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“Of course,” he said warmly before handing over a rag to clean the gel off my stomach. Lance was there before I could, wiping it away for me and handing it back to the nurse to dispose of. He packed up his machine and wheeled it out as I pulled my shirt back down and sat up.
It was so wild to think that I had a baby growing in me right now. That Zath and I had created something together and these men, who simultaneously barely knew me yet knew me on a soul-deep level, were going to help raise it.
How could life be so perfect and so screwed up, all at the same fucking time?
“The baby’s healthy,” El said, his voice was full of excitement. Then he gasped. “Holy shit, and we just survived a gunfight. I didn’t know Madison was going to be so dangerous.”
“Neither did I,” I agreed. “A poisoning, a gun fight, it’s wild here.”
“I can’t blame you for wanting to get out,” Lance said. “Honestly, I want to go now while she’s locked up. The sooner I get out of this city, the better. She should have no way to find us once we leave, all the documents are under a fake name. It helps to have a dad with connections.”
“The sooner we leave, the better,” Riven agreed.
“It’s like you read my mind.”
* * *
Three months later
Lance’s dadhad always been the type for power and influence, but seeing the way that he single-handedly took down an entire organization, brought light to the corruption in the competition, and managed to get our house completed was downright impressive.
Once they cleared Lacey and her mate’s room, they found conversations implicating two of the judges and Stanley himself. The board was disgraced and it hit the news before they’d even come up with a plan to handle the press.
Pretty soon, the entire world heard about the horrors we’d endured there. We refused to speak to the media which only led to more speculation.
We left town that same night. Everyone crashed at my place for the time being. The next few days we spent together, watching the chaos unfold and helping me pack my things. Watching Stanley be led off by the police was satisfying on so many levels.
Several of the other contestants were on several news programs and talk shows, talking about the poisoning, corruption, and the investigation. I was glad someone was speaking up.
After that, we were more than ready to put the whole competition behind us. We’d survived, escaped, and we’re thriving.
Already, the five of us had fallen into a tentative life together. Zath and I had gone back to work as did Riven and El. They were on a month-by-month lease, refusing to sign anything more than that while our lease ran out
We still hadn’t figured out what to do. Our entire group was at a crossroads and it seemed none of us had a real, viable option for how to proceed.
Except Lance. He’d asked us to meet him out at the new house. We were waiting on final inspections, but he had news.
As Riven steered the SUV down the long drive, I couldn’t help but marvel at how beautiful our future home was. I was used to living in apartments, barely scraping by and surviving. Even when Zath and I shared a place we kept things simple and modest.
Now we had a whole house together, a gift for us, and Calvin had spared no expenses.
Once Lance’s dad found out about the baby and our group, he’d altered the plans for the house to work for us. Even I didn’t know what it looked like inside. Lance insisted on keeping it a secret and I trusted him to handle it. Setting up and decorating was definitely not my forte. I was not that type of woman, but his mother was, and I had a feeling she had a strong hand in this.
Charlotte knew me better than I knew myself half the time. I swear she could always read me like a book, knowing when something was wrong and she was always the best at giving advice. We had a lot of time to make up for, and I knew she wouldn’t hesitate to fall back into our old friendship.
Knowing everything I did now, I felt bad for cutting them out of my life. It wasn’t fair to them but I knew if I’d kept that connection it would be a constant reminder of what I lost. Maybe if I’d stayed I would have known about Lance. But we wouldn’t be in the same place we were now. We’d both been through our own forms of hell and had come out changed, this was our second chance and we were already stronger than before.
Lance was already waiting for us on the front steps when Riven pulled in front of the house.
The large stone mansion was gorgeous. The gray façade was accented with black shutters and a shiny, black door. There were flowers and bushes outside and trees sprinkled across the large property.
His dad had installed a full security system to the point I’d wager we were more secure than the White House. With Lance, and now our group, on the Snake Eyes’ radar, I wasn’t going to take any chances, especially with a baby on the way. I never wanted to feel the same level of fear again. That one incident in the hotel room was enough to make me cautious.
“Home, sweet home,” El sang out as we approached. Lance came over to us looking happier than he had since we’d met again. He pulled me into a hug and I held him tight, breathing him in.
“Come see the inside, it looks amazing,” he said excitedly as he pulled away. I had my own news sitting in an envelope in my pocket but I wanted him to have this moment first.
He waited long enough for Riven and Zathrian to walk around the car before he was dragging me through the front door.
