Page 88 of You Don’t Kiss Your Brother's Best Friends

“I don’t suppose you’ll want to stick around and feed us?” he asked Kayden directly. “If we’re gonna stay here another day or two, I guess we’ll need to eat.”

Kayden laughed. “Nah,” he answered. “My cooking days are over, at least for a little while.”

Relief washed over me finally, a little bit late to the party. Up until a minute ago, I was sure we were dead. Now, it was finally registering that we might actually get out of this.

“And what about you?” Morris asked, looking my way. “Can you cook?”

“Actually, I’m pretty terrible,” I lied.

Morris frowned in disappointment.

“It’s true though,” Bishop chimed in. “I saw her burn water, once.”

The new mercenary captain of a much smaller, more streamlined Blight dropped his arms at his sides. He neck tattoo bulged a little, as he looked at us long and hard.

“Then I’m afraid this is where we part ways,” said Morris. “This time, probably for good.”

He approached Bishop and Andre again, clasping them hand-to-forearm before shaking them roughly. I wasn’t sure if it was a military thing, but it was definitely the manliest farewell I’d ever seen outside of the movies.

“Barnes!”

A more or less slender man stepped quickly forward. I recognized him as the chopper pilot.

“Sir.”

“These four people are looking to get off this rock,” said Morris. “Give them a few minutes to gather their things, then drop them off wherever they want to go.”

“Yes, sir.”

I felt suddenly dizzy. Maybe it was all the tension, the fear, the adrenaline — all of it, really, leaving my body all at once. The idea that we were finally safe. That we could leave this place, and not look back.

That we could be together again.

“Hey…”

Kayden took my hand, interlacing his fingers with mine. He gave me a reassuring squeeze.

“You alright?”

“Of course. Why?”

“Because you’re white as a ghost. In a blizzard. Wearing a—”

“I… I think I just need to eat something.”

He smiled, pulling me against him. “Shit. Now that you bring it up, me too.”

The heat of his body felt emotionally nourishing. I was still cuddling against it when the others came over.

“So… where do we want to go?” asked Bishop.

They looked at me, as if for some reason I had the answer. I shrugged.

“Anywhere but here.”

“We could go back to Mykonos,” Kayden offered, after a pause. “Or Santorini. Or maybe—”

“Take me somewhere where we can be alone,” I found myself saying. “Somewhere without people. Somewhere we can just curl up, throw blankets over ourselves, and sleep for the next few days.”

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