Page 70 of After All The Wreckage
I cleared my throat. “Stay. I’ll be back. You can ask me about cloud seeding and tell me what else you’ve found out. Maybe we’ll find another piece of the puzzle you’re so good at putting together.”
She looked away for a moment and then back. “It’s probably not a good idea.”
My gut fell, crushing the hope I probably shouldn’t have had.
“It’s probably not,” I acknowledged. “But stay anyway.”
I ran a finger along the top of her hand. The skin was soft and delicate but burned into me like a tattoo.
There was so much bad in the world, and Rory had seen her share of it at the ripe old age of twenty-two. Maybe what I could offer her was a chance to see something good in the darkness. A light she could hold on to when her world got really bleak as she chased bad guys down for a living. God, that thought brought terror and pride to me in equal measures.
She swallowed, looking down the hall and back to me. “Gage…”
“Not for that,” I told her. “And definitely not that here with Ivy in my room and Monte across the hall. Just so neither of us has to be alone tonight carrying our burdens.”
Her eyes fluttered shut and then back open. She didn’t say anything, but she didn’t walk out the door either, and wings of hope fluttered through my chest.
“I have a pint of mint chocolate chip I don’t mind sharing.”
“This morning you tried to bribe me to leave with money. Now you’re trying to bribe me to stay with ice cream?” she asked, lips quirking slightly.
I leaned in, my lips barely a breath away from hers. Her eyes fell to my mouth, and I felt the caress in her look as if she’d closed the last millimeter remaining and kissed me.
“I’d bring out the big guns and offer you popcorn and Reese’s Pieces, but I’m afraid I’m all out.”
She huffed out a laugh, and I pulled her bag from her hand, turning to place it on the couch before walking toward the door. As I pulled it open, I turned back and said, “Thank you.” Her brows rose. “For helping us even after I was an ass.”
“For all of two seconds I thought about introducing you to my Vipertek, but that would be like kicking a dog for barking at an intruder. As soon as I realized Monte had seen me in his vision, I knew you were being your normal Gage protector-self. But even superheroes have weaknesses, and I’m damn good at finding them, so the next time you’re an ass, be prepared to be locked in a cage with some very painful kryptonite.”
I chuckled, shaking my head, but relief flew through me. I should have known Rory would see through me. She may not have any psychic abilities that she’d admit to, but she read people. It was her own superpower.
As I jogged down the stairs to the bar, for the first time in longer than I could remember, there was a lightness to my step, and the primary reason for it was knowing Rory was waiting for me. I’d never wanted my mother’s abilities, but I suddenly yearned to know what future Demi would see if she touched me. Had I grown roots deep and strong enough to find the happiness Demi had once claimed awaited me?
Would I find it with Rory and my siblings at my side?
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Rory
OPEN TO SOMETHING AND THAT SOMETHING IS YOU
Performed by Aly & AJ
My heart ranwild as I watched Gage leave. Or maybe it wasn’t my heart but my imagination running amuck. Waiting for him with his siblings asleep down the hall felt strange and yet right all at the same time. It felt… domesticated. It felt like a full family rather than the portions I’d been served for so long.
After the divorce, I’d guarded my heart well. Dad had been cold and reserved from the moment I’d gotten caught in the senator’s home office, and then he’d started dating Sheila from the FBI before I could figure out how to fix what I’d broken. He’d spent more time with her than he had me, even canceling our weekends together to be with her.
If your own father could choose to walk away, then it was quite likely others would too. So I’d kept everyone, even those closest to me, at arm’s length, hiding behind a locked door. Iwasn’t sure Mom or Nan had noticed. Maybe they’d just been biding their time waiting for me to let them back in.
Now it was too late. Now I might never get to tell Mom how much Ireallyloved her. The casual words thrown out as we passed each other in and out of the condo didn’t really count. They’d been merely alternate words for goodbye.
Ever since I’d walked into the tavern and seen Gage, my barred door had been splintering.
Or maybe Gage was the only person who’d ever had the key.
I wasn’t sure if that was sad or hopeful.
My heated body claimed it was something completely different after our almost kiss and the tender plea Gage had uttered asking me to stay.
