Page 111 of Sully

“Areyouokay?”

His gaze slid away for a second. “Guess you haven’t seen the news yet, huh?”

“Did something happen? Is everyone okay?” I asked, my voice getting higher.

“Everyone is alright,” he said, holding his hands up, palms out. “But there was an explosion.”

“To… cover evidence?” I asked, even if I didn’t love the idea of him being so reckless, risking the innocent lives of the neighbors.

“No, baby, no,” he said, giving me a head shake. “We went there, ready to… do what needed to be done. There was a fight, but then Will… went down into his basement. That was full of nitroglycerin. That shit is unstable as fuck. I got our crew out just in time… and boom.”

“But… you’re sure he was there?”

“Yeah, baby, he was there. He’s gone. By his own hand.”

“So, it’s over.”

“It’s over. And you know what that means?”

“Banging on every surface in my apartment?” I asked, making that boyish smile of his spread across his face.

“Well, I was going to say drag night at the local club. But I like your idea better,” he said, grabbing me, pulling me against him, and sealing his lips to mine.

Then he kissed me silly right there in the sleeping ward of Hailstorm.

“You know, if we get going now, we might be able to fuck on every surface of your place, take Zima on a nice walk in the park,andbe able to meet up with the girls for the drag show.”

“Life with you is never going to have a dull moment, is it?”

“Don’t be silly,” he said, slipping his fingers through mine. “There will always be craft nights.”

Sully - 3 months

“I dunno, man,” I said, rocking back on my heels as I stood next to Valen in the backyard of the twentieth house we’d viewed.

“What’s wrong with this one?” Valen asked with a sigh.

“Do you think it’s big enough?”

“It’s half an acre. You literally can’t get anything bigger in this area.”

“Yeah, but there’s gonna need to be a playground, a pool, maybe a paintball course…”

“For who?”

“The kids, man. The kids.”

“Dunno how I feel about you procreating,” Valen said, smile warm. “Though, I guess Bonnie evens out some of your crazy.”

“Dunno about that, man. You shoulda seen her at the park last week.”

“What park?”

“The paintball park, man,” I told him, starting to walk the yard. It was fully fenced with wrought iron that would give the squirrels an easy out when Zima was feeling like chasing them. “She was bloodthirsty. Went rogue and killed everyone. Friendly fire and everything.”

I’d never been prouder.

“I overheard the girls saying she had really good aim at the range when they took her.”

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