Page 65 of I Promise You
“Ma, who’s this?” I ask, lifting the picture so she can see it.
She walks over to me, grabbing her reading glasses. After adjusting it onto her nose, she skims it.
“I have no idea, but she’s pretty.” She collects the other photos from the bed, ideally placing them together. “I was going through his nightstand, and I know I shouldn’t have, but I couldn’t help it. I feel like I have to clean his room and organize his things…even though I know he’s not alive. A part of me doesn’t want to believe it still. I clean it because it still feels like a bad dream. Like he’s going to come home any day, walking through that door in his uniform, and—” She inhales a sorrowful breath. “I just want him to come home to a clean room. To know I’m still here, still waiting for him to return…no matter what. I won’t give up on him.”
I stand, tears threatening to escape as I rub her shoulders, hoping it’ll prevent us both from breaking down.
“Mom, we will see him again, I promise you. We haven’t given up on him…but when it’s our time, we’re going to see him again, and when that time comes, we’re all going to have dinner together, catching up on our past adventures or whatever it is that people do in heaven. But right now, we have tolive for him.No matter what, because that’s exactly what he would want.”
This makes my mom finally cry, but she’s still okay. She smiles as she wipes away one escaped tear.
“You have a lot of explaining to do when he finds out you’ve been driving his car,” she teases through stressed laughs.
I roll my eyes, smirking.
“I know.”
“Did you stop by his grave today? I went early this morning. Left him his favorite candies, pulparindos.” She tells me, putting the photos back into the drawer neatly on his nightstand.
“I did.”
She looks at me for a few seconds, hoping I’d open up to her more about my visitation, but I want to keep it short.
“Good.”
20
KANE
All I want to do is be home, away from all this darkness. Open a bottle of Tito’s vodka and go to sleep. Maybe I should hit up Meredith again when the mission is over. I need to run away from how I crave Ari all the time. Ever since she was attacked, this protective need has only worsened, and I don’t know what to do with it but be there…as a friend.
“Get some sleep. You only have twenty-four hours. Cobra and I are staying on base to return all the children safely to their families. Tex, Bane, and Creature. Please go home. I expect you all back here after you get your beauty sleep,” Grim orders us.
We’re in a conference room for our last brief of the night. The mission was successfully carried out and there’s another one that follows. Although we still don’t know where they’re getting their information from and that’s bugging us all out.
I shrug, sighing. I take off my mask and throw it into my rucksack.
“I don’t sleep. I’m already beautiful, can’t you tell?” Creature’s wicked voice says. His bright gray eyes burn holes into Grim sarcastically.
He never takes off his black mask. We all wear the same one, but he doesn’t take his off. Not since he was a prisoner of war.No one knows what happened to his face except the doctors who worked on him.
Grim scoffs out a chuckle.
“Look, man, go home. I’ll call you if I need you guys back here early.” He rubs his beard, taking out his phone.
“Are you sure? You know I’ll stay, I don’t mind,” I ask one last time through tired eyes. It’s been almost two days without sleep and my body feels like it’s not my own anymore.
I sneak a peek across the table from where I’m standing in front of him.
That’s when I seeAngelas the contact name.
I know that’s what he calls her. He’s texting Ari.
I have to take a deep breath to relax the tension, hoping it’ll erase my sullen frown.
Fire burns through me, and I have to clear my throat from the jealousy. A sting pops through my jaw when I realize I’m locking it too hard. She’s not mine. She’s my friend…a friend that I’m hopelessly in love with.
Fuck, this sucks.
