Chapter 21
Not Exactly How I Pictured Telling My Friends About My Secret Life
I did not have time for this. I wasn't going to make time for it either, because we didn't have any.
Beau, Gage, Ash, and Savannah were slowly walking out from behind the car surveying the scene. I turned away from them, sheathing my knife, and rushed to Drake, who was still on the ground.
"Are you okay?" I whispered, my hands going to his head. The blood on my hands wasn't his, thank goodness.
"Hattie," he warned, his eyes going behind me. He wasn't even thinking about how he'd just been knocked out. "They saw."
I swallowed hard, nodding once. "I can't deal with that right now."
"We're going to have to."
"Oh, my gosh...he's dead!" Savannah gasped. "She killed someone!"
"Same with this one," Ash forced out.
"And I'm pretty sure him, too," Gage said.
"Hattie," Cruz said, watching them also. "We need to go...and they're going to have to come with us."
I shook my head before he was even finished. "No, they're not. I'm not making them a part of this."
"Well, they were the ones who made themselves a part of it," Drake continued. "They've seen too much."
Again, I shook my head, leaning forward to grab Drake by the arm to help him stand. He stumbled forward, squeezing his eyes shut, and clutched my arm for support. I moved closer, wrapping his arm around my shoulders and put my arm around his waist.
"Help me get him to the car," I said to Cruz. "We need to get out of here."
"Hattie..."
"Do it!"
The car wasn't far away, so it was easy to get Drake into the front passenger seat without any problems. He still had his eyes closed and didn't say a word I moved back and closed the door.
"What do you want to do, Hattie?" Cruz asked, crossing his arms over his chest as he stared down at me. "We can't just leave them. The police will come. More Order will come. They're not safe here. Flannery said the cameras were taken care of, so this won't be caught on tape, but...you've got four people who saw it all. And if anyone else comes..."
"I didn't want them to know about any of this," I whispered. "Because if they do, it'll put them in even more danger."
"We'll take them back to Emmy and John's place. They'll be safe there."
"And what are they going to do then? Stay there for the rest of their lives?"
"No, but..."
My eyes shifted over to my friends, who were still staring at the destruction around them in horror.
Beau was the one I was worried about the most. Because as he stood in the middle of it all, I could see him piecing everything together in his head - me leaving every summer, the 'self-defense' training I had, the being secretive all the time, what happened when I attacked him that night we got home from New York...
His eyes met mine and all I saw in them was that horror...and even a little bit of awe.
Cruz had warned about what would have happened then. Because more Order members were coming, crashing through the door where we would have come out before and running for us. All the yelling made my friends pause and look up, but I was the one to make the decision then that I had been wrestling with my entire life.
"Get in the car! Now!" I screamed, pulling the back door open.
Luckily, they didn't hesitate. Beau was the first to get to me, but didn't get in. He waited to make sure the others were in before he did. I slammed the door behind him, yanking open the passenger side door and scrambled into Drake's lap. Cruz was already in the driver's seat, cranked the engine, and peeled out of the parking space. Tires squealing, we headed for the exit of the parking garage, blowing past the police officers who were headed inside, guns drawn.
"What the hell is going on?!" Savannah screamed, staring out of the back window at the scene we were quickly fleeing.
"Not now, Savannah," I told her as calmly as I possible could.
"You killed those men back there! You have people after you! You're covered in blood!"
"I said, not now!" I yelled back.
Having me yell at her shut her up real quick. I didn't look behind me to see the expressions on my friends' faces, but I could feel their eyes on me. I was looking down at Drake, whose lap I was sitting in. He still had his eyes closed with his head leaning back against the headrest.
"Sorry," I murmured to him. "For the jumping into your lap and for the yelling."
He shook his head, opening his eyes slightly. "It's okay," he smiled, and wrapped an arm around my waist while the other lifted to knead his temple. "I've already got a hell of a headache, so your yelling really won't do much."
"Except probably make it worse," I said, turning his head so I could feel the back of it. A huge bump had started to form. "Do you think you have a concussion?"
