“So,” Jessica said, talking as though Chase hadn’t just destroyed the conference table and no one was traumatized. “There’s only one option here.”
“Which—” Hale cleared her throat. “Which is?”
“You support us in destroying Richard and everything he’s created at the Farm, then we dismantle this entire organization and rebuild it from the ground up.”
“What?” Kyger demanded. “What does that have to do with anything? Richard is the problem here—”
“It’s not the only problem,” Elijah jumped in without hesitation. “The culture of silence in this entire community is awful, and it had to have come from the top. So many people went missing or were killed or . . . whatever by Richard and his creepy fucking vampires, and nobody was allowed to ask a question without fear of being iced out and blackballed. And labeled as . . . a defector or a problem.”
“As someone who needed realignment,” Six said. “Which would send them right to the Farm, and right to Richard and Jasper.”
Jessica nodded, unflinchingly staring at both board members. “It’s a cycle that you helped to feed into, and because of that, your roles have to change as well. It’s not just cutting off a couple of dead limbs. The whole tree is rotten because the infection has been spreading this entire time.”
Hale inhaled with a slow nod. “And would we be outcast, then?” A cold smile touched her lips. “You, Jessica Payne, would be in charge?”
“No. God no. But we could have a larger board with a nuanced voice, and then we can make some changes.”
Nothing was said at first, just a bunch of psychics all staring each other down and waiting for one or the other to cave. Six looked impatient with all the waiting, and he’d begun peering at the ceiling as if searching for a camera.
“Fine,” Hale said after a full minute had passed. “You want to take him on? Okay. But it’s going to be solely up to you.”
Elijah rubbed his hands together, seemingly unable to stop fidgeting. “Do you think we should have stayed at the CW?”
Lia shot Elijah an incredulous look. “No way in hell would I ever stay in that building, let alone sleep in it. They could have Richard and his boys on us when we least expect it.”
Six nodded from where he stood by the window. “Same.”
Elijah drooped onto one of the armchairs, and Chase shifted to stand beside him. Holden had unearthed some cash he’d had stowed away in the city, and had sprung for a hotel suite uptown, but everyone was too tense to relax. Holden had gone into the other bedroom with his mother, and everyone else was restless in the extravagant room.
It was the classiest joint Chase had ever set foot in. He’d never been more aware of how much the word uncouth really described him.
“I’m just worried,” Elijah admitted. “And scared.”
“So, you thought we should stay in the enemy’s headquarters?”
Chase shot Six a withering look. “Hey, Terminator. How about you chill the fuck out with the Judgment Day shit? He’s just worried that once we’re out of sight and out of mind, they’ll say fuck the deal and sell us out.”
Trent choked on a laugh and pretended to be really into the television listing card as he sat slumped on the couch. Nate elbowed him.
“It might as well be Judgment Day if we don’t get ourselves together and come up with a plan.” Six didn’t respond to the sarcasm or the Terminator comment. “We should be planning, not resting in separate rooms like we have all the time in the world.”
“Okay, never thought I’d say this, but Chase is right.” Lia rolled her eyes at the words and slid a vape pen out of her pocket. She was the only one among them who didn’t look a total hot fucking mess, so she’d gone to the store to snag supplies. Including cigarettes for Chase, not that he could smoke them in the room. Life would have been easier had he been born in the fifties, when nobody gave a damn about their health. Good health likely wouldn’t matter to him in a few hours, anyway. “Jessica is still recovering from seven years of sedatives and being locked in a room. It takes a lot out of her to be this active. And that standoff at the CW drained her.”
Six seemed to digest this, observing her as she exhaled something that smelled of candy apples. “So, why don’t you come up with a plan that we can present to her?”
Lia raised an eyebrow while taking another long pull from the pen. She propped her leg up on an ottoman and leaned on her knee. “Why me? So I can take the fall when this all goes wrong?”
Trend discreetly nodded, and Nate gave him another glare. Nate combed a hand through his hair and seemed to chew on whatever he wanted to say. Those pale-gray eyes flicked between Six and Lia, to the door joining the two bedrooms, and back again.
