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Well…
That wasn’t entirely true. I was pretty damn sure my happy ending had only just begun. The ending of any book was amazing, but the road to get there? The trials and angst? That was what made our story, what defined our love.
We finally pulled up into a two-story house an hour drive away. While the house itself wasn’t familiar, the two figures standing on the front porch were.
I flung open the door and ate up the distance between us. My arms stretched wide, one looping around Nik’s shoulders and the other holding onto Tommy. Tommy held me back immediately, but Nik remained rigid for a long moment. Finally,finally, he hugged me back...just as tightly as I hugged him.
“Fucking hell, Addie, you can’t do this to me again,” Tommy cried, burrowing further against me. He sniffled. “Or else...you’ll be grounded! Don’t test me, young lady.”
“God, I missed you. I missed you both.”
“We missed you too,” Tommy said, and Nik tightened his arms around my waist.
Feeling significantly lighter, as if a weight had been lifted from my shoulders, I bounced inside.
We congregated in the living room, grabbing any chair we could find to fit our ragtag group. I was relieved to see Tonya, Davis, and Jared unscathed. The former procured a fucking tray of tea...yes, complete with tiny porcelain cups, a kettle, and a container of sugar. She acted as if she was greeting guests in the 1800s.
My respect for her only grew.
Tommy, Nik, and I took the floral sofa, me settling between them. Asher sat on the floor in front of me, leaning back to rest his head in my lap. Doc had numbly checked over both Asher and Fallon and had declared in an impassive voice that “they’ll live.” The bullets, fortunately, went straight through. Both were required to wear bandages until they healed, and Asher was prohibited from using his leg for the foreseeable future.
Ronan and Ryder leaned against the wall, and Fallon stood in the entryway, always the sentry. Calax and Tamson pulled up chairs from the kitchen while Declan and Tonya sat in the armchairs. Davis and Jared perched awkwardly on either side of Tonya.
I didn’t see Doc.
“We need to talk,” Fallon said gravely, resting his gaze first on me and then Calax.
And then began the long, drown-out recap of everything that had occured. Tonya’s face went pale, and she looked as if she might vomit. After an hour of listening to Calax’s tale, with me occasionally adding my own input, she silently excused herself.
“This is…a lot for her to take in,” Davis explained to me when I raised an inquiring eyebrow. “She thinks of you as a sort of daughter...a younger sister. She hated that she wasn’t there for you.”
That was...surprising. And sweet. I guessed I assumed I was more like an annoying growth on her body she couldn’t get rid of. Like a pimple you just had to wait to run its course. It made my heart immensely happy to hear that she had come to care for me in the short amount of time I had known her.
“So what’s next?” Jared asked, leaning forward and resting his elbow on his knee. “What are we doing with the information we received?”
All eyes flickered to Ronan. My green-haired leprechaun held up a clipboard splattered with blood. Still, the writing was undeniable.
Deth’s.
“You stole that?” I directed the question at Calax who nodded sheepishly. His eyes gauged my reaction, almost as if he was searching for condemnation in my gaze. Instead, I smiled brilliantly. “Thank you.”
If we could use the research to save the world…
I would be remiss if we didn’t at least try.
“Let me see that,” Doc said from behind me, and I jumped, not having heard or seen him enter the room. His eyes were red and puffy, lips pursed, but the steely determination I always associated with the doctor was present as well. He strode purposefully towards Ronan and wrenched the clipboard out of his hands. His eyes quickly scanned the information, widening slightly.
“Can you do anything with that?” Fallon asked gruffly, his arms crossed over his chest.
“I’m a doctor, not a scientist. Believe it or not, there is a difference.” His words were curt and felt like a needle popping my balloon of happiness. I physically began to deflate. His next words, however, made me straighten with interest. “But, I might know some people who can help. Some of my Harvard buddies. Biochemists. Genetic scientists. Doctors. Smart men and women.”
“We don’t even know if these people are still alive,” Davis snapped, and then winced when the word “alive” left his mouth. “Sorry, that was insensitive-”
“They’re alive,” Doc broke in, tone scathing. “I ran into one of them at the outpost. Apparently, he knows of a team searching for a cure. I don’t know if this information will help, but it wouldn’t hurt.”
“They give you an address?” Fallon asked, a light brown brow raised.
Doc nodded.
