Page 73 of Bottoms
The sky fell, and the abyss welcomed me.
Aloud,high-pitchedsquealfilled my head. I groaned, sitting up and holding my head. There was debris and a large hole outside the mansion where the breezeway should have been. Moans and groans filled the air, along with the scent of blood and death.
I turned back to where Tanner was last, using my bare hands to dig through the part of the landing that had fallen on top of us. I found his hand first, limp and unresponsive.
A shot went off behind me, and I jumped, looking back to see Colten striding toward me. Putting a bullet in the heads of any fallen guards, he passed. Even without his glasses, his bullets hit their mark as he stalked toward me.
“I need your help,” I said to him frantically as I went back to remove the rubble, but a thick beam blocked my path.
Colten was by my side a moment later, groaning as we attempted to lift the heavy post. I put all the remaining pieces of strength inside me, pushing back against my aching body as I insisted I could give a little more.
Nik appeared on my other side, his handsome face covered in dust, but he still wore the same sunshine smile I had come to need. He placed his hands on the wooden beam. The beam rose free of Tanner, and we shoved it to the side. I bent down and started to pull Tanner free, and once the boys shifted the wreckage far enough, they took over.
Colten hauled Tanner over his shoulder and started for the gaping hole in the mansion.
“What about Fynn?” I asked, looking back to the spot where the landing was. It was just a hole now.
“I don’t,” Nik started, but I swung my head and glared at him.
The mansion groaned, trying to settle into place despite missing pieces.
“I don’t think we have time,” Colten said, turning to face me as he gestured to Tanner with his eyes.
A cold numb was all I felt, and I decided that was for the best as I nodded quickly and headed for the opening. Leaving the last shred of me inside the broken walls of the mansion.
21
Final Truth
Thenewsthenextday reported on a gas leak that had killed Amira bint Zain Al Saud, Princess of Saudi Arabia. Along with her business partner, James Ryland, CEO of Ryland Heights. Nik had pushed his way into the case, citing its possible involvement in the terrorist attack on the mayor and Mr. Ryland's connection with that case. He went to the morgue personally to look over the remains.
He came home to Bottoms that night, ashen-faced, but he told me Fynn wasn’t there. We had sat together wrapped in each other's arms until Colten came in to let me know that the doctor said I could finally go in and visit.
Everything felt so numb.
I had held Tanner’s head in my lap as Colten drove away from the mansion, missing its front door. Nik had been on the phone when we got in the car, calling the doctor and telling him to meet us at Bottoms. Nik had checked over Tanner’s vital signs and said he was stable as we raced back to New York City. The doctor had been waiting for us to arrive, and I hadn’t laid my eyes on Tanner since.
I was waiting like I was told.
I walked back with Nik and Colten to the medical room. Tanner was sitting in bed wearing a frown and a hospital gown, and I had started laughing. It was just the funniest thing. I laughed and laughed until I didn’t want to laugh anymore.
Then they put a special gown on me.
Doc looked me over and said something to the others. But after that, I had to take pills alongside my coffee in the morning. Colten served it to me every morning, dragging me out of bed to sit with him and have breakfast. He had a lot of time to cook for me since his last case had just finished. Now he never left Bottoms since I never left Bottoms.
Tanner didn’t leave Bottoms either, other than going to Tops. Or up to the greenhouse. We had settled into a silent routine, both of us heading up to watch the night sky before bed. Sitting next to each other on the bench without exchanging a word. He always stayed until I decided to get up and head for the elevator, and we would ride down together.
Nik was the only one that left the house. His last day was only a week before graduation, but I didn’t bother attending class anymore. Nik still taught the class, though he cut in-person classes altogether. The final assignment was for them to write a proposal about how they believe his sister died. Turning our entire field hour experience into one big fucking game of clue.
Grace deserved better.
Something dug at the back of my mind. Some sort of emotion. But I wasn’t ready to face that yet. So I continued my days. Colten forcing me out of bed. Swallow pills. Shower.
Survive.
He wasn’t coming back.
Every day was just about surviving to see the next. Watching the days flip by until one day, the pattern broke.
