30. Elliot
Elliot
Julian bandaged me up. He said I lost a lot of blood. I was out for the first two days, and when I woke up it felt like I had been hit by a truck. Luckily, I have a great nurse, and I don’t mean Julian.
Lee only truly started grieving once we got home and she was sure that I would live.
At the warehouse, she was bloodstained fury. Her sister would be proud.
Since we’ve been home, we’ve been recovering.
Lee wakes up from my side, where she was napping on the couch.
“Hey, babydoll,” Julian says when he sees her stretch.
She exhales. Even with her nap, she’s still tired.
“Come on, Lee. Want me to run you a bath?” I ask. I’m not even making a proposition, as much as I want to be. She’s forgiven me for far more than I deserve. Still, I grovel and remind her daily I would do anything to be hers.
She nods, and Julian scoops her up and we go down to the master. I follow them. I’m unsteady but getting stronger each day.
In our room, Lee stands there while we undress her piece by piece, silent and distant like she’s floating somewhere outside her own body. Her lip trembles once when I slide her shirt over her head. I pretend not to notice.
The warm water starts running, and steam curls through the bathroom while Julian helps her step into the tub. I climb in behind her a second later, shucking my clothes because I don’t trust her not to collapse.
I ignore the doctor when he tells me not to get the dressing on my shoulder wet. Turns out I’m right about Lee. The second the hot water touches her feet, her knees buckle. I catch her against my chest and lower her down to sit between my legs.
“Hey, baby. We have you,” I say, tightening my arms around her.
Her breath breaks into that shaky inhale people make right before they completely lose control.
“You’re safe.”
“We love you,” Julian says.
He tosses his clothes on the floor and slides in front of her. This is a big-ass tub, but we are both tall. I don’t even care that his legs are touching mine when Lee needs us. He cups her face while I hold her against my chest.
“Breathe for me, babydoll.”
A sob tears out of her so violently her whole body folds forward.
I close my eyes and press my forehead against the back of her neck while she cries. Years of grief rip out of her all at once. Emily. The kids. The drugs. Us. Everything.
Julian looks up at me over her shoulder, and I see something wrecked in his expression too. No words pass between us. None are needed. We almost lost each other. So we hold her tighter.
By the time the crying stops, her voice is raw. We dry her carefully.
Julian pulls one of his soft black shirts over her head while I sit with her on the edge of the bed and rub warmth back into her freezing hands.
I want her to be fierce and unbreakable when she needs to be. But with Julian and I, she can be whatever version of herself she needs to be. I love all of them.
Julian gets into bed first. Lee curls instinctively toward him, exhausted.
I slide in behind her and pull her back against my chest, wrapping one arm across her stomach. The second I touch her, she exhales.
Damp hair presses against my chin, and I stare into the dark long after both of them fall asleep.
The next morning, she wakes up before us. I find her standing barefoot in the kitchen, wearing Julian’s shirt, holding a coffee mug in both hands while pale morning light spills across the lake behind her.
“I want to go see Emily,” she says softly when she notices me.
So we take her.
The cemetery is empty. Wind rattles through dead leaves while clouds roll low overhead.
Lee walks ahead of us in a long black coat, white lilies clutched in one hand. I stay close enough to reach her if she falls apart again.
Julian hangs back slightly, giving her room. She kneels in front of Emily’s headstone slowly and brushes the leaves away with careful fingers.
“I did it, Em,” she says. Her voice is steady. “Fuller’s dead. The files are out. People know what they did to you.”
I look away for a second because something in my chest twists so hard I can barely breathe. She stays there for a while.
Her blond hair blows in the wind, and Julian and I stay with her.
Lee sits cross-legged, playing with the flowers in her hand, and she tells Emily about us. That it’s weird, but she loves us both.
“Julian is this strong, reliable person. He loves me fiercely. He almost gave himself up for me so I could have my freedom. It would have killed me to be away from him. Val fixed it. You would have liked her. She grew up isolated and trained to fight, so sometimes she talks like she’s from another time period.