"Nah. I've had a few before, but I don't think this is the same."
I shifted as he closed his eyes again so I wouldn't be putting so much of my weight on him, but all he did was wrap his other arm around me. Smiling slightly, I reached up and brushed his hair back from his forehead.
And when I looked up, my eyes met Beau's.
"Where are we going, Hattie?" Cruz asked then, looking over at me. "We're going to have to ditch the car, but we need to check Drake out some more and get you cleaned up. And then there's the matter of your friends in the backseat."
I met all four pairs of eyes staring at me.
"Get on Interstate 75 North and then onto Highway 575. Just keep driving. I'll tell you when to turn off, but it'll be a little while."
With Cruz driving, it took almost half the time it would have to get to the clearing I'd been in with Beau just a few nights before. As I gave him directions, everyone in the backseat knew where I was taking us. It was the only place I knew would be empty on a Thursday night and we needed a place to talk.
The silence was tense when I wasn't giving directions. I kept glancing into the backseat, waiting for someone to bring up what had happened. I was surprised Savannah had lasted as long as she did, but she was clutching onto Ash's hand, squished in between her and Beau.
Drake still had his head leaned back, his arms around my waist. Everyone noticed, but didn't say anything since it didn't look like he was feeling too good. He hadn't opened his eyes since we'd gotten on the interstate and asked only a few questions, like where we were going and if we were almost there. My worry was building with every shade his skin paled.
Cruz looked just as worried as I was every time he glanced over. "You okay, man?"
Drake swallowed, nodding once. "Yeah," he murmured.
"How much longer?" Cruz asked me then. "I think he does have a concussion. I can check everything out and make sure, but..."
"Up ahead, just past the diner, there's an unmarked dirt road. Just another half mile is a clearing. We'll stop there."
Beau leaned forward in between the front seat, looking down at Drake. "He okay?"
I shrugged, shaking my head. "I don't know. He says he is..."
"I am, Miss Hattie. Stop worrying so damn much," Drake murmured then.
"I'm going to worry about you, Drake Garner, so you'd better shut up."
"So bossy..."
His breathing slowed as he quickly fell asleep.
Beau nodded, looking back up at me. "I'm thinkin' he does have a concussion. Austin had a few playin' football in high school and college. He'd be all tired, couldn't stand bright light, trouble standin', headaches...and I'm pretty sure this guy's going through all that, too."
"He's right," Cruz agreed. "Drake's had two others before and this happened then, too. Those were bad, though, so he was out for a week or two. This one doesn't seem as bad, so it might put him out a few days. Or if Drake decides to make up his own schedule, only a day or two."
Drake snored loudly, making me laugh.
I met Beau's gaze again as Cruz turned down the dirt road and slowly made way toward the clearing. His eyes swept my face, focusing on the cut on my temple, traced down to my bruised neck, and, finally, to my bloodstained dress. Again, I could see that horror and awe as he tried to piece everything together again.
Cruz pulled the car into the clearing, killing the engine, but kept the headlights on. Beau, Gage, Ash, and Savannah all got out while I tried to untangle myself from Drake, who was still sound asleep. The door behind me opened and Beau appeared, holding out his hand to help me out once I got Drake to let me go.
Cruz was there beside us when I stepped out, barefoot, onto the grass and nodded down at Drake. "I'll take care of him...and you take care of them. It's up to you what you say, but John said he gave you permission to tell them everything."
I nodded as I looked over at Beau, who was still standing beside us, watching and listening.
As he and I walked to the others, who had sat down in the grass beside the car, Cruz knelt down by the open door.
"Wakey, wakey," he chuckled, slapping Drake's face.
Drake sucked in a breath, eyes fluttering open. "Huh? Hattie...where's Hattie?"
"She's over there, you big idiot. Stop moving, would you? I'm pretty sure you've got a concussion, even though you say you don't."
"I don't."
"Yeah, you do."
"Then why did you slap me?"
