AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Micah stepped closer to inspect it, and Drew and Riven went with him. Lake hung back with me, and I finally turned to face him again.
“I’ve hated myself for a long time for leaving you on your own. I knew you were hurting, too, but I was trying to save myself. I’m so fucking sorry, Lake.”
He gave me a sad smile that clouded his turquoise eyes and tucked a strand of my dark hair behind my ear.
“Don’t apologize. We did what we had to. You’re here now and that’s everything to me.”
“I’m not sure I know how to be your omega, Lake. I don’t even know how to be myself.” There was so much distance between us, even now, that I didn’t know how to close it. But I wanted to. I stared into his eyes, begging him to understand.
“Then that’s where we start. We help you find yourself again,” he answered me without even a moment of hesitation.
The only reason I was still entertaining this idea was because they were giving me time to grieve, process, and heal, at my own pace.
It was starting to sink in that I really wasn’t alone.
I let out a breath, my hair ruffling around me.
“Let’s find that code,” I said.
It was a whole lot easier to focus on a mystery than to focus on me. I was set on not having a future, and now that I did, I had no fucking clue what to do with it.
Maybe that was the thing… I didn’t have to know the answers or where I was going to be after this. I just had to live in the moment while this journey was going on.
I needed to absorb Everett’s words and let them hit me square in the chest so I could face my demons. If I wanted to move on I had to forgive myself for living when he couldn’t.
That wasn’t my burden to bear, and I’d held onto it long enough that it was a part of me now.
A loud thud had me looking up to see Riven holding a huge rock, slamming it down on the chain. A few more tries and the chain coiled to the ground.
He was covered in a light sheen of sweat as his muscles bulged with the effort. My mouth went dry. He was huge, his tattoos covering everything from the neck down and I could see the indentation of piercings under his shirt. It made me wonder what else might be pierced.
He turned to me, the green orbs locking me in place. He unsettled me. Every time he turned my way it was like he could see under the surface and find all the hidden thoughts I kept close to my chest and refused to share with anyone else.
He saw me, and he didn’t let me hide.
“You coming?” he asked, raising one eyebrow.
His challenge was all it took for me to push past them all and head inside. I pulled my phone out and clicked on the flashlight, but it barely gave enough light. Between the cloudy windows and the vines growing on the outside there wasn’t much room for natural light to fill the space.
The station now felt like a different world. As the door shut behind us, it cut off the sound of nature, leaving it utterly silent outside of our quick breaths and footsteps.
“You know I didn’t sign on for a horror movie,” Drew deadpanned as he glanced around. “Shaye, can you hold me? I’m scared.”
Surprising us all, I held out my hand. He grinned like the Cheshire Cat as he put his hand in mine, giving the guys a look that definitely said he’d won the lottery.
Chuckling to myself, I pulled him along as we started to explore. I doubted that Everett planned on this place being abandoned when he hid whatever it was.
“I’d say the graffiti is out. There were working trains when he was here,” I said as I lifted our joined hand to point out the numbers covering the wall.
“No, knowing him it would be something subtle. It would also be somewhere significant,” Lake said.
“Do you think it’s even here anymore?” Drew worried.
“I’m sure it is,” Micah reassured us. “Everett seemed like the kind of guy to look out for every possibility. Look for something that would withstand time. He knew you wouldn’t be listening to those videos the next day.”
I loved that Micah always looked on the positive side. I clung to that hope he was feeding us.
“Okay, something significant to us but sturdy,” I mused. I kept that in mind as I turned in a circle, dragging Drew with me.
