Page 65 of Fallout

“Ambulance.”

“Probably.” What had been in that gas?

Maybe it didn’t matter. They were out of the house now, and the firefighter walked him down the side to the front yard where Blake sat on the grass.

A car door opened, and Destiny climbed out. In the ocean of cops, firefighters, and EMTs, he spotted Peter. Violet was with Blake, and they were kissing. Destiny set a laptop on the back seat of the car and came over.

He wasn’t going to make her come to him.

Jasper got up. He ignored everything and everyone and made his way to her. Probably too fast, considering he sort of slammed into her. “Sorry.”

She grasped his arms. He slid them around her waist and leaned down to tuck his face in her neck. He breathed in a scent that was pure Destiny and felt her chuckle. “I’m glad you’re okay.”

Her voice. So soft.

Jasper was probably a little loopy, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t in control. He slid his cheek along hers. But he might freak her out if he came on too strong, so he stopped. That put them nose to nose.

He was pretty sure someone snickered. Someone else was yelling, stressed out. It was all like white noise in his ears. “Hi.”

Her eyes lit, and she smiled. “Hi yourself.”

He touched his forehead to hers.

“Are you okay?”

“Just saying hi.”

She chuckled in his arms. “So, you say hi to all the girls like this?”

“No, just you.” He shifted and hugged her again, not wanting to let go. But they couldn’t stay like this all day.

“That’s my sister you’re touching, bro.”

Jasper turned to Blake. Violet grinned. “Both of you need to get on oxygen while we figure out what you were dosed with.”

Destiny rubbed a hand between his shoulder blades, about the best thing he’d ever felt. He kept his arm across her shoulders. “Good idea,” Jasper said. “Blake seems like he’s confused about what’s happening here.”

Destiny shifted. “Maybe you should tell me as well.” Her voice was barely a whisper.

He looked at her, their faces close again, but not as close as before. He tried to formulate something sweet. Something that didn’t put too much pressure on her. So…a date? “Go out to dinner with me.”

“That’s probably a good start. But I might be busy tonight. We’ve got an operation going on.”

Jasper spotted an ambulance pulling up and set off toward it with her still under his arm. “Tell me about it.”

He learned why Peter was there and what he would be doing with the flash drive once Simon extracted the file. “What time?”

Destiny frowned. “You’re out of the house and no longer in danger. So, we don’t need to give him anything now. We beat the threat, and everyone is alive.”

“Samantha.”

“Your partner?” Destiny glanced around. “Over there.”

He changed directions, and they went to the first ambulance. A group of firefighters had gathered around the stretcher. An EMT held a mask over her face, squeezing to push air into her lungs every second or so. Julio stood beside the bed, his mask off. His face haggard, and one hand holding Samantha’s.

“Is she…” Jasper couldn’t even finish the question.

The second EMT removed the stethoscope from his ears. “She’s stable. Let’s go.”

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