Smiling, I reached my hand out to him. “True. I’m glad you’re still here, too. I finally got a brother I can stand, and it would suck to lose you so soon.”
Joshua ignored my hand, bending down to hug me. “I know I’ve said this a million times but thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” I said. “Normally, families get along and stand up for each other, so I thought we could try that out.”
Joshua laughed lightly as he released me. “I’ll see you back at home.”
Once he left, Santiago and Dante were the only ones left in the room. Santiago looked at Dante, but he was still staring into the corner.
Shrugging, Santiago looked at me, obviously just as confused as I was about Dante. He gave me a wicked smile. “Still mad at me for what I did?”
I rolled my eyes. “Of course. I won’t be forgiving you any time soon. And if Eric ever finds out …”
“I’ll be watching my back.” His expression became serious, something that didn’t happen very often. “But, hey, now that this is all over, we can go get him. I’m still keeping my promise about that.”
“Thanks,” I said. “We can talk about it tomorrow.”
“Sounds good.” Santiago stood and walked over to me. “Can I kiss you on the forehead?”
I narrowed my eyes. “As long as it’s just the forehead.”
Santiago nodded and bent down, kissing me gently on the forehead. He pulled away, smiled at me, and left the room. He shut the door when he left.
“You want to tell me why you’re pouting over there in the corner?” I asked Dante.
He stepped away and looked at me. “Because I’m pissed at you, that’s why.” He took a few steps closer to the bed. “But first, what was that all about? What did Santiago do to you?”
I ran my hand through my hair, noticing that someone had taken out my ponytail. My hair felt dry and dirty. “You really want to know?”
“Yes.” He took a seat in the chair Dee had been in.
I stared at him for a minute, debating whether I should tell him. He wouldn’t be happy about it, but he wouldn’t stop pestering me until I told him. “He kissed me.”
He stood so fast his chair slid backward. “He did what?”
“He was just so excited the residents of Scorpion showing up,” I said, waving my hand. Maybe if I played it down, Dante wouldn’t be so mad. Maybe. “I just happened to be the closest female to him. Well, the closest person. I think if it was a guy, he still would have kissed them.”
Dante swore. “That doesn’t excuse it. I told him to keep his hands off you.”
My hands tensed around the blanket draped over me. “What?”
“You know how he is. He says exactly what’s on his mind and sometimes the things he thinks about you aren’t so …” He looked at me, mulling it over in his head. “Appropriate. But I told him to keep it friendly and if he tried anything both Eric and I would kick his butt.” He grabbed his chair and moved it back next to the bed. “When we get Eric back, I’m keeping my promise.”
“Dante,” I said, taking his hand, “beating him up won’t do any good.” Looking down at my fist, I smiled. “Besides, I already punched him for it.”
His eyes went wide, a smile creeping onto his face. “The black eye was from you?”
I nodded. “Yup.”
“Nice job, Em. But I can’t have him thinking he can get away with stuff like that. But he insists you’re free game until you’re married.”
My jaw dropped. “Free game? He said that?”
“Yes. Like you’re an object. Listen, I like the guy and all. He’s a hard worker and an amazing fighter, but he has no tact. He needs to learn how to treat women.”
“Well, you can teach him,” I said, squeezing his hand. “Now, are you going to tell me why you’re mad at me?”
Dante took his hand away from me. “Are you kidding me? You were about to turn yourself over to Steven. I can’t believe you’d do that.”
“He had your father. Our president. Your dad’s dead because of me. If he’d just taken me, your dad would still be alive.”
Dante had said Steven would get his reckoning, but it felt more like I got mine.
Standing, Dante paced the room. It reminded me of his father. “No, Em. This isn’t your fault. It’s Steven’s. He’s the crazy psycho who strapped a freaking bomb to his chest and committed murder and suicide.” He sat down on the bed next to my side and took my hand. “Don’t ever do that again. I don’t think you realize how important you are to this city and everyone in it.” He looked at me, his eyes soft and kind. “How important you are to me. You’re my best friend, Emmie. I’ve already lost so many people in my life. If I lose you, too, I’ll be forced to have Santiago as my best friend. That could cause a lot of damage to me.”
