Page 141 of Unbroken

I hoped she was looking up from her special place in hell to see how unimpactful she truly had been. Because that would have been her worst nightmare: to become an afterthought.

And considering all of that, considering what Valerie and Jeffrey had done to us all, I looked back on my time wielding that knife with his blood on my fingers with fondness.

I would never regret it. It was more than deserved, and honestly, he was lucky I didn’t inflict worse. His answers to my questions weren’t as satisfying as I expected, but those answers no longer felt important. The “why” wasn’t fundamental to the story.

All that mattered was that they were gone, and we were still here.

“…next week. What do you want to do?”

Done with my dark reminiscence, I tuned back into the conversation. “What’s next week?”

“James’s birthday,” Ivy supplied.

“Blakely’s is the week after,” Devon added, appearing behind me with two drinks in his hands. He offered me one, and I tookit with a smile. Honestly, my birthday had been the last thing on my mind. I’d been more focused on the possibility of a trial and moving that I hadn’t thought about turning another year older. With everything else that had happened, it didn’t seem like a big deal.

“We could have a joint birthday. Just like old times.” James laughed. He turned to Ivy, who hadn’t been there during our college and post-college days, to witness the crazy birthdays we’d thrown. “With birthdays two weeks apart, Blake and I almost always celebrated together.”

“Those parties were insane,” Luke added. Everyone else agreed in turn, and I shook my head.

“You don’t have to do that,” I said to James directly. “You deserve to have your own party. You don’t have to celebrate…with me.”

“Blake, you’re back. We should celebrate together.” He said it like it was a foregone conclusion, his blue eyes shining bright with honesty.

“I’ll plan it,” Ivy volunteered.

“And I’ll assist,” Amanda added, who was quickly seconded by Josh.

Amazed that they were all willing to go through the trouble, I stared dumbfounded at the group. They began discussing a few details, asking for mine and James’s opinions every once in a while as we sipped our drinks.

Eventually, I started a game of darts with Amanda, Josh, and Luke. Josie fell asleep sometime in the middle of our game and didn’t seem to mind when the volume in the bar increased the later it got. We played pool and danced and laughed.

An hour or two later, and a few drinks in—for the rest of them—we found ourselves back around two tables we’d pushed together.

Devon’s warm breath swept over my neck. His lips ghosted over my skin, and his hand slid from where it had been drawing idle circles on my back to around my waist. The other handclimbed higher up the short skirt of my dress, skimming the inside of my thigh. Chills whipped down my spine and covered my arms and legs just from the simple, light touch. I turned to look at him but didn’t get a chance to enjoy the look in his eyes when someone called my name.

“B-dubs?”

“Yeah?” I asked, whipping around to identify the person who’d said it.

“They asked what was going on with your case,” Devon said in a low voice. He kissed my neck again before removing his hand from my thigh and sitting back. He took a sip of his drink like he hadn’t been the entire reason my attention was divided.

“Have they come to a deal yet?” Amanda asked.

“Not yet. He’s still holding out.”

Looking around the table, they all appeared outraged on my behalf. “He’s trying to make her suffer one last time,” Devon explained. And although we couldn’t be certain, it was the theory that made the most sense.

“What a piece of shit,” James muttered, and they all agreed, calling Jeffrey one name after the other. I enjoyed their imaginations and the colorful versions of old favorites they came up with.

Devon’s hand was a solid, unmoving presence on my back, and I felt myself lean into it.

“But you’re doing okay, right?” Hazel asked. She rested her hand on my thigh and gave it a reassuring squeeze. One that was meant to convey her genuineness and did just that.

I took a deep breath and glanced around the table again. They’d all stopped talking and were staring at me expectantly.

“Yeah, I’m okay. Knowing that no matter what happens next, I have my family with me”—I motioned to my best friends with one hand and rested the other on Devon’s leg—“how could I not be okay?”

“Damn right!” Josh shouted, lifting his glass in the air. Luke shushed him and motioned to the sleeping baby on his chest.

“It will be over soon,” Amanda said. “There is a light at the end of the tunnel.”

“There is,” I agreed, soaking up the happiness and joy I felt radiating from each of them. “But that light feels like it’s just the beginning.”

The End

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