"Because you deserved it."
"Did not."
"Did to."
"Did..."
With the two of them behind us, my focus then was the four pairs of eyes on me, looking over my cuts, bruises, and bloodstained dress. Beau let go of my hand as he sat down beside Gage, the four of them forming a semicircle around where I stood. After another moment or two, I sat down in front of them, still uncomfortable with the way they were looking at me.
"Hattie..." Beau began, but I was quick to cut him off.
"I know I've got a heck of a lot of explaining to do, but I have to ask two things of you all."
None of them said a word, just stared.
"You cannot, under any circumstances, tell anyone what I'm about to tell you, no matter what. It stays secret and I know you can keep it. I trust all of you because you're my best friends and you'd do this for me. It's for my safety, your safety, and my family's safety."
Four nods, no words.
I swallowed hard. "And second...please don't look at me any differently than you did before. Because even though I've been lying to you every day since we met when we were kids, I'm still the same Hattie. I'm still your best friend. You can tell me you don't want to have anything to do with me after I tell you, but I really don't want it to come to that. I can't lose you guys."
Savannah was the first to speak. "Why do you think we'd do that?"
"Because I saw the looks you gave me after...after all that."
"We watched all those people attack you and you killing three," Gage went on. "How were we supposed to look when our best friend went all Matrix on them? And it doesn't really help when you're still covered in blood."
I looked down at myself, wishing there was some way to get cleaned up before we started this, but I had nothing.
"And it's going to be hard not looking at you the same," Ash said then. "I mean, here we were, thinking you were this high society girl with prominent parents when you're really..."
"A fucking badass!" Gage grinned.
Savannah was the one to smack him then. "Language!"
"But really, Hattie. Tell us as little or as much as you want," Beau said, reaching over to take my hand.
Ash smiled. "No matter what, you're still Hattie...though we'll all be a little more careful around you since you do have a knife sheathed on your leg."
I laughed slightly, shaking my head as I looked at my friends.
And I told them everything.
I told them how I had been a part of a secret society - the Brotherhood of Time - for my entire life, just like every single generation of my family had been ever since it had been formed, and what we did, keeping records of history no matter the cost.
I told them about me, how I was fluent in fifteen languages - rather than the four they knew about - and that I was one of the best decoders in the world, how I was an expert fighter and martial artist, that I'd been training my entire life.
I told them who John and Emmy really were, other than a married couple who just happened to run a Fortune 500 company in England, and about their adventures the five years before and what they had been doing.
I told them about everyone else and who they really were, including those of whom were with the Knights and what they did, even a little about our history with them before that all changed five years before. They would get more information whenever we got to England, where I would be more comfortable talking than out in the open.
I told them about what I had been doing for the past few summers, starting with the summer of the Antecedent explosion, how I'd been working with them on decoding a book that we'd lost...not that we had it again now. That, just like more of our history, would have to wait.
And, last, I told them about the Order, how the man Beau and I had saw outside the mall named Vince Peters, and that I was a treasure he sought out to steal. They were the ones I'd been running from before, who had caught us, who I'd killed...
Finally, after everything was out in the open almost an hour later, I stopped talking, drowning in the silence that surrounded me. All four pairs of eyes were still locked on my face, glittering brightly in the light coming from the car's headlights.
Savannah, again, spoke first, shaking her head. "I'm sorry, Hattie, but I..."
"I'm so sorry," I whispered, looking down at my hands in my lap. "I hate that I've lied to you for the entire time I've known you. I could have told you years ago, but I just...I needed something normal. You guys are some of the best people I know, but if you don't want anything to do with me, with this..."
"Would you shut up and let us get a word out?" she interrupted, laughing.
I clamped my mouth shut, staring.
"I thought you were amazing before, Hattie Devereaux," she continued. "But now you're just downright incredible."
And with that compliment, I felt like a thousand pound weight had been lifted from my shoulders, one that I'd been carrying around for far too long.
Even though I had told them almost everything, the questions and comments still flew out and I tried answering them as best I could.
