Page 54 of Lost
Hollis snorts and my lips tip up a little more at the sound.
I’m actually talking to my sister!
Tyde’s hand squeezes my thigh as he buries his nose in my throat and breathes in deeply. It’s as if he can’t get enough of my scent. Since I’m wrapped up in his sweatshirt and I’m never giving it up, I suppose I feel the same.
“So where are my best friends?”Hollis asks, rounding back to one of her original questions. I thought she’d forget about it, but she’s tenacious.
“Work,” I rasp, my humor melting away. “Apparently they had to open up today.”
“Bullshit,”she says. “Are they really that fucking stupid? Lars and Caleb both have people who can do that. They ran away. Who is driving me downtown? I just want to talk to them.”
“I would ask you to keep your weapons at home, but you are a weapon, Hollis,” Brice grunts.
“Speaking of which,” I say, “how are you doing?”
Maybe I can hold the peace if I keep her distracted.
“I’m as well as can be expected,”she says, but someone grunts a curse in the background. Actually, it’s more of a fake sneeze around the word “bullshit. “I’m sorry, apparently I need to add that I’m taking pain medication even though I hate it so that you can come home if you want to. I’m playing with the hypothesis that if I inherently feel less pain, so will you. I can’t believe this link that we have is doing this. I’m so sorry.”
“It’s not your fault,” I say immediately, because it’s not. Now that she mentions it, I can hear the slight slur in her words. It’s almost barely noticeable. “You shouldn’t be drugging yourself on the off chance that I’ll go back to Minneapolis, Hollis. That’s terrible.”
“You have clients here,”she admonishes. “Those are responsibilities that you’re going to need to go back to without being affected by my pain. I think that you didn’t feel the ass beating Emilia’s goons gave me because I was on pain medication for a lot of it. My body also healed me much faster than I should have. Outside of the broken bones, I think the bruises will heal within the next week. I’ve always bounced back well.”
“With all due respect, I don’t think that you should be proud of healing from intense physical trauma so easily,” I grumble. “I haven’t really looked at my messages yet, though I’ll need to do so soon. I called you first. As for Caleb and Lars…Hollis, I don’t think they want me. Maybe I should just give them an out…”
“You’d reject them?”she whispers. “Guys, can I get a second, please?”
I listen as her pack leaves, and think about how much they adore her. They were so worried when she was kidnapped, uncaring about anyone she might have to hurt or murder as long as she came back to them.
I don’t know how they started, but I love where they are now.
“I thought about rejecting Pack Ledger,”Hollis says softly. “There’s that saying that those who can’t, teach. Well, I’m a professional matchmaker, Nova. I told myself that as long as you were gone, I’d never have a pack.”
“You cannot put your life on hold for me,” I gasp. “It doesn’t look like you are now, thank god. My point is that you didn’t know if I was alive or dead.”
“Exactly. Survivor’s guilt sucks. Everyone else moved on, Nova. We were two weeks old when you were taken, but I still had this huge hole in my heart,”she says. “Lars and Caleb never made me feel stupid for holding on. They kept me from falling apart numerous times, and they never judged me when they couldn’t. I swear, little sister, they’re really good alphas. I just need to kick their asses a little so they’ll remember that. Besides, they lied to me about being your scent matches. That’s unacceptable.”
“They’re both so intense,” I grumble. “Caleb doesn’t sugar coat shit and is a fucking caveman. While Lars is quiet and broody, and when he finally says something, the words just hurt. Half the time, I don’t feel good enough for either of them, Hollis. They give me whiplash.”
“What else?”she rasps, sounding as if she’s memorizing all of it. My heart clenches as I think about her calling me little sister, and Tyde purrs for me, his chest vibrating to soothe me. I notice Hollis didn’t ask him to leave and I smile at the thought.
“They tell me I’m too soft but know nothing about my life or why I surround myself with healing energy. I’m basically a hippie with better hygiene,” I mutter. “I believe in making the best of things, holding space for others, and being good to people.”
“You have a lot of mafia men wrapped around your finger,”Hollis teases.“Men who care very little about the rest of the world, but just today I’ve had various texts asking if I’ve heard from you. Adira called me to tell me about how you’ve managed to carve out a place for yourself in their hearts, and Linus called as well to tell me how calming you are in high emotion situations. If you wanted to, Minneapolis would gladly call you one of its own.”
Thinking about the undertones to her words, I nod. “I never wanted to be a nomad for as long as I have been,” I mumble.
My fingers move over the old scars at my wrists, the long sleeves hiding past shame. This is why I hold life to such a high standard now. I can’t imagine getting back to that place. It was just before I left my prison and ran away.
I don’t talk about it, and I really hope that the alphas haven’t seen them. They’re barely raised now after so many years, yet I’m still careful to hide them.
“Turbis told me he’d been chasing you for Domino,”Hollis grunts.“I don’t want you to be upset that they hurt me. I played my own game to be able to be in a position where I could take them out and get answers about what they did to you. I needed to know that you’d be safe after this.”
The small pause she takes feels loud over the line, and I find myself bringing the phone closer to me. I can never thank her enough for giving me back my peace of mind. Whatever I’ve had that comes close to that has always been a mirage. Shimmering in the horizon, but always fake.
“Everyone deserves the freedom to be their own person, Nova. I left home at eighteen because I didn’t want to be married off to a pack who didn’t know or understand me. After that, I decided to open up Cupid’s Call.”
Hollis takes a breath, quiet for a moment, and I think about how we both left home at a young age due to circumstances we wanted to escape.
