Graceful Deception

15. If I Agreed With You, We'd Both Be Wrong

Chapter 15

If I Agreed With You, We’d Both Be Wrong

The sharp pain in my neck was what woke me.  The slight jolt of the car slowing down didn’t help it much either.  It was good thing I caught myself or else I would have smacked my head on the back of the passenger seat in front of me.

Slowly, I opened my eyes to glare at the man driving.  Even before I’d fallen asleep a few hours before, John’s hands were tight on the steering wheel, skin white and straining over his knuckles.  It almost seemed like he hadn’t even moved.  Though I could only see the side of his face, it was enough to let me see just how much he was pissed.  The narrowed gaze, the tight jaw…those were pretty good indicators.

 “Where are we?” I asked, sitting up straighter and stretching out my neck.  Looking out the window, I watched some of the builds pass us quickly in the night, but I couldn’t tell if we were at our destination yet. 

“We just made it into Rome,” Ren said quietly from the passenger seat in front of me.  His eyes flicked over to Stella, who was asleep beside me.  “We’ll be at Violet and Miles’ place in about ten minutes.”

Glancing at the clock, I knew that we were far more ahead of schedule than we should have been. 

“How did we…?”

“Get here so fast?” he finished.  He pointed to John.  “This guy doesn’t know the purpose of speed limits…or slowing down when going around a curve.  I’m surprised you two slept through it.”

We were pretty much four hours ahead of the time we thought it would take us to get to Rome, which meant that John must have been going way more than the appropriate speed. 

“You want me to wake her up?” I asked, nodding toward Stella. 

He smiled softly, looking over at her again.  “Nah.  I’ll just carry her inside if she doesn’t wake up by the time we get there.  You know what she’s like when she doesn’t get her full eight uninterrupted hours of beauty sleep.”

Snorting, I nodded, knowing exactly what he meant. 

Just a few minutes later, we were pulling up in front of the illuminated house that I hadn’t seen in months.  And considering that this time I wasn’t unconscious from surgery to remove a bullet wound, it was a much better welcoming.  Not so…dramatic.  Stella, seeming to know we’d gotten to our destination, woke up, as bright and cheery as she ever was.

Right as John flung open his door, the front door also, and Violet and Miles walked out with bright smiles on their faces, even for almost one in the morning.  

“Hi!” Stella squealed as she ran to give them hugs.  “It’s been forever since I’ve seen you guys!”

Violet hugged her back, laughing at her enthusiasm.  “It definitely has, hasn’t it?  It’s great to see you all, though.”

When Stella went to hug Miles, Violet’s eyes met mine and her smile widened even more before she reached forward to pull me toward her.  “It’s great to see you again, too, Emmy…and under better circumstances, that’s for sure.”

“Definitely,” I laughed, nodding as we pulled apart.

“How’s the shoulder?  Is it giving you any trouble at all?”

“No, everything’s been great.”

“Well, that’s good,” she smiled before she looked over my shoulder.  John passed us by then without even mumbling a hello or even acknowledging everyone and headed inside.  Violet looked back at me with a questioning expression.  “What’s going on with him?”