“It’s because Jessica trusts you. Implicitly.”
Surprise washed over Lia, which she tried to cover by examining her vaporizer. “She barely knows me.”
“True, but I barely knew Trent when I met him, and somehow I knew I could trust him.” Nate looked painfully awkward while explaining this, like he’d rather be doing anything other than discussing his big fat love for the smart-ass next to him. “Sometimes you can just tell, and you have no doubt. I know it sounds crazy—”
“Babe, I’m in a room full of X-Men,” Trent muttered. “I’ll let you know when something sounds crazy.”
Nate rolled his eyes, but there was no mistaking the dorky fondness in his face. He was so unlike his twin, Theo, that it was a little jarring sometimes. When Chase had first come face-to-face with Nate, he’d expected the same brand of manipulation he’d experienced with Theo. But . . . Nate was earnest and naïve to a fault despite his defensive outer layer. Although, the California air seemed to have chilled him. Or maybe he’d started smoking pot with his boyfriend.
“Anyway,” Nate continued. “I can feel it when you guys are talking, Lia. Jessica trusts you more than any of us for whatever reason. Maybe because you were never in the Community, always doubted it, and yet never fully committed to Ex-Comm. Maybe because you were the calm center in her chaotic escape from the Farm. Or maybe because of some weird fate thing, like with me and Trent. Either way, she’ll listen to you, and we all trust you.”
Six nodded. “Yeah, all that.”
Chase shook his head and instantly regretted it. The pounding in his head seemed to grow with every word spoken, but Jesus. What a bunch of fucking characters. “That’s all well and good, but then what’s the plan?” he asked. “Just saying, last time we went in all hot to trot, my boy got shot, and I’m not really compassionate enough to tend to him twice.”
“You didn’t tend to me the first time,” Elijah said, rolling his eyes, but there was a hint of a smile on his face. “But he’s right. How will this be different than before?”
“Well, for starters,” Six said flatly, “Chase isn’t a basket case this time, and he can blow people up with his brain. Basically, if we use you as bait, we guarantee he gets angry enough to fuck everyone up.”
Everyone stared at Six in horror. Lia patted his shoulder and shook her head.
“All right, let’s think about this. Together.”
Elijah didn’t seem comforted by the conversation, and sunk deeper and deeper into the back cushion with his arms crossed over his chest. The wit and sass that usually exploded out of him in a flurry of hugging and fast talking when around groups of people, was dormant. He huddled there like he was waiting for his number to come up and the Grim Reaper to march him to his doom.
Chase dropped his hand to tickle the back of Elijah’s neck. Elijah looked up, clearly startled. Chase nodded at the door leading to the bedroom they’d later share, and relief danced across Elijah’s wan expression. He stood, hesitated, then glanced at the others.
“I’m going to go lie down for a few before we do this. I can barely think straight, and I still feel like shit from our trek in a blizzard.”
“You should rest,” Lia agreed. “We’re not going anywhere right now. Even if we had a plan, we have no
supplies. There’s a lot to figure out.”
Elijah nodded and began edging to the door.
Lia pointed at Chase. “And take him with you. He’s glaring more than usual, which means he’s either tired or sick.”
Or suddenly getting migraines after a few days of being Master Telekinetic. Maybe his brain really was about to explode.
“I’m fine,” Chase said shortly. “But I may fuck the hell out of him before we all potentially die.”
Elijah hit his arm as he headed to the room, and Chase responded by smacking his ass. They went into the large bedroom, shut the door, and then Elijah collapsed on the bed with a groan. He rolled over into the fetal position and gazed at Chase with big brown eyes.
“I expected Nate to get a little squeamish about the idea of me dicking you out right now.”
Elijah rolled his eyes. “We’re not actually gonna fuck. I just needed time to, like, process all this.”
“What?” Chase walked over to the side of the bed they’d claimed earlier, and held up a small bag from Walgreens. He dangled it obnoxiously in front of Elijah’s face. “I even got supplies.”
