Hero Types

Chapter 29

"Hey."
    Lucas looked up. She sat down on the couch beside him. Her hair was wet from the shower. She was relieved not to smell like hospital anymore.
    She had gotten out a few hours ago. Mickey was still asleep, but they'd taken him to her house. He hadn't had a single medical record. As a matter of fact, he hadn't had any records at all. They would all be under false names. Lucas promised her that he had sufficiently lied himself through legal issues and he would be fine, but she didn't care. He was alive. She'd done her job.
    She had viewed the issue, over the course of the long day, as if from a distance. With cold removal.
    It was easier that way.
    "How're you doing?" she asked. He shrugged. There was a wine bottle on the table and a glass in his hand. He took a sip.
    "Been better."
    "Yeah."
    She wondered if it was worse for him. He didn't even know if Amanda was alive. There was also the confusing part, where he probably wasn't sure which way he would have preferred it.
    "So...you and Mickey."
    "Me...and Mickey," she agreed, sighing. "Yeah. Pretty much."
    "I mean...I had my suspicions. The carpooling was getting a little out of hand," he added with a weak smile. "But I thought I'd mind my own business."
    "I don't know why I didn't tell anyone," she said. "I guess...I don't know. Maybe I never trusted him as much as I wanted to. I think I was afraid that you guys would...would tell me..."
    "I know." They sat in silence. Jersey and Mickey were on sheets in the loft, and Mardie, Benji, and Howe were in the living room. They were laying together on the carpet in front of the TV and Benji was curled up in the lounger. Lucas had been afraid that they would be targeted if they were alone. Gran had been more than welcoming.
    Kit hadn't told her what had happened. Not, at least, the whole story.
    "If it makes you feel any better," Lucas said, "I didn't see it coming either."
    She watched the streetlights reflected on the black screen. She shook her head. "...Why did I go back for him?" She turned to him. "I want to hate him. I want to be angry, but I'm just..." she swallowed. "I don't know."
    Lucas was quiet for a minute. He took another drink and said, "You went back for him because you're a good person. You're a hero. It's what you do."
    She thought about that. A siren wailed below. For all she knew, it was another one on the way to the fire. She turned to him.
    "Do you think he would have gone back for me?" She brushed her hair out of her eyes. "If...if it was the other way around?"
    He seemed to consider this. He pursed his lips and gave a single nod. "Yeah. I think he would. I'm not—I'm not excusing him. People make mistakes. He made lots of them. I'm not telling you that what he did is okay, but it's just a fact that I think he's...not a bad person. Just one who makes a lot of bad decisions."
    She rubbed her bare toes. Her skin was peeling along her arms and on her cheeks. She'd snipped off charred pieces of hair before her shower. Lucas's face was red, and Jersey had a black eye and what may have been a broken toe. They were all damaged and healing.
    "I do think," Lucas said, "that—that if the roles were reversed...and for whatever reason he went back for you...it probably would have been his fault that you ended up there. If that makes sense—"
    "Yeah. Yeah, it does." It was a pretty accurate description. They sat in silence for a while. Kit didn't sense time passing as it normally did. She was lost deep in that realm between thought and fear of overthinking.
    Lucas got up and went to the kitchen. He returned with a glass, which he filled and handed to her.
    "Pretend I didn't do this."
    She'd tried alcohol before, on a forced dare or at a family reunion, and she took a long drink. They both sighed.
    "Villains."
    She smiled. "Why do they have to be so damn sexy?"
    They touched their glasses together and drank in silence.