Page 13 of The Infinite Light of Dust

“Whose side are you on?” Karina snapped at me, ripping her hand from mine. “He can’t stay at my house! I didn’t even invite him here, he showed up, basically tried to rape her—”

Fischer stood up and Elodie winced. “I think we should report him for attempted assault. Call the MPs and get him out of here.”

“It’s not that simple. Elodie, what do you want to do? Do you feel safe with him? If not, I will do whatever you need to protect you, but I also need to tell you guys that realistically the MPs might not do shit, and then he will be even more out of control and angry.”

Karina looked at me with a disgusted expression. I knew that she understood that I was being realistic, and the last thing she wanted right now was to deal with the reality of how fucked up the system was, so I tried not to even look at her. She could take her anger out on me after we found some sort of solution.

“I don’t know what I want,” Elodie said. “I can’t even think about it.”

“Phillips is at your place today and then what?” Karina urged. I knew her anxiety had to be through the roof right now.

“Then we take it a day at a time. Unless anyone else has a plan?” I tried not to take my frustration out on any of them, but that was easier said than done.

“But Austin lives with you. Can you handle them both there at the same time?” I wasn’t sure if Karina was asking me or her brother, but I answered first.

“I can handle it,” I assured her, slightly annoyed by her question.

“As long as he’s not with Elodie,” Fischer responded, his voice low but serious.

This situation was so beyond fucked. Elodie was Phillips’s wife. Whether Fischer was in love with her or not, he couldn’t really think he could keep them separated, right? Or did we all need to do that? If Phillips was as aggressive with Elodie as Karina had expressed, he was a danger to all of us, but most importantly, to Elodie and the baby. I ran through scenarios in my head about who in our chain of command I could call about this, but none of them were viable. If someone tried to put him in a barracks room, Phillips would either lose his shit and escalate the situation to a point of no return or, the most likely scenario, no one would give a shit and Elodie would still be stuck with him.

“Do you want him to be kept away from you?” I asked Elodie. This was her choice after all, and she hadn’t spoken much as we talked around her, about her. She looked at Karina, then at Fischer, and I tried to guide her eyes back to mine. “Don’t think about what they want, think about what you want and what’s best for your safety, physically and mentally.”

Karina made a noise and gave me a look that I could easily read asFuck you, Kael.

“I don’t know. This all happened so fast. I haven’t had time to think about it,” Elodie said in a whisper. “We’re safe as long as he doesn’t drink. But where will everyone be? I don’t want you all worrying about me like this, but I’m afraid—”

“That’s all I needed to hear,” I told her. I almost reached for her hand to comfort her, but I wasn’t sure that being touched by anyone was what she wanted right now, so I put my hand on my own thigh.

“The other half of the duplex needs about a week before it’s livable, but if we bust our asses we can get it done. Then Phillips can stay there, and Elodie, you can take your time. Figure out what you want. Right, Fischer?”

He nodded. His cheeks were red with suppressed emotion and he was still pacing around the small bedroom. His phone vibrated on Karina’s bed, next to Elodie’s knee, and the letterMwas on the screen. The area code wasn’t the same as Mendoza’s, whom I thought of first. Fischer grabbed the phone as if it was on fire and flipped it over. Elodie shot him a look that I couldn’t interpret. Karina didn’t notice, but the two of them glanced at her, then back at each other. Mentally, I filed it away for later. Just how many secrets were these two hiding?

Chapter Nine

Kael

“Let’s get some food in you,” I told Phillips as he plopped down on my couch. He hadn’t eaten since he’d arrived two days ago. Lots of sleep—well, if you counted waking up in hot sweats and screams every two hours or so as sleep.

I microwaved a bit of lasagna that Karina had dropped off before she went to work, knowing that we wouldn’t see each other much for at least a few more days. With everything still left unsettled with Phillips and Elodie, and me trying to keep Elodie’s husband from the group for as long as possible in hopes of avoiding him finding out about his wife and Fischer, and Karina taking care of Elodie while trying to manage her brother’s shit, we were both booked and cooked emotionally.

But still, Karina had thought of me and had brought me a sheet pan full of lasagna. It didn’t have meat in it, eggplant instead, which I had never in my life had, but it was fucking good and even cold I shoveled it down my throat. As I heated some up for Phillips, I closed my eyes for a second, remembering how sexy she’d looked when she stopped by. She was in her normal work clothes, too tight for her to wear around anyone but me, but I couldn’t say that without her cussing me out, so I quietly watched the sway of her thick ass and the brightness in her eyes, even though I knew she had to be so damned tired, and the way she looked at me made me feel starved for her touch.

She was at my house for less than five minutes and we were outside the whole time, but I managed to kiss her as many times as humanly fucking possible, and kept her in my arms as long as I could. I was fully addicted to her now, and the comfort she brought by simply being around me. The smell of her hair instantly brought my heart rate down, the sound of her voice silenced the screaming ones in my head, and the thump of her heart beating against mine when I hugged her close made the pain in my throbbing leg fade.

When I asked her how Elodie was, she told me she was okay, that the two of them were working double shifts to keep themselves busy until everything settled. Problem was, neither of us knew when or how any of this would be settled, but there we were, hugging and kissing goodbye as if we wouldn’t see each other for at least a month.

The microwave beeped, bringing me back to the kitchen and away from Karina. I plopped the square of lasagna onto a plate, grabbed a fork, and carried it into the living room.

“Thanks, bro.” Phillips’s eyes were a bit lighter, a little more life to them. He blew on the steaming food and took a bite.

Inspecting the plate as he chewed, he looked pleased. A touch of color came back into his cheeks as he scarfed down the whole thing. I offered him more, and he followed me into the kitchen.

“You seem to be feeling better?”

“I feel okay, then not, then okay again. There’s a sense of . . . panic?” He seemed like he wasn’t sure of the exact emotion, but I could relate all too well.

“Yeah, that’s understandable. Your body is used to being on guard, your mind, too, and now it’s like, what am I supposed to be doing?”

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