Chapter Seventeen #2
Yet here we were. Hiding outside the house, making out, and cursing the fact that we couldn’t sneak away in private to possibly give in to our every desire.
First date or not, I’d known him forever.
I’d wanted him even longer. And the way he looked at me, even with my sensing out of commission, I could get lost in his lust.
Maybe he was right. It was now or never to give in. And God, I wanted to.
Kevin and I behaved appropriately and spent the night in separate rooms. Partly because it was the right thing to do, and partly because I felt like I was coming down with something. My body was achy, and I didn’t think I would have the energy to enjoy any fun I could have had with Kevin.
At one point, I felt like my legs were going to collapse from under me. Though I supposed that could have been from the kiss. But then, oddly enough, when I woke up in the morning, everything felt back to normal. It was as if my body had been given a reset overnight.
I lay there for a moment, wondering if my mind had been playing tricks on me.
Was I exaggerating a little soreness into something more?
Eh. Maybe it was just the stress catching up with me.
I looked at the clock, trying to decide whether I really had to get up.
But it was already late morning, so I had no choice.
I took a long shower and knew it was time to face the crew.
I wanted to avoid any and all interaction, but my stomach rumbled and I couldn’t ignore it anymore.
I knew they’d all be staring and possibly asking a million questions that I just wanted to keep to myself.
Last night had been mine and Kevin’s. Was it bad I didn’t want to share it?
Even if we were maybe a little too loud?
We’d tried to keep it quiet, but I knew damn well we’d failed miserably.
Things had definitely gotten a little heated, so I could only hope no one had looked out the window. Putting on a brave face, I went downstairs to find Annie waiting for me at the table.
“Good morning. I have coffee and pancakes for you. Sit down.”
I could feel the blush taking over my face. “Hey, Annie.”
“Don’t ‘hey, Annie’ me! How did it go?” she asked, leaning forward, clearly unable to contain her curiosity.
“Wait! Wait for me,” Anali said, running to join us. “I need to hear this, too.”
“Okay, so tell us!” Annie nudged me.
“It was great. Very different and familiar at the same time. There’s comfort and new nervousness all in one.”
She nodded, grinning. “Well, it was about damn time you two crazy kids took a chance. You belong together. You always have.”
“Not that you’re biased or anything.”
She shook her head. “Never that, no.”
“Did you kiss?” Anali asked.
I almost spit out my coffee. “Hey! We’re not in high school!”
“Why are you so red, then?” she teased.
“No, Anali. We’re not silly girls giggling in the schoolyard,” Annie told her in a stern voice. “But I’ll have you know those two were going at it outside.”
“Annie! Stop!” I said, laughing.
She reached out and held my hand. “Seriously, Ryan. We’re happy for you.”
“We really are,” Anali said, smiling.
Kevin and Nick came in through the back door, laughing. But as Kevin and I locked eyes, he stopped mid-step and almost fell. “Hey.”
Nick looked at Kevin, then at me, and shook his head. “It’s time to pack up. Gabby got us a few apartments and we’re all set to move in today.”
“A few apartments? We’re not staying together?” Annie asked.
“Dr. Ryder will stay with Gabby and Chris, and we got three apartments in the same building. So we won’t be completely separated, but we’ll all have privacy.”
“The twins can stay in one. Ryan, you can stay with the Logans in another,” Kevin said. “And Jay and I can take the third apartment.”
Jay, who was right behind them, said, “Or I’ll stay with either of the other two groups and you two can go play house together.”
Nick cleared his throat. “We can decide on the arrangements during our drive. It will be a couple of hours to get to Chris. Let’s just get everything packed up and get out of here.”
That night, we hammered out the plan to go and save our friends.
But only them. We went back and forth trying to figure out how many Luminaries we could save, but the reality hit hard: we had to stick to our group alone.
We didn’t really have the space or resources to save everyone.
Not yet. Of course, if things worked out in our favor and the opportunity presented itself, we wouldn’t hesitate to free others.
The first step was getting our own team back together.
After that, we’d be ready to take on Park head-on.
Relying on what Robert had told Chris, we figured out a few likely places where they could be keeping the Luminaries.
Park seemed to have a thing for New York, and two of the locations were there, with the other over in Connecticut.
All were within driving range for us to do some low-key scouting.
We didn’t have all the pieces of the puzzle yet, but we were set on figuring out exactly where they were before making any bold moves.
“Maybe Nick and Antonio can cover two of the spots by getting jobs there. What do you guys think?” I asked.
Anali looked at me. “Why my brother?”
“Just in case they still have our faces on their walls or something,” I said. “It may have been years, but you, me, Kevin, and Jay can’t try to get jobs with them.”
Luckily, there had been no record of Nick being seen with either Kevin or Jay way back when, so he was free to join the scout team.
“I can go to the other location,” Annie said.
“No.” Nick shook his head. “No way. You stay with Jack, Annie. He needs his mother.”
“By that logic, he needs his father, too.”
“We’re not going to endanger both his parents, and that’s that.”
Annie opened her mouth, ready to fire back, but she changed her mind. Instead, she abruptly stood up and left the room. That troubled me because it was so out of character for the Annie I knew. I followed her to the bedroom and found her sitting, looking at Jack, who was sleeping on the bed.
“You okay?”
“I’m fine. I’m just mad that he’s right.” She looked at me. “But we need one more person, and there’s no reason I shouldn’t go. We need the intel. When we actually go and do the rescue, it will be more dangerous, and what then? You know I’ll be there.”
“Umm, I do see your point.”
“But?”
“But Nick is already struggling with the danger Jack could be exposed to—well, the danger all of us are facing. He’ll focus better if he knows the baby is safe with you.
If we can’t find another way, I’ll support you joining them, I promise.
” Sitting next to her, I placed my hand on hers and gave it a slight squeeze.
“But until we’ve exhausted all options, I have to side with him. ”
“It’s all so silly.” She shook her head. “Jack will be with you and Kevin. He’ll be as safe as if he was with us, but fine. I’ll wait it out.”
“Come on, let’s go back out there to make sure they don’t make other plans that we don’t agree with.”
Annie reacted with panic. Her eyes widened so fast that it was almost comical.
“Yeah, let’s do that.” She stood and pulled me along with her. “God knows we can’t trust these guys to make all the right calls.”