I smiled, the motion causing me to flinch. If Marie had given me any pain medication, it had started to wear off. “I’m sorry, Dante. It was a heat of the moment decision.”
“Like Santiago’s kiss.” Running his hand over his fro, he shook his head. “I can’t believe he did that.” He paused and raised his eyebrows. “How was it?”
“Wet.” I stuck my tongue out, gagging a little. “Kind of like what I’d imagine kissing a fish would be like.”
He laughed. “I’ll spread the word around the city and make sure all the ladies know.” He leaned forward and kissed me on the forehead. “I’m glad you’re okay, Em.”
“Me, too,” I said. “Thinking about it now, the thought of being handed over to Amber is making me nauseous.”
“I’ll never let that happen. You have my word.”
“How are you doing, by the way?”
His face fell. “I don’t know. I haven’t been able to wrap my head around the whole thing. I keep thinking I’m going to see my dad walk through the door and that this was all just some crazy dream.” He squeezed my hand. “What about you?”
“Same. It all seems surreal. I just want everything to go back to normal, but I know it won’t.” A big yawn escaped my mouth.
“You should probably get some rest.” Dante let go of my hand and stood.
I shook my head. “I can’t sleep here. I need my own bed. Will you just take me home?”
“Sure.” He pulled out an IV in my arm, which I hadn’t even noticed was there. “Don’t let Marie know I’m the one who let you loose.”
“I’ll blame it on Santiago.”
Dante smiled. “I like that idea. Do you want me to tell Tina I’ve taken you home?”
“Yes,” I said as he helped me stand. I craned my neck to look up at him. "Seriously, how tall have you grown?"
"A lot." He stood up straight. "I'm over six feet now."
I slapped him on the arm. "Well, it's about time. You look good."
"Thanks. Now I just need to outgrow Santiago."
"Good luck with that," I said. “You know, on second thought, can you have Tina meet me at my house? I need to take a shower and will probably need some help. I can barely stand on my own.”
Dante gave me a playful smile. “I’d make some inappropriate comment right now, but I think you’ve had enough of that kind of stuff for today.”
“Thank you for that,” I said as I rolled my eyes.
Gideon and Bruce showed up later that night. They lost no others on the rest of the trip, which we were all glad to hear. Marie and Dr. Stacey checked everyone out to make sure there was no serious damage. Mostly, everyone was just dehydrated and underfed.
Everyone wanted to let me rest, so no one woke me at the time. I heard they were scrambling to find places for everyone to sleep. We had new residents from both Juniper and Scorpion. The ground outside was still damp from the storm, so we had to squeeze everyone into people's homes, Headquarters, and the infirmary. I'm not sure how, but they made it work.
The next morning, we all went to work digging the graves. We had a lot to dig and we wanted to do it right. We made sure to map it all out, marking where we wanted to put our fallen
warriors. We let any surviving family members pick out the location they wanted for their loved ones. We also made sure to put James right next to Lou.
We let our residents take as many breaks as they needed. It was hard on everyone and we were already tired from the day before. It wasn’t until dusk that we were starting to dig the final graves. The following day we’d put the warriors in and fill the graves back up with dirt. We couldn’t make caskets since there were so many that we lost. Some of our women residents that could stomach it spent the day cleaning up the fallen heroes, so they were more presentable before we buried them.
Halfway during my final dig, a jeep pulled up behind me. I didn't think anything of it until I noticed Tina had stopped digging in the grave right next to me. Resting my hands on the handle of my shovel, I glanced over at her. Tina covered her mouth with her hands, tears falling down her cheeks.
In one swift movement, Tina had hopped out of her hole and ran at someone, throwing her arms and legs around them. I watched them for a moment, trying to figure out who would cause such a rise out of her. Her long red hair covered the person's face, so I climbed out of my hole and walked toward them.
My heart stopped for just a beat when Tina pulled back to kiss the person she was hugging. It was Luke. Part of me wanted to look away since it was such a passionate kiss, but I stared in disbelief. Why was Luke here?
