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"I'll hold you to that," he warned.
"I know you will. "
Finn hugged me again, and then everyone changed places. Eva gently wrapped her arms around my neck, w
hile Phillip stood by. Bria and Roslyn hugged Owen, while Finn went over to him and gave him a cuff on the shoulder.
"I thought that I told you to take care of Gin," Finn said. "Not bring her back half-dead. "
His words and his face might have been stone-cold serious, but his tone was light with relief that I'd come back at all.
After a moment, Owen smiled. "Well, I tried, but you know Gin," he said. "She just had to kill a couple more guys before we finally left. "
Finn returned his grin. "That I do. "
Owen stayed outside on the patio to fill the others in on everything that had happened on the mountain, but I opened the door and stepped inside the house. I didn't have far to go, because they were all sitting in the den - cooper, Warren, Sophia, and Jo-Jo. cooper and Warren were sprawled over two matching recliners, rocking back and forth and making the springs creak-creak-creak. I gave them both respectful nods, then turned my attention to Sophia and Jo-Jo.
The sisters sat side-by-side on the brown-striped couch, their fingers intertwined, and Rosco was sprawled across their feet, taking a nap. It looked like all of their injuries had been healed. I didn't see any blood on either one of them, no bruises, no burns, nothing that would indicate all of the terrible things that had happened over the past two days.
Sophia was once again in her black jeans and boots.
A black T-shirt with a picture of a bloody, broken heart on it stretched across her chest. She looked like her usual self, right down to the black lipstick that slashed across her face. But I couldn't quite get the image of the photo that I'd seen in Grimes's house out of my mind, the one of a young Sophia wearing a white dress. I wondered what she'd been like before he'd taken her all those years ago. If she'd been a sweet Southern belle like Jo-Jo or something else entirely.
I had no way of knowing, so I focused on Jo-Jo instead.
She too wore her usual pink dress and pearls, but her face was free of makeup, her blond hair hung limply around her shoulders, and her wrinkles were more pronounced than I remembered them being. For the first time since I'd known her, Jo-Jo seemed pale and thin and tired, not at all like the bright, vibrant, cheery force of nature that she usually was. I supposed that was to be expected, since she'd almost died from Grimes's bullets, but seeing her look so haggard and defeated made my heart hurt all the same.
Jo-Jo struggled to get up out of the soft cushions, but I went over to her instead. I dropped down to my knees, leaned forward, and gave her a gentle, careful hug, not wanting to undo any of the magic that cooper had worked on her. Jo-Jo reached up and patted my back, despite the blood, dirt, and grime that covered me, and it seemed like I could feel each and every one of her bones, as delicate and fragile as a bird's under my fingertips.
I held on to her until I managed to blink back the scalding tears that had threatened to leak out of my eyes.
"How are you?" I asked, finally pulling back.
"Better, now that you're here, darling," Jo-Jo said.
I looked at Sophia. "And you?"
"Fine," she lied, although she couldn't quite hide the flash of pain in her eyes.
"Grimes?" Jo-Jo asked.
"Not dead - yet. "
She glanced at Sophia, and they clasped hands again, even tighter than before. They were thinking the same thing that I was, that it wouldn't be long before Grimes came back for them again. But I had a plan for that, one that should take care of him, Hazel, and the rest of his men for good. cooper stopped rocking in his chair, leaned forward, and cleared his throat. "I hate to be rude, but you seem, um, tired, Gin. "
"Tired?" Warren snorted. "What he really means is that you look like a survivor out of one of them zombie movies and almost as dead as one of those critters yourself. "
cooper shot Warren a sharp look, then turned his attention back to me. "Would you like me to, you know?"
He gestured with his hands.
"Heal me?"
He winced. "If you want to call it that. I still feel like I'm fumbling around with my magic, more than anything else. "
Jo-Jo gave him a soft smile. "You did just fine with Sophia and me. You'll get the hang of it. Practicing on Gin will be good for you. "
cooper grinned back at her, and his solid chest puffed up at her praise.
