Chapter 39
Trey
“Well isn’t this adorable.”
I open one eye. Zoe is standing in the doorway of the living room with her arms crossed and a grin that says she’s been there long enough to take a mental picture.
We’re on the mattresses. All of us. Nova is somewhere in the middle, which is where she always ends up regardless of where she starts.
I’m not entirely sure how that happens.
Rane is wrapped around her like a vine. Locke is on the outside closest to the door because even in his sleep he’s standing guard. Kyron hasn’t moved — he sleeps like the dead.
Honestly it’s a little disturbing.
Vaelor’s arm is draped across someone’s leg and I’m pretty sure it’s mine. Beckett is curled at the far edge with his back to the room but his hand is stretched toward Nova’s, their fingers barely touching.
I’m on the floor next to the mattress because I rolled off at some point and didn’t bother getting back on.
Someone throws a pillow at Zoe. I think it’s Rane. He doesn’t open his eyes to do it.
“Nova,” Zoe says, dodging the pillow without effort. “You’re going to be late to your own meeting.”
“Meeting?” Nova’s voice is muffled. Buried in someone’s chest.
She lies there with her eyes closed for about three more seconds.
Then she gasps and sits up so fast she elbows Rane in the ribs. “Meeting! Shit!”
Zoe laughs.
Suddenly everyone is trying to get up at once. Locke nearly steps on Kyron. Vaelor trips over a blanket. Beckett stands up too fast and grabs the wall. Rane is still on the mattress holding his ribs and making a sound like a wounded animal.
“Don’t bother, guys.”
Everyone stops.
Zoe is leaning against the doorframe looking entirely too composed for someone who arrived last night after a week on the road.
“What?” Locke says.
“Change of plans. Apparently everyone wants to hear what’s going on.” She glances at Vaelor. “The whole town is in the community hall. Including your grandmother.”
“Fucking fantastic,” Rane says from the mattress.
“My guys are outside. We’ll wait for you to, uh…” She looks at all of us. At the destroyed mattresses. At Nova’s hair. At Rane’s bare chest. At the general state of everything. “Get ready.”
She disappears through the front door. I can hear her laughing on the porch.
Everyone scrambles. Locke is pulling on a shirt while heading for the stairs. Kyron is looking for his rings. Vaelor is already in the kitchen because I think his body defaults to kitchen in any crisis. Beckett is trying to find pants that aren’t covered in drywall dust.
Nova is standing in the middle of the living room in Rane’s button-down from last night and nothing else, looking like she’s about to have a full breakdown.
“I don’t have anything to—”
“I got you.” I grab the pile of clothes from behind the couch where I stashed them yesterday. Hand them to her. “Got these from Lena. She said she’s sick of seeing you in clothes three sizes too big.”
Nova looks at the pile. Looks at me.
“When did you—”
“Yesterday. Before the party.”
“Trey.”
“It’s just clothes.”
“It’s not just clothes.”
She steps forward and kisses me. Soft at first. Then her hand is on my chest and mine are on her waist and they slide lower than they should because she’s standing here in nothing but Rane’s shirt and I’ve been holding myself together for too long and my hands have their own ideas about what happens next.
She makes a sound against my mouth that almost ruins me.
I force myself to pull back. Barely.
“Nova, if you don’t get dressed in the next two minutes, Zoe is going to come back in here and she’s only going to get worse.”
She grins as she takes the clothes and bolts upstairs.
I look around the living room. Destroyed mattresses. Pillows everywhere. Someone’s sock hanging from the fireplace mantle.
We’re a mess. But we’re a functioning mess. And in about ten minutes we’re going to walk into a community hall full of people who want to know what happens next.
Hell, I don’t know what happens next.
But I know we’re walking in together. All of us.
We probably won’t fuck it up.