My mouth was dry. She straightened up as they came back, and I had another shock at the three little boys they had with them, waifs covered in bruises, two of them maybe nine, the other eleven or twelve. 

I suddenly felt a roaring triumph over the part I'd played and looked down at the weapon in my hand with awe.

Dane had an armful of blankets and they began wrapping them around the silent, cowed children, who were blinking rapidly in the bright light, their eyes dull. 

"Drugged," Reed whispered in my ear, his own face expressionless, and I knew he was mentally struggling. He picked up one of the littler ones, blanket and all, and Dane did the same with the other one. Neither fought it. 

I took the hand of the older one and he obediently followed when I tugged, holding the blanket closed at his throat.

"Go," Arianna said, gesturing as she wiped the sweat  off her face, smearing the blood more. "I'm fine!" Dane went out first, then Reed, and I stepped out after them. 

It was even colder out after the heat of the house. I thought about shielding the boy's eyes from the dogs' bodies but how stupid was that, after what this kid had seen. None had a hat on and we gave them our beanies. It was a long way back down the snowed over trail we'd made on the way up. Probably only fifteen minutes but fuck. 

As we neared the car I glanced back at Arianna, who stumbled and fell to one knee. She got back up, her face about as white as the snow. She had her hand to her head, blood all over both from her cut forehead.

Reed noticed too and hesitated but she flipped us off. "I said I'm fucking fine! Leave me alone."

He nodded and looked at me and I gestured that he should go so he kept going. We got to the SUV and were tucking the boys inside when I saw Arianna several yards behind us, in a heap, not getting up. I slapped Reed's arm so that he turned too. Then he was running back to her and dropping in the snow, which I could see even from my position was red around her.

He was trying to lift her as her head lolled back. "Tell me you did not get fucking shot, Arianna!" His voice was hoarse.

All I could think was I had never heard him say fucking before.

"Dane!" he yelled, not trying to lift her anymore but feeling through the front of her clothes now. "Help me Addy," he implored, blood all over his hands now as I fell next to him, but there was nothing I could do. "Here, right here," he said, to himself, having found the bullet hole. He yanked off his coat and then his long sleeved shirt, balling it up and putting it against her side. He said something in French to himself, almost in tears, and I felt so fucking useless.

Dane got to us and was pulling his belt out of the loops, then they used it to secure the wad of clothing soaking up the blood. They rose with her and staggered through the snow and I opened the far back door so they could lay her on the rear seats. The boys in the second row didn't even turn around. One of the smaller ones was laying down across the other two, and the other younger one was sucking his thumb.

I got in the back with her, and so did Dane. My pants were soaked through from the snow.

"Hold her," Reed said to me, slamming the door and getting in the driver's seat. Dane and I blocked her from rolling off by sitting in the seats, gently pressed against her shoulders and knees. We got seat belts around ourselves but didn't dare wrap one around her injured midsection. I continued putting pressure on the sodden shirt.

"Call Don," Reed told Dane, but he was already dialing.

"It's Ari," Dane said into the phone. "Tell Clooney. Twenny minutes. No. Yes, we got 'em wif us. A bullet in the side. Not sure. Yeah, someone'll need to go back and clean up. Right." He ended the call with shaking fingers.

I was looking down at the still, pale form. I wasn't sure she would make it twenty minutes.

Reed drove too fast and Dane leaned forward as we hit a regular road, to buckle in the boys. They complacently allowed this, like life-sized dolls, and it made me sick. Or was the alternative better? For them to be aware, awake for the abuse, as Reed had been as a child? How could someone hurt children like this? Death seemed too good for them. But prison was definitely too good for them, so death was better, even if it was too quick.

Dane was shaking. I saw he was crying, but silently. That's a trick people are generally taught, and not with the reward system. This kid was only seventeen, even if he was "going on forty". 

I put my free hand out and he grabbed it and held on. The heater was on high but I was freezing. My wet pants were like wearing blocks of ice. The waterproofing wasn't meant for kneeling in the snow. At least my feet had stayed dry.

When we arrived at a sprawling farmhouse, Ari's breathing was labored. Reed didn't even have the car off before several people poured out of the front door, and all we could do was get out of the way as they took her on a stretcher into the place.

The three of us stood in the sudden silence as the door shut behind them. Reed shut the rear door, leaving the boys shut in the SUV, and turned to put his arms around me. I did the same and he rested his head on mine, warm and safe. I wasn't sure who needed the comfort more.

"Intou," Dane implored, opening the middle door and lifting one of the boys out. All three were now asleep. 

Reed let go of me and took a deep, shuddery breath, then went to pick up the oldest boy. I went to the other side for the third and then someone was reaching past me to lift him out. I followed them into the warm house, dazed, light-headed from the surrealness. 

There was a lot of noise and confusion, bright lights, and too many people. They took the boys to a room down a long hall, removing the wet blankets and leaving them to sleep on a King sized bed. They didn't wake during any of this.

