Wet cheeks rubbed the side of my crying face as she nodded endlessly. “I will, Johnny. I will. I will. I will…”
Standing straight, I knew she wasn’t going to release me.
Gage had promised to watch over me, so I asked him to help carry this pain. It was gutting me because I couldn’t force Sarah from me and he knew it as I spoke just two words, holding my gaze with a curt nod. “Take her.”
Fighting such emotions, he hugged me with her between us. “Love you, man.” Then pried her off me.
Sarah flailed, fighting the separation… until Ethan snatched her close, holding her in his arms and whispering into her ear. Whatever he said, it worked. She clung to him, nodding.
I remembered that first day Blue arrived here. At the table, Ethan had watched her grip my hand. The look on his face. A longing so deep and swift I thought I imagined it.
But I didn’t.
They would be okay, too. I had to believe it.
I couldn’t look back anymore. My ability to leave was caving. So, I got in the car, slammed the door, then growled to Uncle Styx, “Drive.”
As wheels spun underneath me, I left some of the best people I would ever know behind.
1 ? “Believe in Me” — Jason Tarver & Hugo Russo
2 ? “FOUND” — Matt Hansen
Chapter 16
Stubborn Full Circles
Illusion or imagination…??1
There was a weighted, long-lasting silence in the old car. It was… surreal. Gratitude mixed with complete overload. Even with my past, I had no skills to handle this revelation. And I acted accordingly.
Driving through tall trees that Noma had hidden me in, my whole life felt like an illusion. A façade. A theatrical play with a hidden director. A director I suddenly wanted to punch right in the face.
Instead of filling me in on all the years that I had missed with him, or offering some sort of explanation for what took him so long to find me, Uncle Styx simply asked, “What happened to your hand?” He motioned to my bandage while turning down a dirt road I didn’t recognize.
It was quickly clear that the two of us rejoining each other’s lives was going to be like forcing oil and water to perfectly blend. Hence, eyeing him like the infuriating stranger he was in my life. “What happened to your death?”
There was no way I was telling another soul about what occurred last night, including him.
Watching out the windshield, he snarled, “Now I see what they were talking about.”
Who? Singing words to different songs, I snarled in return, “What the fuck does that mean?”
He dared to challenge me. “Why do you think I came out of hiding, little prick?”
I blinked in dismay. “Hiding? You weren’t trying to find us?”
“Don’t need to find what ain’t lost.”
Is this asshole for real right now? “Lost doesn’t even touch what Noma and I have been through.” I peered out the window because the sight of him was making me ill.
“Don’t talk to me like I ain’t got a clue. If it wasn’t for you?—"
Two-handedly, I smacked the dashboard! “Not for one second are you blaming any of this bullshit on me! I have no clue where you’ve been or why you’re finally showing up to the fight!”
At the dead end of the isolated road, he pulled the car over. “Listen here, you little sinner…”
His next words fell on deaf ears because my mind was too busy putting puzzle pieces together. I recoiled. Sinner? “How do you know what Noma called me? Starting after you died.”
