Page 93 of The Wrecked One

Gray and Jack had beat us to the hotel, same with Gwen and Wyatt, and they were currently greeting Oliver while Mason continued to squeeze me to death.

“Sorry,” Mason whispered in my ear. “I heard about the Reaper incident, and I’ve just been worried as fuck about you.” He let go of me and held the sides of my arms as his brows drew together. “You’re able to . . .”

“Touch again.” I swallowed back the emotion trying to choke me up as I peered around him at the reason, at Oliver.

Mason released me and twisted to the side, following my gaze. “I’m glad he could help,” he said, his comment catching me by surprise.

“Mind if I have a turn?” Sydney teasingly elbowed Mason aside and drew me in for a hug next.

The whole me-keeping-my-shit-together routine en route from the airport may have been an act, because the second my best friend held on to me, I nearly broke down and sobbed into her shoulder.

“You need a minute before facing everyone else?”

“Yes.” I nodded, blinking back tears, the room becoming a blur.

Sydney wordlessly led us into one of the bedrooms. Door shut, I leaned against it and immediately slid down to the floor, my legs giving out. I didn’t want to spiral again, though. I wanted my backbone and my resolve to remain. I’m Mya-Freaking-Van . . .

Remembering my last name, and the fact it belonged to my father who was probably in league with the enemy, stopped my thought cold. I’d done my best to act as unbothered about that as possible, but that was utter BS. Of course it was devastating.

Sydney sat next to me, hooking her arm around my shoulder as I revealed my nightmare-memories, cluing her in to more details I hadn’t shared on the web call with the team.

“I’ve been running my whole life.” I swiped at the tears on my cheeks with the backs of my hands. “But what was I running from back then? Who was I running from?”

“We’ll figure it out, I promise.” She continued to hold me, giving me the time I needed to pull myself together without pushing me to talk again, knowing I’d do it when I was ready. She was always much more patient than I was.

“Oliver’s . . .” Where was I going with that thought? What would I even say about him? “He helped me, and we reconnected.” Balling my hands into fists, I used them to remove the rest of my tears and then worked to stand.

Sydney helped me to my feet, then, holding my arms the way Mason had in the living room, she met my eyes. “I noticed he helped you. Mason was able to hug you. That’s huge. And I’m glad you two reconnected.”

“Not totally connected,” I added while sniffling, squashing any of her assumptions that we’d slept together. “He’s trying so hard to resist his feelings. To focus solely on revenge. And I’m worried he’s going to get himself killed.”

“Well, we won’t let that happen, and you know it.”

I clung to the confidence in her tone and held on to it as tightly as possible. We talked for a few more minutes, and when I worked up the nerve to rejoin the team, the conversation we interrupted was not what I wanted to hear. Hellos were backburnered as I tried to make sense of what I’d walked into.

“Rewind. Restart,” I sputtered. “Find new words.” My attention volleyed back and forth between Carter and Oliver despite the fact the entire team was there. “You can’t possibly be considering this plan.”

When did Oliver come up with it? I knew he wanted to face off with Hugo himself, but I’d had hope Carter and Gray would close the door on that idea.

“What’s going on?” Sydney asked, and Gray tipped his head, gesturing her over to him to have a word. Not encouraging.

I went over to Gwen, gave her a hug, then quickly nodded my hellos to everyone hoping it would encourage someone to hurry up and speak. Preferably retract the conversation that’d occurred while I’d been absent from the room. Because of course Oliver would choose that time to share his plan.

“Well?” I blurted, goose bumps covering my body while chills rolled down my spine with every passing nervous moment no one talked. “This is not happening.”

I stabbed the air when Carter merely swapped glances with Jesse instead of speaking. Oliver remained dead quiet. And why would he speak? He’d already won the team over. The same team he’d said he didn’t want to be part of anymore.

“Come on.” I did a three-sixty, scanning the room for an assist. “Jack, say something.” Nada. Just great. “Mason?”

Mason gave me an apologetic look and surrendered his palms in the air. “It’s a solid plan. Kills both birds with one stone.”

“I don’t want to hear about freaking birds anymore,” I deflected, doing my best to keep myself from falling apart. After all, I’d been working too hard to keep it together to fail now.

Carter cut across the room, the rest of the team, aside from Oliver, stepping aside to give the man space to convince me of the un-convincible.

Oliver faced the door, locking his fingers together at the nape of his neck while lowering his head. He couldn’t look me in the eyes while Carter laid out the plan he’d already delivered when I wasn’t present to argue against it. I’d only caught the tail end of it, but that was enough for me to know I wasn’t a fan.

“Can you give the four of us a minute?” Carter asked without budging from his fixed stance.

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