44. 44 – Alyss – six months later
44 – Alyss – six months later
B uck plays with the token as he sips his soda.
I prod his foot with mine, asking with my eyes if he’s okay.
We’re sitting in the bar where Hatter and I first met, eighteen months ago. He nods before he glances around, grimacing. “This is a terrible bar, though.”
The bartender shoots him a filthy look.
“It is,” Hatter agrees. “But I wanted to see it again.”
Kayden places a round on the table. “The beer here is flat.”
Buck wiggles his soda. “I highly recommend the lemonade.”
Beside me, Chess presses his lips against my shoulder before he looks over to Hatter. “You doing okay?”
“Yeah.” He half-smiles. “I’m glad I found them.”
It took him a few months, but he finally found the place where Myra and Erin were buried.
And as I set my flowers down an hour ago, my hand wrapped around his, I made them a promise.
I’m going to take care of him.
Hatter looks over to me. He does that, sometimes. Looks at me as if he can’t believe that I’m real. That he’s here, free of Red and her schemes.
And sometimes, he looks at me with an apology in his eyes that I don’t need.
Hatter didn’t kill my brother. Red did.
And he made his own choices. Something I’ve had to make my peace with.
Aiden calls over to Buck, waving a pool cue. Leaning back in my chair, I glance around with a smile.
It feels different here now.
Now I have my home back.
I have my family back. All of us, together.
I wonder if Adam would be proud. Something tells me he would be.
Because I’m proud of me.