Page 81 of Shifted

"I'll do a physical and assess you. If all checks out you are good to go home and rest. Do not work or endure any stressful activities. Take it very easy, Mrs. Brand, I mean it." She has me sit up and move to the side of the bed, "Let's begin."

CHAPTER THIRTY

Hope Taylor

The car ride back to the city felt like the longest ride of my life. Dr. Yui didn't let me go so easily. After my physical, she wanted me to rest more and re-assess later. Finally, when the time came at four in the evening, she let me go. Lucas was driving like a madman. I've never seen anyone with more road rage.

"Fucking ass hole!" He flipped off the dude who cut us off, almost slamming right into us, "What a bastard!" He beeped the horn, causing other people to look at us in traffic.

"This is not the place to make enemies, Lucas." He focused back on the road and made his way onto Boylston, his eyes peered out at the city school beside us as students rushed in between classes, "I always wanted to go to Emerson College," He admired the buildings as they stood tall, "You know I used to write plays?" I suck in my lips, I couldn’t picture him ever writing a play.

"I believe it." He chuckled and then slammed on the brakes as a pedestrian ran across the road. It was like he was in the mood to kill or fight someone. "It's like you want these stitches to rip?" I groan.

"I'd rather your stitches be ripped than a pedestrian be ripped," he said, pulling around the Boston Common and making his way toward Franklin.

"Why are we going towards Downtown Crossing?" I ask.

"You said you wanted to see Theo," I glanced at myself up and down. "If he cares about what you look like after defeating death, he's not worth your time, hon." He stopped the car, and as I looked out to see the Millennium Tower, I was not surprised. I knew he was wealthy, but knowing the job as Amartolós on top of his corporate one, he had an unthinkable amount of money.

"Which apartment?" my eyes scaled the skyscraper. I couldn’t believe Theo had bought a place here. He wanted to be close to Joely and me, putting Chicago on hold.

"Penthouse Angel. Oh, and Isaac's guys… technically, my guys are guarding the door, keeping him from trying to go back and get you. Trust me, I've been told in the past twenty-four hours. He's attempted twenty escape routes just to retrieve your body. He even shot at Arthur!" My eyes widened; I didn’t know he’d go mad. But I would, too, if I thought he was dead and his body was just sitting somewhere cold and alone.

"Oh, poor Arthur." He hands me a key and unlocks the doors to the SUV, and I exit the car. This building seemed bigger and maybe even more overwhelming than before, with people coming in and out. Before Lucas pulls away, I turn back to him.

"Lucas," I whisper.

"Yes, Hope?" he says.

"Thank you." I wasn't one to cry in front of Lucas; I didn't get sentimental with him until things got real, and this was one of those moments. I owed him my life, as he saved mine after all of this time. He was there for me and had my back. He knew who I was all along but loved Hope, not Angel. He knew what I was yet still cared for me.

"Well, we can't have Joely raised by a man who thinks protein shakes are a proper breakfast, now can we?" he jokes. I shake my head in response as I laugh at him. He was truly something else, a lifesaver, literally.

"I think Pop-Tarts is a proper breakfast, Lucas," Plugging his ears he shakes his head as he acts like he hasn’t heard me. "You didn't say that to me... and don't thank me. Your family and family do anything for each other." He winks at me and then pulls the car away. I turn to the skyscraper ahead of me and take a step towards it. I didn't know what the future held, but I knew I wanted him to be in it.

But that's only if he wanted to be.

?

As the elevator begins to go up and dings on each floor, I anxiously check myself out in the box's mirroring walls. It definitely wasn’t a fashion show for me, and I looked like hell and certainly had been through it. A change of clothes might have been nice.

The elevator stops and dings as we reach the top. I'm welcomed to a hall with one door and two men standing outside it, and they turn to see me. As they look over, it’s almost as if they’ve seen a ghost. I died in front of these men as they kept Theo in the helicopter. Now I was standing in front of them in grey sweatpants and a loose navy shirt, alive and breathing.

"Is Mr. Jones home?" They look unsure of their next move. But then the tall one nods his head, stepping aside. “Thanks, Arthur." They unlock the door. His place was dark, with dark lighting, accents, and furniture. It suited him, the sleekness of it all and how perfectly neat the place was. But the photos on the walls are what got my heart. Pictures of him and his family, then I spot in. The photo of him and Joely at Christmas as they decorated Maria’s cookies. She was already in his heart before he knew she was his. That was evident from the start.

As I walk forward, a glass staircase can be seen ahead of me. It faces all of Boston, a view that people simply dream of. But at the bottom of the stairs was him, his hands in his face. He hadn't moved; he was just stuck there. The sound of me entering didn't even phase him. I heard a soft sob leave his mouth, and as I stepped closer, he still didn't move an inch.

He looked like a wreck. The stubble on his face and hair was now disheveled. He remained in the clothes he left me in, my blood stained on them. He was just glued to that final step on the staircase as if he walked down the stairs today and just couldn’t continue. He couldn’t let the world continue to move, or if he did, he wasn’t moving with it.

"Sorry, I'm late to dinner." He froze at the sound of my voice. The simple words cut all sobs from him, and slowly, his dark brown eyes gaze up at mine. I felt myself begin to break at the sight of him.

There were no words shared, and we stared at one another. Taking in each other's presence, accepting who we both were. Every cent of pain left over, allowing it to linger, because in the end did it really matter? We were both alive, and it was all out there after all this time. I had loved him, had a child with him, and kept that away. I would never forgive myself for it, and maybe he wouldn’t either. But we were both alive for Joely, and we’d get to watch her grow.

Within a few seconds, he gets up from the stairs and wraps his arms around me, and for the first time in a long time, I'm home. I’m here in his arms after all these years, not just as a friend comforting another, but as two people who were in love and now can finally breathe again in each other's presence. We’ve lived two lives apart, and I hated it, and maybe he still wants that. But for now, I have him in my arms again after all these years.

His eyes peer down into mine in realization. For the first time, I wasn’t wearing my contacts on a mission and had confused him with my eyes' coloring. But he recognized it on our mission, confused by its coloring. "I wore contacts, genius." A smile forms on his face from my words. The simpleness shared between us after all this time.

"I love you too," he says. His words send my stomach into a whirl. A swarm of butterflies fills it, and my heart flutters. These are the words I begged to hear from him once I saw him at Bella’s. I wanted to know if he still loved me even if he’d moved on. I figured he’d forgotten and had just let go, but I never did. I resented him for that reason, for allowing his love for me to go and having me hope for something that I thought wasn’t there.

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