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“I missed you,” I sigh. “Hidden Hills needs to be burned down, and everyone who works there needs to die.” I frown as something niggles at my memory. “Except Imelda. She can live.”
The guys walk in as I state this, and Derek’s eyes widen in interest. He looks harder than I remember, a darkness following him that wasn’t there before.
“Are you playing judge and jury this morning, beautiful?” Derek asks with a small smile.
“Everyone is so stabby today,” Roark says as he yawns. “I am pretty sure Imelda is safe, Lenny. I don’t know what you remember, but she’s a government agent. She was trying to dismantle the hospital from the inside,” he explains as he sits next to the bed.
“This makes a lot of sense. She was too nice.” I startle looking over at Derek as I remember something. “I’m a terrible person,” I mutter and his eyes widen. “How is your mom?”
Derek relaxes and he shakes his head. “Only you would be worried about other people right now. Fuck, I love you,” he sighs. My jaw drops because that’s the first time Derek’s ever told me this. Turner’s fingers are rhythmic as he rubs my back, and they never flinch or stop, apparently unsurprised by Derek’s proclamation.
Derek and I were early in our relationship when I was taken, but I was moving in that direction quickly. I don’t know what to say, so I wait, snuggling against Turner.
“Mom is doing really well, and was happy to be rescued. The first thing she said to one of the agents was to make sure they found you,” Derek tells me and I gasp.
“What?” I whisper, my traitorous eyes filling with tears. “Why would she do that?”
“Len,” he sighs, “Mom was worried about you from the moment she saw you at Hidden Hills. I finally got my father to take me to see her, one because I wanted to check on her, and also to find where Hidden Hills was located. Xav and Dad did everything they could to hide it, and it would have worked if Imelda didn’t let me into his office. That’s how I found the address so we could come get you. But,” Derek says ruefully, “apparently we all forgot you’re a badass in your own right.”
I think over the last few hours, shivering as I remember Xav’s command and the weight of the knife in my hand. One of the machines starts to beep faster as my breath hitches and my heart starts to race.
Wincing as I push myself up to a sitting position, I swallow, struggling to control myself. I never want to be sedated again, and the doctors won’t hesitate if they think I’m at risk.
Turner sits up with me, hitting the button on the hospital bed to make it more comfortable for us to sit.
“I killed people,” I whisper, biting my lip as I glance down. I wonder if it’ll make them look at me differently.
I feel different than the Lennon they knew.
“Hey,” Derek barks and my eyes jerk up to look at him. “They were terrible people, and you were protecting yourself and the agent, right?”
I nod, biting my lip. “I may have had some very selfish reasons for killing one of them,” I murmur.
“Collymore?” Derek asks, raising his eyebrow as I nod, surprised he knows his name. “I heard a bit about him, and honestly, I would have enjoyed fucking him up a bit more. You had limited time, and you did amazing.”
Is he praising me? What’s going on?
Roark leans forward, eyes drinking me in as he watches my confusion. “We need to lay all of our cards on the table, and that’s going to involve a lot of talking, little Valkyrie. We want your words, but we don’t want to push you. We’ve been apart for too long, and I’m so fooking sorry for how long it took us to find you,” he tells me.
My fingers twist together as I think about what he’s telling me. “You’re going to think less of me,” I tell him, my lip trembling. I bite it hard to get it to stop and Roark cups my face.
“You don’t have to be this strong, baby girl. You survived some of the worst things a person can. We pick each other up, remember? You don’t have to hide from us,” he says kindly.
“I don’t feel like me any more,” I cry, angrily swiping away a tear. “I don’t look like me, I look like a fucking dead woman.”
The guys become very still and I feel like I missed something.
“Fuck this,” Derek says tightly, leaning forward and taking one of my hands. “First of all, it sounds like there are some holes in your memory, and that’s okay. I’m going to help with those okay?” He squeezes my hand as I nod, my eyes firmly on his.
“What am I missing? I mean, I feel like I’ve lived in a fucking bubble for weeks and weeks. I couldn’t really track time well,” I confess.
Nodding, Derek says, “It's November tenth, Len. Your mother is not dead. She’s a cunt, and on my list of people to kill, but she’s alive.”
What the hell? If she’s alive, then I’m not crazy. I really did see her.
“You’re very bloodthirsty, when did this happen?” I ask.
I’m not upset about it, as uncomfortable as I am with having killed people, I’m not sorry about it.
