Chapter Twenty-Nine: Aspen

Chapter Twenty-Nine
~ Aspen ~

“That was a bit mean, don’t you think?” I asked Grey once E and Will were out of earshot.
He bent down to pick up a pair of boxing gloves that they’d left on the squishy floor. It was a weird mixture of rubber and plastic that almost bounced under our weight.
“Lexa doesn’t take care of herself.” He held the gloves out for me to take. “So I usually have to.”
I nodded in understanding and slipped my hands into the gloves. Even if that wasn’t true, I knew Grey felt responsible for everyone under this roof. He did have a soft spot for E, though. The two of them were close in their own weird way. They fought like dogs, but I knew they’d die for each other if it came to that. Just then, Santana came running into the gym.
“Grey, come quick. It’s urgent.” She breathed before leaving just as quickly.
Without so much as a goodbye, he took off toward the double doors. I followed once I was able to get the gloves off. When I reached the main floor, I found him talking tensely with Jax while watching the security cameras. This couldn’t be good.
“And you let them go?” His voice was dangerously even, but dark.
Jax looked up at him worriedly but didn’t respond. I wanted to ask what was going on, but I didn’t have a chance. I didn’t have a chance because shit completely hit the fan. E and Will came bounding through the front door, Gracie in tow. Grey’s quick steps in their direction faltered at the sight of her.
“What the hell is going on here?” He demanded, closing the distance to yank Gracie away from E and into his arms. He knelt down onto one knee and pulled her into his chest. Whatever happened must’ve been pretty bad, because she was sobbing against him.
“They’re gone!” Gracie wailed.
“The twins, Carson and Caleb, ran off. Gracie went after them and couldn’t get back in.” Will explained. It was almost as if he knew Grey was about to explode and didn’t want E to be the one to cause it.
“What?!” Grey harshly pulled Gracie off of him and held her by the biceps. “You’re kidding?”
“Hey, take it easy.” E said, taking a protective step forward. He let go of Gracie and practically jumped to his feet.
“How stupid can you be?” He barked down at her. “We have rules Gracelyn!”
She started crying even harder, which I didn’t think was possible. I took a step toward them as well. I didn’t know what I wanted to do, but I had the urge to help. We all knew he shouldn’t be talking to her like that. Right now, he reminded me a lot of Dad. And that wasn’t a good thing.
“The situation is handled. We’ll get a search party together right away.” Will said firmly. Grey narrowed his eyes as if he couldn’t stand the sight of him.
“Oh, it’s handled, is it?” He looked from Will to E. “And what if it was a fucking army here to kill us?”
Gracie was starting to have trouble breathing, she was crying and shaking so badly. I moved down to her without thinking and pulled her into a hug. She didn’t seem to mind as she wrapped her arms around my shoulders and let her weight fall into me. I shushed her and rubbed her back as the fight around us got worse.
“Then we would’ve dealt with it. We have a protocol for these things.” E was beginning to get angry, but she was nowhere near Grey’s level.
“Yes, protocols that don’t call for losing your damn mind!”
“Oh, fuck off Grey!” Will shouted. I was surprised he’d lost his usually calm demeanor so easily. “You aren’t the only one who can make decisions around here.”
“Maybe I should be. You two have become so reckless lately!” He balled his hands into fists, and I wondered if this was about to get physical. If it was, I needed to get Gracie out of here.
“Yeah, well, I guess being tortured for weeks will do that to you!” His voice was just as loud as Grey’s now.
The room fell into tense silence. I looked from Grey to Will, watching as they stared each other down. It was clear that neither one was going to back down. I knew them all well enough at this point to know that they were just scared. For those lost kids, for each other, and for themselves.
“We can deal with this later.” E spoke up. She had been uncharacteristically quiet during this whole shitshow. “Right now, we need to find those kids.”
She shoved past both Will and Grey. They watched her go, Will’s face softening immediately. He went after her and I hoped that wasn’t a mistake. Grey, on the other hand, was still furious. He turned on his heel and stalked away from Gracie and I, straight toward the gym. Someone I’d seen a lot but hadn’t spoken to much whisked Gracie away from me.
I wanted to follow Grey, but all I would do is yell at him for the way he’d spoken to everyone and that wouldn’t be helpful. Right now, emotions were high in everyone. I didn’t know what to do, so I found my way back to Jax. He was still in the same position as when I’d left him, seemingly unbothered by what had just happened.
“Have you seen any other activity around the building?” He glanced at me curiously but pointed to a spot on the screen.
“Here. There’s been three spikes at this sensor, and one at the next one.” I nodded and squared my shoulders.
“Will you do me a favor?”
“Will it get me in trouble?” I shrugged one shoulder and he smirked just slightly. “What do you need?”

….

With our plan securely in place, I went on my way. I walked out the front doors and turned left, toward the sensors that had gone off. I was about ninety eight percent sure of my theory that it was the twins. And if it wasn’t, then I’d figure it out. At this point, though, it was extremely unlikely that it was anyone else.
I counted the sensors as I went, just to make sure I didn’t expose myself unnecessarily. Once I found my destination, I poked my head tentatively through the glimmering illusion protecting us. Sure enough, two small blond boys were crouched on the ground, shaking in each other’s arms.
“You looking for us?” I kept my voice gentle so they wouldn’t be any more scared and ushered them quickly into safety.
They began thanking me profusely and I reassured them it was nothing. All that mattered was that they were safe now. I told them kindly not to ever cross that barrier again, but I think they learned that for themselves anyway. I was very grateful that Jax had agreed to my plan. None of them were in the right state of mind to deal with these kids right now. Once inside, I told the boys to go find their parents and hoped that everyone else had gotten their shit together.