Someone touched my arm, making me jump. I put my hand on my chest and looked to see who it was. Dee's mom stood there.
"Mrs. Jennings," I said when I finally composed myself.
"Hi Emmie," Mrs. Jennings said. She pulled me into a hug and held me tight. I had forgotten how much Dee and her mom were alike. Not only did she have the same brown eyes and curly hair, but she also hugged with sincerity just like Dee did. Mrs. Jennings always gave me a big hug every time I saw her.
As we were hugging, I looked behind her to see Dee's dad and little brother. They both smiled and waved at me. I pulled away from Mrs. Jennings, wiping some tears from my eyes. "Dee is going to be so happy to see you."
"Do you know where she is?" Mr. Jennings asked.
I looked over at him and nodded. "She's at her house watching some children while we work.”
"Emmie," Luke said, walking up next to me. Tina had finally let go but held his hand tightly. She looked at me and laughed, wiping her tears as best as she could. They were still flowing with no sign of slowing down.
I wrapped my arms around Luke, and he wrapped his free arm around me. "I'm so glad to see you, Luke."
"You, too, Emmie," Luke said. We pulled away and he looked at me, the sadness deep in his brown eyes. "Emmie, I'm so sorry. For everything. I should've listened to you."
“Why the sudden change of heart?” I asked. He had been so against our revolution just a few months before.
Luke closed his eyes, a look of pain, or maybe regret, crossing his face. After a moment he sighed and looked at me. “Let’s just say I finally saw the side of President Randall that you saw all along.” His eyes told me he didn’t want to continue the subject. I couldn’t imagine what Whit did to make him completely change his mind and turn his back on River Springs.
I nodded in understanding. "Well, I’m glad you’re here so don't worry about it. Besides, I threw so much at you in a matter of minutes. I'm sure it was a lot to process."
The side of Luke’s mouth turned up into a smile. "That's an understatement." He looked at Tina and then back at me. "We have a lot of catching up to do, but we need to go back to Headquarters."
I glanced over at the Jennings’ who were patiently standing there. "I need to show the Jennings’ where Dee is."
"I can do that," Maya said. I turned around to find her, Santiago, and Dante all watching.
"Thanks, Maya," I said.
As Maya and the Jennings family walked away, Dante came up to Luke, sticking out his hand. "You must be Luke. I'm Dante."
Luke shook his hand. "Nice to meet you. So, I guess these two have been talking about me."
"More than we wanted them to," Santiago said, walking up and sticking out his hand. "Santiago."
"Nice to meet you," Luke said, shaking his hand. He looked at me. "Emmie, we really should get back to Headquarters."
"Is everything okay?" Dante asked.
Luke scratched his head and looked at me. "Uh, yeah, it's just … Emmie, I have some bad news about Austin.”
My momentary elation at seeing Luke and the Jennings family quickly vanished. “What is it?”
“Austin helped all of us escape.” Luke rocked back and forth where he stood, his face telling me he didn’t want to go on. But he did. “When we were getting on the bus, the security came out and started shooting.”
I put my hand over my mouth and closed my eyes, not wanting to hear any more. Dante put his arm around me.
“He didn’t make it?” Santiago asked.
Luke stared at the ground and shook his head. “I’m sorry. I wanted to get his body, but they were still shooting, and the bus driver was already closing the doors so we could leave.”
Tears formed in my eyes, so Dante pulled me into a hug. I couldn’t believe we’d lost another Oliver. How were we going to tell his sister and mother?
“He died a hero, Emmie,” Luke said. “He risked his life so we could get away.”
Dante rubbed my back. “He risked his life so everyone who’s wanted to escape River Springs could get out.”
“Emmie, there’s something else,” Luke said. “I brought Eric back with me."
My world stopped. For a moment I heard nothing around me, not even my own heart beating. I forced myself to look at Luke. "Is he okay?"
"He's alive." Luke looked like he was debating what to tell me. "Emmie, they really hurt him. I'm sure he'll recover from most of it, but you should know he doesn't look good."