A woman in her forties had our bags for us and led us into the room next to the boys'. Reed knew her and allowed her to hug him. "Ari'll be okay," she said in a Southern drawl. "Y'all get into more trouble'n I can believe, young man." But her fretting over his face and wet clothes belied her words.

"You are certain?" He clung to her first sentence even as he stepped out of his wet pants.

"That's what Cooney said, and he's the Doc. Has he ever been wrong? Y'all get into a nice hot shower, now. There's the one here, and I reckon ya'll won't wake the boys if one of y'all uses the one in their room. Or share one; all the same to me." She winked at him and he blushed. She turned to me with her hand out. "I'm Malone. Janice Malone, but no one calls me Janice, thankfully."

"I'm Addy," I said automatically. My mind kept going back to those bodies on the floor and the little boys' faces and to Arianna collapsing in the snow, so I was concentrating on not picturing those things. 

Or thinking about how my hesitation had caused her to get shot.

Her face broke into a smile for the first time. "I know," she said, laughing at me but not in a mean way. Mostly laughing at Reed, it would seem, from the knowing look she gave him. "She's lovely," she said firmly.

"Don't I know it," he agreed absently, standing in his boxers and shivering, holding the pile of dry clothes.

I would have to remember to take the time to delight in that remark later.

She left and he gestured to the bathroom, his ears still red. "Go ahead, chérie. I'll just be quick in the other one."

I averted my eyes from him being mostly naked and nodded, peeling off my sodden shirt to stand in my bra and wet pants. I was shivering myself from the cold. I began taking off the pants and he hurriedly exited the room.

I was on automatic and showered thus.

He came back into the room just as I finished dressing. "Dane already passed out." He sat on the bed as he used a Q-tip. "The doctor here already got the bullet out of Ari; he thinks she will be okay." The relief in his voice was evident.

"Why didn't she tell us?" I put a handful of leave-in conditioner in my hair and began running it through my hair.

He sighed, getting up to toss the Q-tips in the garbage. The room was plain, though the quilt on the bed was intricate and looked like someone's grandma had made it. "She wanted to make sure we got the boys out." He half laughed, though he wasn't amused. "She's so aggravating! We would have figured out a way to do it so she didn't have to walk all that way. But that is Arianna for you." His tone was more bitter than admiring, which I was kind of glad of.

"Her intentions were good," I said hesitantly, not wanting him to be upset. My hair dripped onto my shirt and I wrung it out onto the floor. My warm, soft sweat pants were heavenly. I got my brush and began on my hair.

He took it from me, grateful for something normal to do. I didn't complain, either. He could brush my hair until the end of time and I would be okay with that. I was suddenly heavy with sleep. "Can I call Bella now?"

He hadn't thought of it. "Yes, or text her, or whatever."

I used my new phone to do so. 

I sighed and put the phone back down. "I need to charge this."

"That bad, huh?"

I just shrugged, feeling worn out all the way around.

There was a light knock on the door and it opened. Malone came in with an entire pizza on a platter, paper plates, and a couple of Cokes. My stomach growled loudly. "Figured y'all would want to eat privately and then sleep. I know how exhausted you must be."

"You will wake me if, if anything happens?" Reed asked, taking a piece of pizza, putting it on a plate, and handing it to me.

I toasted him with it and took a bite. Hot and cheesy and perfect. I would forever bow down to the pizza gods.

"I will, y'all have my promise," she told him gently, hugging him again. "Addy, should you need anything, make this lug tell me."

I just nodded, words out of reach. 

She left the room and shut the door softly behind her. He rose and locked it, then rejoined me and got his own pizza. "You want to talk about it now, chérie, or tomorrow?"

I felt too tired to eat but I managed because, well, pizza. I cracked a Coke and drank some, making my eyes water. "Um," I said, because I could barely think of what we were talking about. My mind was going on a little awol adventure. I finished the last bite of crust and wrapped my hair into a bun on top of my head.

He smiled a tiny bit, and scooted back against the headboard, then patted the spot next to him. I managed to make it there. He pulled the pizza up closer to us and put another piece on my plate. "Tomorrow. For tonight we'll just sleep."

I took a few bites of the second piece but was suddenly too drained to chew further. I put the plate on the little table nearby and got under the covers. He finished his piece and mimicked my moves, stretching an arm under my head so I would snuggle up against him, which I more than happily did. "You were amazing, chérie. So proud of you." His words were slow and sloppy.

I wasn't too sure about that, but whatever. "She pushed you out of the way," I said, meaning she'd gotten shot instead of him. I couldn't bring myself to say the words "she took a bullet for you" but the fact remained. I didn't know if he realized that, and she deserved for him to know, though the words tasted bad no matter how I phrased them. I wanted to tell him that I hesitated, that it was my fault.

But he was asleep.