, one being more dominant than the rest. She didn't want to see blood on my hands and I thought I couldn't protect her from that and I didn't even think about protecting her from the blood on her own hands.