Liam was seated in an armchair by the side of the bed, doing something serious on his phone.He’d done that periodically as they’d traveled.He’d told Josh he was faking his job, but Josh knew he was also supposedly deep undercover and feeding Interpol tips on the Kadjic operations that the family had sabotaged so far.The sabotage—blamed on rival operations—had given Liam some cachet, because he’d been the first to report on not only the end of the operation, but also the roots—where Kadjic had gotten his guns, for instance, or which distributors would now be missing cocaine.
So he was not, in fact, “faking” his job; he was using Salinger intel todohis job, and giving the money from his promotions and such to his family to pay for his mother’s big house, his sister’s university experience, and to subsidize his other sister’s business.
A good man, Josh thought achingly.Not necessarily an honest one—at least by the standards of his employer—but such a good man.A man who wanted to do good things in the world.
And who thought he and Josh were cut from the same cloth.
“I don’t even remember getting here,” Josh muttered.
“Really?”Liam said, after making one last tap on his phone and setting it down on the end table.“There was practically a fist fight for who got to carry you out of the hospital.”
Josh was too tired to smile.“Who won?”
“Hunter,” Liam said grimly.“Because Grace won.He told the grownups they were all too stupid to be trusted, and Carl, Chuck, and me that we were too tired from doing real work, and that Hunter was the only one he had faith in.”He shrugged.“I am not exactly sure how that young man does it, but he does seem to drive the team when we’re too big to steer.”
“I hate emotional meltdowns,” Josh said, his throat too raspy for I-told-you-sos.“How’s Danny?”
“Looks like he swam through seven layers of hell to be your whipping boy,” Liam told him.“What did you two say to each other?”
Josh tried to chuckle.Couldn’t.“He said I was mad at him and I had a right to be.”
“Mm.”Liam took his hand as it lay on the bed, and threaded their fingers together.“And what did you say?”
“Mostly I reverted to a ten-year-old and screamed, ‘You left me,’” Josh told him, the embarrassment trying to swamp him, but no.Still that curious, quiet emptiness.That anger had been driving him for so long.What would drive him now?
Liam kissed Josh’s knuckles, and Josh felt the slippery heat of his tears.“What you said to him,” he whispered.“Did it give you peace?”
Josh closed his eyes.“Yeah,” he admitted, after searching himself for a moment.Liam’s hand, hard and grounding, and the softness of his lips on Josh’s skin.The last six weeks came flooding back.Honeymooning, Josh had said.And God, they’d had fun doing it.He opened his eyes again.“But I still want in on the game.”At Liam’s pained expression, he added hastily, “In a slightly less intense capacity.As long as….”He swallowed, suddenly nervous.
“What?”Liam asked, and his fingers had grown tighter, as though he was afraid.
“As long as you’re with me.Us.But mostly me.I’m not in the game to prove anything anymore.Not to Danny, not to Felix or Julia.But I still love it.And I love you.Can we… can we still do this, be in this together?”
Liam’s crooked smile, with the slight gap of the front two teeth, the charming freckles, the calm acceptance, the willingness to play the game with them, the drive to use all his knowledge for good—it was all, Josh thought achingly, he’d ever wanted.All he’d ever needed in his life.
“God yes,” Liam answered, and then he lowered his face to Josh’s, and Joshfelt, for real, for the first time since he’d awakened.
And what he really felt was he wanted to kiss Liam Craig until the planets turned to dust.
THE CREWdidn’t seem to want to disperse as they left the hospital, which was frustrating because Tor wanted to talk to Marco alone.
And Marco was being stubborn.
“Tell them,” he said as they hit the street.
“Marco,” Tor muttered, “can we just, you know, have a minute to talk about this?”
“No,” Marco said.“It’s a perfect opportunity.Tell them.”
“Tell us what?”Carl asked, and Tor glared at him, trying hard not to remember that Carl’s level-headed advice had helped him actuallywinMarco that winter, when Tor had been dragging his heels.
“It’s an idea,” Tor told him, fighting the urge to check his cuffs or the lay of his suit jacket or for lint on his turtleneck.They were situated near the river, and it was the first day of September.Turtlenecks were perfectly fine in Prague.
“It’s making him squidgy,” Stirling said, a stealth observation from their quietest member.
They were walking down the street, practically en masse, the adults taking a car to Danny’s apartment with Josh.Tor was wondering how all five of them fit in the car when Danny, seemingly coming from nowhere, said, “Squidgy’s a good word for it, my boy.Torrance, why are you squidgy?”
Tor startled so badly he would have turned an ankle and gone down, humiliatingly enough, on the walk, if Marco hadn’t caught his elbow and said, “Steady there, cowboy.”