“You mean Lia got supplies?” Elijah was trying to make judgmental faces but could not seem to stop his wide mouth from turning up into a smile. “Chase Payne, we’re in the middle of a massive . . . a totally fucking . . . like—”
“A clusterfuck?” Chase kept dangling the bag. “A disaster waiting to happen?”
Elijah wrinkled his nose.
“A comedy of errors or whatever the fuck that phrase even means?”
Elijah kicked out at Chase this time and rolled his eyes when Chase effortlessly caught his foot. “Vete pa’l carajo, puto.”
“Mmm.” Chase knelt on the edge of the bed and kissed his ankle. “I love it when you speak Spanish to me. Tell me to go fuck myself in all the different ways.”
“Save your fetish for the next bitch.” Elijah tried to tug his foot away. “I’m terrified of what’s going to happen in the next twenty-four hours, and all you can think about is your dick?”
Chase bent his head to press a kiss to Elijah’s ankle. The soft touch stilled Elijah and quieted him down.
“What should we be doing if not fucking?” Chase asked, kissing a little higher up. “Doing amp-up speeches? Trying to use our extra special powers to figure out what dear old Dad is doing?”
Elijah nodded vehemently. “For starters, yes. I’m convinced the board has already sold us out, and Richard—”
“They haven’t,” Chase interrupted. “And he doesn’t know where we are yet. I got into their heads while Holden was getting this place, and confirmed that Kyger and Hale are worried about us failing even though they’re also unsure of the agreement they made with Jessica. They don’t want the Community to collapse because Richard is a sociopath, but they also don’t want to give up their roles as top dogs.”
“Okay . . . so what about Richard?”
Chase pulled off one of Elijah’s socks and tossed it to the side. “My telepathy is still on the fritz, and a lot of it was garbled frustrated ranting about killing me, you, and Holden, but he definitely didn’t know where we are.”
“Yet.”
“Yeah. Yet. Or never if we go to him first.”
Elijah lapsed into silence, watching Chase take his socks and shoes off. It was only when Chase went for his pants did he scoot away. “It’s not a good time, Chase. And it’s pretty discouraging that you won’t take this seriously.”
“Take it seriously?” Chase scoffed and watched as Elijah curled in on himself again, trying to hide from the Big Bad in the world as if making himself small would help. “Dude, what the fuck do you think we should be doing right now? Giving motivational talks or working out to a musical montage? This is going to be a shit plan regardless of what we do. We went to the board so they’d give us some manpower, and it looks like they’d rather pretend to not be involved just in case we fail.”
“Stop talking about failing!”
Chase bit back another sarcastic comment and kept his voice level. “Elijah . . . there are eight of us and a whole lot of them. With guns and whatever kind of freak psychics they’re stowing away in their arsenal. There’s no way we can plan for that in a way that’s gonna make you fucking feel better.”
Elijah flipped onto his back. “That’s really helpful, Chase.”
Chase ran his tongue over his teeth, rolled his eyes up at the ceiling, and then straddled Elijah. “You want me to baby you or be honest?”
“Dumb question.”
“All right, then don’t get uptight when I tell you the reality, sugar tits.” Chase braced his hands on either side of Elijah’s head and leaned down. “You knew you were taking a risk when you started asking questions about where I was. So did Nate when he came to the Farm to get me.”
“Yeah, and it worked. We found you.” Elijah’s eyes opened a fraction, mostly hidden by long fluttering eyelashes. “So now . . .”
Chase arched a brow.
“Now maybe we should just run,” Elijah blurted. “Like Nate and Trent did. Leave the state, start over, and disappear. Don’t worry about anything but each other.”
Chase straightened, watching Elijah from narrowed eyes. “Are you serious?”
Elijah pushed himself up on his elbows, desperation sending his words rushing out of him. “We could go to somewhere random. Somewhere people would never expect. We could go back to Wisconsin. Even after everything that happened, I think my family would help us. They could hide us. Help us blend— Well, you could try to blend in. They don’t accept me being gay, but I don’t believe they’d hurt me. I mean, maybe. I don’t—”
Chase pressed a finger to Elijah’s lips, hushing him. “You need to stop.”