"What did they do to him?" Dante asked. His arms had stiffened around me.
Luke hesitated for a minute before he spoke. "He has a broken nose, lost a couple of teeth, broken arm, four broken ribs, and two broken fingers. His face is completely swollen, he has scratches on his face and arms. There’s a long gash on his left cheek that will probably leave a scar. He's dehydrated and famished …"
Dante cut him off. "Let's go. I'm driving." He helped me to the jeep, lifting me into the passenger seat and closing the door. Luke, Tina, and Santiago jumped into the back.
The whole ride to the infirmary passed in a blur. I was so excited to finally have Eric back, but I wasn't sure if I could stomach seeing him like that. Listening to everything they did to him made me want to throw up.
Dante had to snap me back to reality when he pulled up in front of Headquarters. He held onto me as we walked through Headquarters and back into the infirmary. Marie walked out of a room and stopped when she saw me.
“Oh, Emmie,” Marie said. Her eyes were watery. “You should know …”
I held up my hand. “I know. Luke told me. I just want to see him.”
Her eyes sympathetic, Marie nodded slowly and moved to the side so I could walk in. She gently touched my arm as I passed her. I took a deep breath and stepped into the room.
No matter what Luke and Marie could’ve told me, nothing could’ve prepared me for what I saw.
I stopped only a few feet after I walked in and gasped. I barely recognized him. His whole body was covered in bandages, scrapes, and bruises. When I walked up to the bed, I could see how swollen his face was. His nose was bandaged up and he had some stitches on his lip, cheek, and forehead. He had two black eyes and a bandage above his right eyebrow.
Alexander stood at the foot of the bed, his eyes red and puffy from crying. He looked at me and the tears started again. “Emmie, I must apologize. Everything I said earlier, I …” He looked at Eric. “I just wanted my son back.”
I pulled him into a hug. “It’s okay. I understand. But we have him back now and that’s all that matters.”
“Yes, it is.” Alexander pulled away and kissed me
on the forehead. “I’m going to go get some sleep. I’ve hardly slept since they took him.” He glanced at Eric and smiled. “But now I’ll be able to sleep tight knowing I have my boy back. Goodnight, Emmie.”
“Goodnight.” I watched Alexander walk out and then turned back to Eric.
I wanted to kiss him or take his hand or something, but everything sounded like it would hurt him. Instead, I pulled a chair up and sat down. I put my hand over my mouth, the tears flowing down my cheeks.
His left arm was bandaged and in a sling. After a few minutes of crying, I took my finger and gently ran it down his arm to his hand. When I touched his hand, I noticed he was holding onto something. As softly as I could, I opened his hand.
A small laugh escaped my mouth. My butterfly necklace. I took it from his grip and placed it around my neck, the feel of the butterfly against my chest filling me with warmth.
“You can’t just take things from people.” His voice was quiet and raspy, but I could hear the smile.
I looked at his blue eyes that were staring at me, not able to hold back my smile. “I believe it’s mine.”
“Oh, Emmie,” Eric said, tears coming to his eyes, “you have no idea how much I missed you.”
I laughed through my tears. “I’m pretty sure I do. I’ve thought about you every day. I wanted to come save you, but I couldn’t.”
“What happened?” He coughed, a little bit of blood forming at the corner of his lips. I grabbed a tissue from the stand near the bed and wiped his mouth.
“We can talk about that later,” I said, “when you’ve had some time to recover. It’s a long story.”
Eric closed his eyes, grunting a little in pain.
“Did Marie give you anything for the pain?”
He nodded. “She did, but there’s too much broken and bruised to really help.”
“I’m so sorry, Eric. I’m so sorry this happened to you.”
“I’m just glad to be back with you.” He glanced over my face and then looked at my arm. “What happened to you?”
“I had a battle of my own,” I said. He tried to sit up, alarm in his eyes. Gently placing my hand on his shoulder, I pushed him back down. “I’m fine, Eric. New Haven’s fine. We had a small battle and lost some good people, but we won.”
Reckoning (New Haven Book 2) Page 23