Page 141 of Sin

“I love you,” I said softly. “You’re my everything, London. You know that, right?”

“Yeah,” he said, voice full of gravel. He pressed a kiss to my lips once, twice. “You’re my everything too, Sin.”

We weren’t okay. Far from it. We were still healing after years of heartache and pain. But as I looked up at the stars, I wished for one thing.

I wished to never lose my everything.

Epilogue

Roses are red

One year later…

Alarms blared as I raced out of the front door of the house I’d just burglarized. Dogs barked, and a man cursed me to hell as I bolted across his lawn.

Fuck my power for failing me like that.

Ever since that night in the bomb shelter, my power hadn’t been as strong as before, not nearly so. It had been rough going figuring out my new limitations and weaknesses. I’d had several surgeries and speech therapy since, but even now, my voice always held a gravelly edge, and if I spoke too loud, it would crack. It didn’t hurt anymore, unless I tried to push too much power into my words. London and the Legion had been with me every step of the way, guiding me and uplifting me when my thoughts had started to darken. Especially that first time I’d realized I couldn’t sing. Not well. My range was near nonexistent now, and putting too much emotion into the music only ended in pain and cracking notes.

I’d taken Mend up on not only the medicine, but his recommendations for psychiatrists in the area. Next week will mark my tenth session with Dr. Hudley, and so far, I really liked them. They listened and never pushed too much, and the best part? They always gave me a chocolate chip cookie at the end of our session.

They weren’t as good as my mom’s, but I still ate every bite each time.

As far as we knew, Lucas was in a special area in the Mercy Heights Prison where they’d been trying to figure out removing the talisman without risking harming or killing him. Even with Mend’s blood, they weren’t sure how much damage taking it out would cause.

So for now, they worked on finding ways to keep Lucas’s emotions balanced and powers regulated.

The Legion was back together again, though our missions were considerably lower profile cases than before. The other teams whispered behind our backs, most likely due to me joining the team, but the others never paid them any mind. Because we were a team, and we put the team first.

Jinx had ultimately decided on being a part-time member of the Legion, only joining us on the occasional mission when he wanted to. Though, despite his busy schedule, he still found time every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday to wake me up at the ass crack of dawn to join him at the gym. And while I hated waking up so early, I appreciated his help. I’d gained most of my weight back and was in better shape, both physically and mentally, than I had been in years.

When Bennett wasn’t volunteering at the pediatric prosthetics practice or harassing one of his husbands, he could usually be found at our place. Same with Eva and Mare.

In fact, when Mare wasn’t reconnecting with her sister, she spent nearly all of her time with Eva. She’d even come to sleep at our house several times over the past few months with hickies on her neck. She never stuck around long though. Always stating that London’s walls weren’t soundproofed enough.

Crossing the street, I quickly dodged around the corner as several police cars pulled up to the home I’d just run from.

I was peeking around the corner to make sure no one was following me, when someone spoke from behind me.

“What are you doing?”

I jumped a foot in the air and spun around.

London leaned against the corner column of a fence, his arms and ankles crossed, as he watched me. He twirled a lighter in his hand, something he carried around now even though he hadn’t touched a cigarette since the day of Lewis’s funeral.

Slapping a hand to my heart, I sucked in a deep breath. “You,” I gasped, “scared me.”

The corner of his mouth tipped up. “I can see that.”

Now able to breathe, I straightened and swiped some of my hair out of my face. “What are you even doing here?”

“Funny, I was about to ask you the same question.”

My cheeks flamed, though I doubted he was able to notice it under the cover of night. When I didn’t respond, London pushed off of the wall and sauntered toward me, pocketing the lighter as he moved.

He was so fucking sexy. He’d seen a barber recently to get a fade, though he’d left the curls on top longer, as per my one request. He knew how much I liked to grab them when we…

Coming to a halt in front of me, London scanned me from head to toe. “Sin.”

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