Page 55 of Convergence

“It’s been a while since my family went on one. Maybe six or seven years,” Nate said with a yawn. He was quiet for a moment. “Last night was so hot, seeing you with Ev.”

I blushed. “Hey, um, it’s okay if you have feelings for him, too. I’ve noticed the way you two are with each other and wanted to throw that out there. It’s- um, it’s okay,” I said awkwardly.

“I think I might,” Nate said after another moment. “It would be a first for me to have feelings for another dude, but I don’t know. Maybe that’s why I was cool with sharing you with him.”

Nate sat up in bed next to me, a nervous expression on his face. I felt Everett sit up before he smiled down at me and kissed me lightly. “Hey,” I said to Everett.

“How’d you sleep, baby girl?” he asked me and pushed my hair out of my face.

“Snug as a bug,” I said and smiled up at him, trying to get a read on how much he had heard me and Nate talking.

“Good,” Everett said and looked to Nate, who had his arms up to finger comb his air-dried and tangled hair. Everett took in Nate’s muscular torso and arms, and his eyes darkened.

My breath caught in my throat. He had heard everything.

Everett sat up all the way in bed and reached over and grabbed Nate roughly around the back of his neck and pulled Nate’s mouth to his. Nate froze for a second and Everett slowed like they were both taking a moment to consider their feelings towards the kiss. I didn’t dare move or make a sound. Nate’s lips relaxed against Everett’s, and he kissed him back. Their kiss quickly deepened and was a clashing of tongues and lips and their hands grabbing for a better hold on each other. It was searing, and I could feel their emotions and desperation for each other rolling off them. Everett pulled back, breaking the kiss with a pop. They shared a look, and I averted my eyes to be respectful. Even though they were leaning over my legs, and about a foot away from me, I felt like I needed to give them some privacy.

The sound of their breathing changed, and I looked back to see them both looking at me with concerned expressions. As if I was going to scream and run out of here. I swallowed. “That… was the hottest thing I’ve ever seen in my entire life.”

Both smiled simultaneously with relieved exhales. I blushed at the attention from both of them.

Nate opened his mouth to speak, but there was a sharp knock on the RV's door. “Hey, I have news!” came Easton’s voice, so like Everett’s.

We scrambled to get our borrowed clothes on before meeting Easton at a campfire outside his cabin. Chickens were roaming the area, at least twenty of them, and pecking at the ground. Over the fire was an iron grate on a stand, a navy and white speckled metal kettle on the grates, and a slightly smoking cast iron pan. Easton prepared fresh eggs, more crusty bread, and thick slabs of bacon in the pan and coffee in the kettle.

“I’ve had some friends stop by in the night to let us know their news,” Easton said as he plated us breakfast. “So, it’s not government, official or otherwise. Nobody had heard of it until the fire.Nowthey’re interested, of course, mind you. It’s not the college either. But here’s the kicker. My buddy accessed their financials and the science department staff’s financials and found that the department and staff were getting huge checks in their accounts every month. It’s all from different shell companies and none of them even visibly connect with each other, except for the fact they’ve been sending thousands and thousands of dollars to the staff and the school since December of last year.”

“That’s when they contacted me for the program,” Everett said.

Nate and I nodded that we were also contacted around then.

“I figured as much,” Easton said and continued. “And I’ve also talked it over with my partners and we don’t believe it to be any sort of pharmaceutical company. They’re much more covert and have this kind of stuff already.”

“What makes you think that?” Nate asked.

“No offense, but you weren’t exactly doing anything groundbreaking,” Easton said as he poured another cup of coffee. “You don’t think these companies aren’t paying millions of dollars to create new illnesses to cure people of? Come on. It’s supply and demand. If you want to sell your supply, you must create a demand. And they wouldn’t be having college kids to do it out of a college lab. Again, no offense.”

“I don’t think either of us takes offense. We knew we weren’t creating anything revolutionary, but the appeal of a free education was too much to pass up,” Everett grumbled regretfully. “So, who do you and your partners think it is?”

“We think it’s a militia group with their own mission. Someone with a lot of money and considerable pull and know-how by the looks of it. Figuring out their motive could be the key to figuring out who they are. But figuring out who they are might be the key to figuring out their motive, too. I have a buddy coming over to help draw sketches of this Hoffmann and Daisy. He has worked in surveillance for as long as I’ve known him. He lives a few miles away from here, so he’ll be here early this afternoon. In the meantime, I need your help to gather and chop wood. I’ve promised him a truckload.”

After breakfast, I gathered branches and kindling to dry and save while the guys worked together to chop wood on a large stump that served as a chopping block. I tried not to stare too much at shirtless Nate and Everett as they chopped wood. Easton was also incredibly fit and was wearing a white tank top tucked into thick work pants. Their breath puffed in front of them as they swung their axes and chatted about Easton’s way of life in the mountains and taking occasional sips of their blue and white speckled metal coffee mugs.

I found myself to be irrationally angry when Easton’s friend arrived to work on the sketches of Daisy and Hoffmann. It was a shame for the shirts to go back on. Easton made more coffee for us inside the cabin as we sat with a man who introduced himself as “Tommy.” I knew this wasn’t his real name based on the bark of a laugh Easton made when he told us. Tommy was an incredible artist and had portraits drawn in all angles of both Daisy and Hoffmann by sunset. His red and black checkered flannel, dirty work overalls, mud encrusted boots, and unruly black beard had him looking like a stereotypical “mountain man.” I supposed he blended in by standing out if he were to go into town. The people who saw him would look at his stereotypical appearance and would look less at his identifying features. They would likely see his overalls and beard and not that he had warm brown eyes and a scar slanting across his lips. We had loaded his truck with split wood during a break and he left after dinner with a full truck bed. He told us his plan was to fix up these sketches and run them through some software and look out for Hoffmann and Daisy or find their real names if they’re using fake ones. Easton scoffed and said, “Oh, is that all you do, Tommy?” when Tommy said this, so I knew there was more to the story. I didn’t mind the teasing if they were truly helping us.

21

We tidied up after dinner for Easton as he sat in front of the woodstove, looking pensive. Once we finished, we each pulled up a seat to enjoy the warmth of the fire and the smell of the yellow birch that was burning. “Tommy is going to work up some finished sketches and start looking for Hoffmann and Daisy. But I’m thinking more about your own backgrounds,” Easton said when we settled. “You were all specifically chosen for this project for a reason. Knowing those reasons might help us find who this organization is.”

I shifted uncomfortably. Digging into my life and psyche was not on my list of fun things to do.

“Ev, we can assume they thought you were not going to walk away or ask questions for fear of looking like your big brother,” Easton stated, and Everett’s eyes narrowed on his brother. “They thought you’d fear the backlash of backing away from something that was labeled as ‘doing good.’” Everett glowered at his brother, his jaw clenching and his fists balling on his lap. “They were obviously wrong, little brother. Now, Nate, tell me about your life.”

Nate took a hesitant breath and launched into his story about his parents, his family life, his friends, his love of science, and his dad’s staunch expectations of his work and success. Easton asked about all the schools he’s gone to, the competitions he’s won, his participation in rugby, and his past relationship.

“They looked at you and thought you were too damaged by your old man to see the value in your own time and efforts. You would never back out and look like you fucked up and go back home,” Easton said, watching Nate carefully.

Nate huffed.

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