Page 55 of After the Fall

“Lobo de rua,” Valentina seethed in Portuguese. “You wolves don’t take anything serious enough.”

“Hey,” Bannon growled, jumping up at the insult. Lobo de rua inferred street wolf, something wild and uncouth. “We’re here, ain’t we?”

I held up my hands. “Tim is going to go over some of the progress he’s made in our labs. I think you will all be interested in what he’s found with respect to Genocorp.” I had briefed Tim earlier, and let him know to keep any of his other new findings secret until the South Americans and the wolves were safely out of Stirling County.

Tim spread pages of graphs and reports on the table in front of him. “Thank you, Wyatt. As you can see here…” He held up a bound report and pointed to a graph.

Savannah leaned closer as Tim went into the details of his experiments. It was the first we’d spoken. “Care to explain why your girlfriend showed up at our apartment with a suitcase?”

TWENTY-SEVEN

HARPER

So this was heartbreak.

In the few hours I’d been alone in my old apartment, I’d gone through what felt like an entire range of emotions. It was textbook, except I was certain there were no books written about how to survive a breakup with your sasquatch boyfriend.

First there’d been tears. Would anyone ever make me feel the way Wyatt did? Had I ruined my only chance at love and happiness?

Anger came next, and I paced back and forth in the guest room, stewing over the long list of things I’d given up to be with Wyatt. My fists clenched, even now, as I thought about the Carders. They’d ruined everything. It was because of them that Valentina had come back into our lives. But was our breakup something that I could pin on the Carders? Or had they just exposed the darkness that had always been there, festering beneath the surface? Maybe Wyatt and I had been doomed from the very beginning.

At last came the numbness. I hated to admit it, but I also felt relief. I was free to go where I pleased, without an escort. I could spend my time around people who actually liked me. Bestof all, I could begin to envision a future with a family of my own, something that wouldn’t have happened if I’d stayed with Wyatt.

Our breakup was inevitable. But it still sucked.

Wyatt had told me we’d broken up once before. I didn’t remember it, of course – another thing to pin on Valentina. But if I’d survived that breakup, I could survive this one.

I’d need to find a way to deal with the feelings that would inevitably surface when I saw Wyatt again. There was still the matter of the Carders, and my dad. I couldn’t forget Wyatt entirely, even if that’s what the breakup books suggested. This time, there was no magic potion to help me forget.

The front door banged open, and Savannah and Connor’s voices carried down the hallway and into the kitchen, followed by the gentle pop of what sounded like a bottle being uncorked. I smiled, the first in what felt like a long time.

The footsteps moved down the hallway. “Be careful,” Savannah said, followed by low whispering and the closing of the front door.

After a minute, I nudged the guest room door open a crack, only to find Savannah standing with her hand poised mid-air. “Oh, good. You’re alive.” She gestured to the glass of wine in her hand. “I brought you the best breakup medicine I could find. There’s nothing a good cabernet won’t cure.”

I opened the door all the way and took the glass from her hand. “I take it everyone knows, then?”

Looking past my disheveled appearance, she glanced at the unmade bed and the giant suitcase propped against the wooden frame. “It’s not exactly a secret. Apparently, you made a big scene when you pushed your way past the guards at the front door,” she laughed. “Bravo for that, by the way. But Wyatt didn’t say much, and I have questions. Come on,” she said. “Girl time on the couch. Now.”

“Where’s Connor?” I asked, following her to the sofa. As I peered around the living room, I realized nothing had changed. It looked exactly the same as when I’d moved out. “And where’s all his stuff?”

She rolled her eyes. “Connor wasn’t kidding when he said he was broke. I guess the wolves aren’t very good with their money, unlike your, uh…” She coughed into her sleeve. “Wyatt. And to answer your first question, Connor went out so that we could have some much-needed girl time.”

My eyes widened. “To the woods?”

“Heavens no,” she said. “Bannon made it clear that the wolves are to keep out of Stirling County. Connor is with Bannon at whatever cheap, sleazy motel he rented, probably chugging a PBR.”

I glanced to the front door. It looked heavily reinforced – that was new. “What’s with all the deadbolts and chain locks?”

She rolled her eyes. “After the sasquatches brought in that… thing from the woods to interrogate, Connor spent the next day reinforcing our apartment. Just in case the Carders try something.” Her hand rested on my knee. “Which they won’t,” she promised.

Grimacing, I took a sip of wine. Large splatters of red covered my shirt as I spit it out. “Oh my god. That’s terrible.”

She frowned. “I hope it’s not corked. That was an expensive bottle.” She cautiously sniffed her glass, “It smells okay,” then took a slow, hesitant sip. “It’s fine,” she said. Her eyes clouded with concern. “Are you okay?”

I set my wine glass onto the coffee table and swiped at the wine splotches, though it was useless. My white shirt was now a deep crimson. It looked like I’d been stabbed in the heart, which in some ways, I had. “Sorry. I guess Wyatt has also found a way to ruin my favorite wine.”

“Oh, Harper.” She set her glass next to mine and pulled me into a large bear hug. “I guess now’s probably not the time to tell you that there’s some giant hunky-looking sasquatches posted guard outside the entrance to the building.”

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