Page 90 of Eden's Joker

All around us, things are happening… wounded getting carried into houses, men arguing, others drinking and laughing. Some cursing and looking like this is the worst day of their lives. Others mounting their bikes and riding off leaving behind clouds of ashy dust.

But Tyler’s got eyes just for me. I smile at him, just as Dad asks: “What the hell happened to you? Do you have that, what’s it called, Stockholm Syndrome where you think your kidnapper is your friend?”

I chuckle, “You know, maybe… “

“No, no, that’s not it,” I hasten to correct myself as Ice’s face turns murderously dark. I should’ve known he’d have absolutely no sense of humor about this. The last time he saw Tyler and me together was over a video call with Joker’s knife at my throat threatening to cut me open. It’s not something he’d easily forget.

I take his hands and force him to look at me. “I’m in love with him and he’s in love with me. It was like that before he brought me here, but he needed some extra time to figure it out.”

Dad is looking at me like he thinks I might be suffering from Stockholm Syndrome after all.

“Point is, he’s been through a lot,” I say. “But he’s willing to look beyond it. For me. I think.”

Tyler is still sneaking glances at us. And I have noidea what he’s thinking. Except that I’m pretty certain he wants to hold me as much as I want to hold him.

“That kinda peace, that’s what worries me,” Dad says. “How long is it going to last?”

“Forever,” I say, looking at Tyler’s dawn blue eyes and meaning it completely.

He’s too far away to have heard, but I think he did anyway.

“I hope,” Dad says, not sounding convinced. “Now let’s call your mom and sister.”

We’re still standing in the middle of the street with everyone mulling around us. A lot of my family and friends come up to us as we start moving to the shade of one of the houses to make the call. Including Cross and my cousin Hunter, Edge, Ruin, and Chance.

“So I see you handled yourself well,” Hunter says, giving me a big hug.

“Never underestimate a bookworm, right?” I say jokingly.

“Never again, anyway,” Hunter says. “You might’ve just ended this war for us single-handedly.”

He sounds like he’s really happy it’s over too. For us, the war started when he almost got killed. The fact that they all rode to avenge him, many dying and getting hurt in the process, has been a huge weight on his shoulders.

“Yeah, let’s not celebrate this peace just yet,” Cross says. “A lot can still happen. You look well, Eden. Are you?”

I nod, but I’m sure his piercing black eyes already saw that.

“I think they’re ready to talk,” Hunter says, eying the Saloon where Tyler is now standing flanked by Scorpio, Sarge, and some of the others whose names I don’t know.

“Let’s go,” Cross says, signaling something to the other Devils gathered on Main Street.

“What did he tell them?” I asked my Dad, once it’s just the two of us again. I know that the Devils communicate with hand gestures, and I even know some of them, but not these.

“To be ready in case Joker has something more planned,” Dad says then takes his phone from his pocket and dials Mom’s number, putting her on speaker.

“Is it over?” she asks breathlessly. “Are you alive?”

“Yeah,” Dad says.

“And me too,” I say.

The silence that follows seems to suck all the air from the world. All of which then feeds my mom’s scream of joy. Joined by my sister’s.

“I told you,” Summer says. “I told you she couldn’t be dead. I would’ve known it.”

“I’m fine,” I tell them. “Actually, I’m great. Go figure that it would take getting abducted to find mythe one, right?”

“It’s just like one of those old school booksyou love so much,” Mom says. “So, yeah, maybe we should’ve seen it coming.”

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