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Fuck. I clasp his hand, hold on, ’cuz it feels like I’m caught in an eddy of emotions I don’t understand. I know I’m grateful. Happy. Touched. So fucking scared to trust in it I have no words.
Then Manon is tugging me toward her car, and I let her, follow her blindly. My lungs feel crushed. My ribs ache. The familiar pressure is back. Feels like my heart will give out.
Means the world to me, that they’re standing by my side, even if Zane and Rafe kicked me out. Because my record isn’t going away, and they’ve every right to be damn angry with me. The fact that they came after me, made sure I’m okay, is more than I could ever hope for.
Finding Manon with me is more than I could ever dream.
I’ll take that. I’ll goddamn take it and be thankful. Broken bones and dislocated shoulders are sure worth it. Small price to pay for finding out I’m not alone—no, not just that, but that my cousin, my best friend, and my girl are on my side.
Dammit, fate. Did you plan all this? You’re damn good. I can’t ask for more—because it’s already more than I’ve ever had. More than I’ve ever imagined having.
***
The question of where I’m crashing tonight never comes up. We park outside Manon’s apartment and we all file inside.
Looks like everyone knows about my eviction from my apartment. Also where we were heading since we left the hospital.
We all cram inside Manon’s apartment, and I’m settled on the sofa. Nobody seems about to leave, and I don’t know what’s going on. Zane is on the phone, while Jesse, Micah and Rafe are talking quietly in a corner. Ev is doing something in the kitchen together with Manon.
So fucking weird.
Then it gets weirder, because the doorbell rings, and more people arrive. Asher and Dylan, Ocean and Tyler, Dakota and Tessa. The whole gang is here.
What the fuck?
“What’s going on?” I ask when Tyler sits down beside me, and Asher on the other side of me. “What’s this? Am I under arrest or something?”
Tyler elbows me in the ribs. “Relax, buddy. First of all, we’re checking on you, making sure you’re okay. When one of our family is hurt, we show up. Suck it up and be quiet.”
I gape at him, and he smirks. “You know my—”
“Your record. Yeah, heard everything.” He waves a hand back and forth dismissively. “Drug possession. When you were seventeen. And trafficking. Got it.”
I’m still gaping at him. “But Zane—”
“Zane lost it because you never told him. He has a thing about that. He fucking hates it when we don’t talk to him about our problems. He’s such a mother-hen.”
Okay. I’ve landed in a Fringe episode. Alternative reality. Has to be.
“But he…” I try again, trying to wrap my mind around this. “He sent me away. You were there. I don’t—”
“Z-man sent you home,” Asher says from my other side. He looks dead serious. “Until he could sort things out, find out more about this. He didn’t send you away. Zane would never do that to you.”
“That’s right,” Zane says, and fuck, when did he cross the room to stand right in front of me? I’m getting whiplash with these guys. “Now listen to me, fucker. Don’t spring things like that on me. I’m getting gray hair with this shit. You’re family, and I’m behind you all the way, no matter if you made mistakes in your past or not. I’d never have sent you away without looking into this. I trust you. As long as you trust me, too, and don’t hide things from me.”
“We are looking into this,” Tyler says, and Jesus, I have no clue what they’re talking about.
“Looking into what?” I glance from one to the other, mystified. My shoulder is throbbing dully, there’s a hum inside my skull. “What’s going on?”
Zane turns toward the corner where Rafe’s standing, talking on his cell phone. “We got into contact with the jail where your mom’s held. Talked to her lawyer. It seems there might be a new development.”
In what? I want to ask. What the hell are they doing? But I notice that everyone’s now looking at Rafe, who’s gesturing as he turns his back to us, saying something, then nodding.
I’m distantly aware of Asher and Tyler getting up, approaching Rafe. They’re forming a circle around him. I’m left outside.
Manon sits down beside me, takes my good hand. “Hey, you.”
“Hey.” Her touch grounds me. Like a lifeline, it tethers me, embraces me. “Any idea what they’re doing? Who is Rafe talking to? Is…” The words catch in my mouth. “Is my mom okay?”
