Page 129 of Never Forget

EPILOGUE

NAZ

“I still can’t believe you kept all this from us. We could have helped.”

I give my best friend a sympathetic look. It’s not that I don’t know how he feels, I do. I felt it when he had so much going on in his head that he was struggling to process or let go of. I didn’t know how badly he was struggling until it was too late. And I felt it when I found out that Scott had been getting those texts and dealing with the stress of it on his own.

The important part is that we’re all okay. It’s over, and Francis is finally getting what he deserves. He’s going to pay for his crimes, especially since those friends in high places he thought he had didn’t even send him counsel, much less bail him out like he was certain they would.

“To be fair, you’d just been through a pretty traumatic experience with the boat fire. We legitimately thought someone was trying to kill us.”

“Honestly, if we could have kept Naz out of it, we would have,” Scott says from his place behind the couch, standing next to Cory. “But you know how he is.”

I finger the soft collar Scott gave me all those months ago, the one I’ve taken to wearing pretty much constantly, and roll my eyes.

Cory snorts. “How they all are.”

Jesse scowls at Cory. “Rude. Tad, you’re my new favorite.”

Tad doesn’t even look up from whatever book he picked up off a shelf in my grandparent’s living room. “Lies. We all know Luc is your favorite.”

“He’s not part of the security staff.”

“Could have fooled me,” he says, looking pointedly at the bandage on Luc’s calf.

“Well, you’re my favorite when he leaves me later this month for training camp,” Jesse pouts, crossing his arms.

“It’s going to be a long season if you’re already feeling salty about the schedule,” Luc says, pulling Jesse against him so he can kiss his temple.

“We’re thinking about scheduling some studio time to keep him busy,” Will says, looking to Blake for confirmation. “Do you think Emmy can get us in for some time in Raleigh?”

“You planning on sticking around?” Despite having a condo in the same building as me in the city, Will and Ari don’t usually stick around Raleigh for long. Too many bad memories here, plus they might run into their foster dad.

“Grams has basically adopted us, so we can’t leave.”

Ari clears his throat.

“Okay, fine. Grams has adopted Ari and tolerates me. So we’d like to stay a little longer, if that’s not too weird for you.”

“I mean… Yeah, if that’s what you guys want, and my grandparents are cool with it.”

Is it weird that my chest feels kind of full? Like when you’re trying to hold in a cough, but less painful, just… Full. Maybe I have pleurisy. I’ll have to ask Simon to listen to my lungs later, since he’s become the official band medic. Emmy put him on the payroll and everything.

Speaking of Emmy…

“Is Emmy still dealing with things at the office? I know Kathy reporting the listening device to the police shook things up a bit.”

“Yeah, um… About that.” Blake shifts in his chair, leaning forward to put his elbows on his knees, hands clasped like usual, then he straightens back up again. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Blake Holland fidget. “There’s a lot more you need to know.”

Blake looks around at us, gathered in the living room of the house I built for my grandparents. Luc is sitting in the corner of the sectional, arms wrapped around Jesse, who leans back into his chest, legs pulled up on the chaise end of the sofa. Will and Ari are on the other end, Will with his arm thrown over Ari’s shoulders. Cory, Scott, and Zane are behind them, Scott leaning casually against the wall, Cory standing in a relaxed version of his crossed-arms bodyguard pose, and Zane is sitting in one of the dining room chairs. Eric and Tad are sitting on the far end of the living room, in two armless accent chairs set on opposite sides of a small bookshelf that displays journals, biographies, textbooks, and articles that my grandparents had a hand in writing. And Blake and I, who have been relaying most of the events of the last week, are sitting in armchairs facing the couch. My grandparents and Simon are on the back patio, giving us some privacy and enjoying a small break in the oppressive heat we’ve been experiencing.

It’s still so strange having them all here. Both sides of my world in one place. I never thought I’d see the day, but I think that maybe I never gave it a chance. I guess it goes to show that even when bad things happen, sometimes they create new beginnings.

“So, two things really. The first is that Emmy quit. He left a letter of resignation, effective immediately, on my desk the morning of Francis’ arrest.”

All of us speak at once.

“What?!”