Page 114 of Two Chambered Heart

She had spent the entirety of those days beside what should have been his deathbed, sleeping on the couch with Kayden to keep an eye on him. Archie had taken Kayden’s room, while Sophie was sleeping in the guest bedroom.

The two of them had gone out to pick up some groceries, and Kayden was upstairs showering. It was just her and Jason in the livingroom-turned-makeshift-hospital-ward, and Jason was getting out of bed as if nothing had happened, fully recovered.

He was in a pair of grey sweatpants that Kayden had brought him earlier, topless, as usual.

“No new scars.” Corey said, as he stood up for the first time in days, a little unsteady. She perused his pristine chest, which she’d seen flayed open only days ago.

“Just the one.”

She reached for him, and he gathered her up into a hug, holding her so tight, it was like he was trying to absorb her right into himself. She felt the same, squeezing back tighter.

“I like your scars.” She ran one hand along the rough seam in his skin, which she now knew Kayden had stapled back together after an injury while Sophie was away. Her other hand pressed against his heart, her finger tapping with the beat of it.

They stood together in each other’s arms for what felt like an eternity, the sun warming their skin through the windows, Jason breathing her in like oxygen. Her face was wet against his bare chest, and she realized she was crying.

“Can I say it now?” he asked her.

“Yes.”

“I love you, Corey.” She just gripped him more desperately. She had come so close to losing this, to losinghim. He held her through her crying fit, and she was still sniffling when Kayden came back to them in matching grey sweats.

Finally, she took a step back from him. She looked between the twins, their stunning faces and matching green eyes. Both of them were whole and alive.

“I love you both, but you need to get out of this stupid drug business. You are so much better than this and you don’t need the money. Do this, and I won’t leave—either of you, ever. I’m yours.” She stumbled overthe next words, a grouse of self-doubt whispering that she might not be enough. “If you’ll have me.”

“If you want to put up with me, that’s on you,” Jason said, some semblance of his previous bravado oozing out.

“Jase, I don’t need to put up with you. I love you. I love you fully, even the darkest parts of you, even the parts that have no redemption. Your shame and your guilt, the part of you that needs to hurt others, I don’t care. I love the part of you that can be a monster, I have those parts too. You’re whole to me, and every piece of you is mine. I’ve never had anything that’s mine. Let this be it. Okay?”

Kayden gave the answer that had become their anchor, two syllables that put them all on the same team. “Okay.”

“I’ll trade my pain for your love, Corey. It’s the only thing I can offer,” Jason added, with brutal honesty.

She beamed at them. And then Kayden tackled her and Jason to the couch, grinning ear to ear like a golden retriever with a stick.

She giggled wetly, tasting the salt of her tears, and she held them both closer.

“Archie has already taken out Kreig. Then he’s working on destroying Hanson’s operation, as well. Zantek has no connections outside of us. Hanson's disappearance will disrupt distribution in the city for a while,” Kayden said.

Jason nodded, but said, “Someone is going to pop back up and take our place.”

“Probably,” Corey agreed, “but they won’t be able to do it like you two.”

“No, they definitely won’t.”

“I want to go after the experimentation facilities,” she said. “I talked to Archie about it. They’re still running, and he has the location of two of them. He’s collected ten years of data on the organization operating it. I know you don’t want to look back, but no child deserves to go through what you went through. Not to mention, if the experiments are stillrunning after ten years, they probably haven’t found what they’re looking for.”

She could see the impact her words had on Jason. “I didn’t know Archie was still investigating.”

“He was. Pretty diligently, from what he told me. We looked through all his records. He was waiting for you to come around to the idea.”

It was guilt on Jason’s face, guilt and shame.

“He knew you would come around. He knew you needed time.” Corey brushed her thumb over his creased brow and he softened.

“So that’s it, then. We’re blowing up our role as villains to become the hero?” Kayden asked, tangling his fingers into Corey’s hair and pulling her head back to sink his teeth into her neck.

“I guess that depends on perspective.”

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