“But—”
“No, I’m serious. Shut the fuck up.” Chase exhaled slowly, trying to reorder the confusing mix of thoughts and reactions rioting for attention in his already pounding head. “Look, if you wanna go to Wisconsin and chance it, I get it, but to be honest, you should just write those people off for the rest of your life. We all have some fucked-up families, and there’s nothing in the world that should ever send any of us scraping back to them.”
Elijah tried to speak again, and Chase pressed his finger down harder.
“Just let me talk, man. I’m being serious here.” Chase planted his hands against the mattress, fingers pushing into the comforter, and leaned down so their faces were once again close together. “Do I want to grab you and bail? Maybe go to Cali with Nate and his man, and learn how to find some chill? Fuck yeah. I want to blow all this off, but I especially want to keep your ass safe. You mean more to me than anyone else, if you haven’t figured that out yet with the staggering hint of my goddamn telekinesis only activating when you’re in distress.”
Elijah’s brows shot up. “I knew, but I still keep expecting you to deny it or take back the fact that you told me you loved me.”
“Yeah, well, I’m a little done with pretending. Like I said, we have a shit plan and we’re going into a dangerous situation. If I’m going to be real with you, now’s the time.”
“It is the time.” Elijah swallowed so hard his throat bobbed, making a clicking sound. “So then why can’t we just . . .”
“Because at the end of the day, I still think the Community is worth saving. Parts of it, anyway. I think the people on the Farm need to be rescued, and they won’t be without us because Kyger and Hale aren’t willing to risk their own selves by going up against Richard.” Anger rushed through Chase at the thought, and a flash of something in his mind: Jessica and Hale facing off, raised voices, and a lingering whisper that sounded a lot like You lied. It could mean nothing or anything, but it was far enough in the future to imply at least Jessica had made it out. “And I’d hate myself if I let my brother go in alone. Either of them. And you’d hate yourself if anything happened to Lia or Holden.” When Elijah opened his mouth to speak, Chase pressed their lips together in a brief kiss. “It’s
okay. You don’t have to explain your feelings about him.”
“Why? Because you’re still telling yourself I love him and not you, and you think I was lying when I said it wasn’t true?”
Chase nearly said yes, because it was what he’d been telling himself for years, but it no longer rang true. “I don’t think you’re lying.”
“Then why does it keep coming up?”
“Because . . .” Chase glanced at the door. “When we were in Rook’s truck, you said his name in your sleep, and it fucking reminded me of all those times you used to wake up after having some sex dream about him right before jumping on me.”
Elijah blanched. “You thought . . . Chase, it was probably a vision. About us finding the house where they were. I told you before, on that first day on the Farm, that what I thought I felt for Holden was some . . . immature puppy love. Infatuation. Because I thought he had saved me, and I was beholden to him. Like a kid with a crush on an upperclassman who used to tutor them.”
“Oh, so now he’s your senpai?”
Elijah scowled. “Chase. Can you acknowledge what I’m saying?”
“I am. And yeah, that makes sense now.” Chase groaned and thudded their foreheads together. “Dude, it wasn’t rational. Nothing was rational. Do you know how long I’ve been bitter and angry about you and him? Knowing you worshipped him even though I was the one—” Chase cut himself off, because it didn’t matter what he’d done for Elijah. The last thing he ever wanted was for Elijah to have been beholden to him.
“No, I didn’t know anything,” Elijah snapped. “Because you never mentioned it. In fact, you just teased me about fucking other people and made it sound like you didn’t care what I did one way or the other.”
“Because I didn’t know how to deal with wanting you. And . . . I didn’t want to make it obvious that I had feelings at all, let alone hurt ones,” Chase said dryly. “The point is, I don’t believe it anymore. If you didn’t love me, you wouldn’t have just begged me to run off with you to live like cowards in Wisconsin.”
A laugh popped out of Elijah’s mouth, and his eyes crinkled at the sides. “Leave it to you to make me laugh at a stupid time like this.”
Sightlines Page 19