But she loves her sister, and she has a bo staff.
” She smiles. “It’s even cooler than Calum’s ninja stars, but don’t tell him or he will try to outdo her and poke his eye out or something.
He has babies now, so I try not to let him go too far off the rails. ”
I crouch and sit by her side.
She reaches out to hold my hand. Julian moves closer but stays standing, continuing to look for any threat. It’s been weeks, but I don’t know if either of us will ever let her out of our sight again. And with my bum arm and shoulder, I appreciate it more than he could know.
“And this is Elliot. I’ve told you about him too. The annoying partner, turned fuck buddy, turned investigator who was looking into my crimes, turned to love of my life.”
She is so incredible. I lean and press my lips to her cheek.
“Emily, she forgot incredibly handsome and with hacking skills that could rival her own.”
Her jaw drops, and she stares at me. “He’s humble too.” She rolls her eyes but gives me a kiss on the lips.
We stay until it turns dark. The cold settles in, and we stand when it’s time to leave.
“Bye, Em. I love you,” Lee says while pressing a kiss to her lips and then to the headstone.
Then she turns and walks straight into me. I catch her automatically. Her arms slide around my waist beneath my coat, and I hold her so tight I can feel her heartbeat against my ribs.
Julian steps in behind her a second later, wrapping himself around both of us. That’s become our thing somehow. Lee is in the middle while me and Julian close ranks around her. She’s the center of everything.
“I miss her,” Lee whispers.
I shut my eyes briefly. “I know, kid.”
Her fingers knot tighter in my jacket.
“We can come visit whenever you would like,” Julian says in her hair.
Back at the lake house, Julian gets the fire going.
Jasper has stolen the entire couch like the freeloader he is. Lee ends up curled between Julian and me on the love seat beneath a blanket, her legs tossed across my lap while Julian strokes slow fingers through her hair and we watch a movie.
Eventually, she speaks.
“I shut it all down.”
Julian’s hand stills.
“The dark web contacts,” she continues quietly. “The off-books jobs. Riley wiped everything last night.”
I study her face carefully.
“You sure?”
She nods once. “Emily got justice. Fuller’s gone. I don’t want to live in the dark anymore if it costs me…” Her voice catches briefly. “This. What we have.” She looks at her stomach. “What I hope for us to one day have.”
Julian kisses the top of her head.
“I’m not sure what’s next for me...” She says looking up at Julian, then her eyes cut to mine. “I love you. Both of you.”
Jesus Christ. I look down immediately because I can’t let her see what that does to me. After everything that happened, I still don’t fully understand how she can look at me with love instead of hatred. But she keeps choosing me anyway.
Julian answers first, voice rough and low. “We love you, too, babydoll.”
I clear my throat and squeeze her calf gently where it rests across my legs.
“Nothing between us was ever fake. I fell in love with you the moment you yelled at me in your office.”
Her lip wobbles, and she nods, afraid to say anything that might make her cry again.
“I love you and my brother husband too,” I add.
Julian laughs.
“There is no husband. We aren't even married.”
“We need to remedy that,” Julian mumbles.
I’ve already shown him a ring design, and we are working on the proposal.
I’ve never done anything like this. Being in a poly relationship is new, and we still have things to figure out.
Mainly, whose last name she’s going to take.
But I would do it all over again if it meant she was by my side for the rest of my life here on Earth.
Then Lee’s phone buzzes.
The shift in her expression happens instantly after she reads the message. I feel it before she even speaks. That sharpness returning behind her eyes. That dangerous little spark. Julian notices too. His arm tightens around her shoulders.
“What is it?” I ask quietly.
Lee stares at the screen for a long moment before setting the phone face down against her stomach. Then she leans back against Julian’s chest and keeps hold of my hand.
“Maybe,” she says softly, “I’m not done.”
I’m with her no matter what.