Chapter 14 - Gage
The four of us are in the Boltons’ kitchen, dressed in dark suits.
A room that is filled with memories of all the times we spent here, stealing bites of food, being swatted away by Atlas’s mom, and then helping do the dishes after family dinner nights.
Even with the crowd of people here, it feels so empty without her sweet smile, Mr. Bolton’s booming laugh, and Atlas’s huge presence.
I still can’t wrap my head around such an amazing family being gone, leaving behind one broken girl.
Mrs. Cowen, Luna’s grandmother, has taken Luna away to put her to bed.
She’s been a shell of herself since the night in the hospital when the doctor told us they were gone, barely functional, and she hasn’t said more than a few words since.
The funeral a few hours ago was beautiful and brutal all at the same time.
Mrs. Cowen organized all of it and decided to have all three at once to spare Luna from having to do it multiple times.
I don’t think she was even aware of most of it.
The service was packed. It was standing room only, and it was overwhelming to see how many people gave tributes to my adopted family.
You really don’t know how a person truly touches a community until something like this happens.
My fingers clutch tighter around the glass of Crown Royal that I’ve been trying to sip, resisting the urge to gulp it down to ease the pain.
I lift my eyes to Torrin, Julian, and Reid, and then automatically move to look for the other two missing men who have made up our friend group for so long.
I know Atlas is gone now forever but Mars not being here makes no fucking sense.
I grit my teeth as anger flares hard and fast.
“Any of you talk to Mars?”
Three scowls are my only answer until Torrin spits out, “Most of his stuff was missing from the house when I finally got back there from the hospital. He’s gone.”
I don’t know where that motherfucker is, but when I find him, his face is going to wish I hadn’t.
I don’t get how he’s not here. The Boltons and Atlas were just as important to him as they were to the rest of us.
None of us have seen him since he ran away from the hospital.
I just want five minutes with the fucker to set him straight.
The only good thing is that Luna’s so out of it, I don’t think she’s even aware that he’s been missing.
“What are we going to do?” Reid asks in a quiet, sad tone.
He looks like a kicked puppy. Kara, his twin sister, comes over and slides an arm around his waist. Her icy blond demeanor is in place as usual, but I can see the pain in her amber eyes that are a perfect match to her brother’s.
Kara is extremely protective of Reid and is always trying to shield him from the shit-stain parents they were cursed with.
She flew home from her fancy University for the funeral, having also been touched by the grace of this family.
“We do what Atlas can’t,” she tells us. “We take care of his little sister.”
All of us nod in agreement. It’s not even up for discussion.
We all have a bond with Luna, having been in her life since she was sixteen.
Luna’s only nineteen now and there’s no way we’ll let her try and figure this out on her own.
She’s special to all of us. She’s special to me, probably more than she should be as my best friend’s little sister.
I push those thoughts aside. All that matters now is taking care of her, making sure she’s okay.
Julien drains the whiskey in his glass and sets it sharply down on the marble counter with a snap. His shrewd blue eyes are hard and determined when he looks us all over.
“She’s never left alone. One of us will always be here, no matter what. No matter what shit we’ve got going on, she comes first.” He spears us with a challenging look, as if any of us would have disagreed. “Is that clear? Do we have an agreement?”
“Agreed,” I confirm.
Reid and Torrin do the same, and we make the pact that Luna will always come first for us.
It might be to honor Atlas and his parents for the others, but I know for me, it’s that and…
more. Luna was always going to be endgame for me.
I was just giving her time to grow older, experience life before I made my feelings known to her.
I’ve been in love with that girl since she was sixteen years old and I was eighteen.
I’ll wait however long I need to until she’s ready because, yeah, she’ll always come first for me.