"Your family's always been a part of the Brotherhood? And you're, like, one of the head families?"
"The Brotherhood and the Knights hated each other for that long? Damn, they know how to hold a grudge."
"And the Order. Goodness, what's their deal?"
"That Vince guy is going down. And I bet you'll be the one to do it!"
"How come you've never told us you speak so many languages? We could have known what those ladies at the nail salon were saying about us!"
"Can you teach me some of those moves? The ladies love a guy who can fight. You'd probably knock me out, though, so...well, still."
The only person who didn't say anything was Beau. All he did was look at me the same way he had pretty much since they'd caught us in the parking garage. Those pieces he had been trying to fit together finally did...and he understood everything. That gaze didn't hold any horror anymore, only wonder and awe.
Those questions and comments the others had been saying weren't directed at me anymore, but to each other. I couldn't help but smile as they talked about everything, totally forgetting the fact that I was there for clarification since most of the scenarios they were making up totally hadn't happened.
Well, hadn't happened recently, but they didn't have to know that now. There would be plenty of time for more stories later.
"Hey, Hattie," Cruz said, coming up behind me. He held out my phone to me, which he'd gotten from my purse...that I had no idea he had.
"Where'd you get that?" I asked, reaching up for it.
"I put it in the car when Drake took you to meet with Vince. Good thing, too...since I found another something in there," he said, giving me a look.
I nodded. "The journal. I thought it'd be a good place."
"It was...until we almost lost it when they knocked you out," he said, but shook his head. "Anyway, Emmy's been calling. I figured it would be best if you answered, but I didn't want to disturb you."
Illuminating the screen, I groaned when I saw just how many missed calls and texts I had. "Thanks," I grimaced as I touched Emmy's number to call her, putting it on speaker. "This is going to be..."
She picked up before it rung even once. "Hattie Leanne Devereaux, you have some serious explaining to do. And if you don't, I can and will kick that butt of yours."
Everyone around me silenced at how mad she sounded.
"Hey, Em."
"Don't you 'hey, Em' me! What the heck happened?!"
"I'll give you the short version now and the longer version later, okay?"
"There'd better be a long version later."
I took a deep breath and held it in before it all came out in a rush. "Okay, well...Drake and Cruz came. We ran from the Order. I got knocked out. I officially met Vince Peters. We ran from them again. They attacked us in the parking garage and we fought them off. They knocked Drake out and we're pretty sure he has a concussion. I might have killed three of them and we're not really sure what's happened with the rest. Oh, and Beau, Gage, Savannah, and Ash saw everything go down, they're here now...and I've told them everything. You're on speaker...so say hi."
She didn't say hi.
"Hattie," she started, sounding shocked. "Are you okay? Is Drake okay? Is everyone else okay?"
"Yeah, we're fine. Well, like I said, Drake has a concussion..."
"Then why do you sound so calm about all of this?"
"Because we're okay."
Okay in every sense of the meaning.
"Hey, guys," she finally said to them.
"Hey, Emmy," they said back, laughing.
"This...this is insane. You met Vince?"
"After one of his men knocked me out, yeah."
"They weren't supposed to touch her, though," Cruz put in then, sitting down beside me. "So Vince made an example of him."
"Which means he killed him."
"Exactly."
My friends looked shocked yet again. But once they learned more about Vince and what he was capable of doing, they would understand completely.
"What happened with Drake?" she asked worriedly. "He's got a concussion?"
"A slight one, though he'd tell you otherwise," he told her. "He's sleeping in the car right now, but he should be fine in a few days."
Without any hesitation, Emmy told us what we were going to do next.
"You're coming back to England. All of you. There's no way you're staying there when Vince is so close. Who's to say he won't try to take you again, Hattie? And you know that he'll do anything to do just that, which means taking your friends just to get your attention. The only safe place for you guys is here at the manor...so you're coming here."
"What about their families? What are we going to tell them? I can't just take them to England without giving an explanation."
"Well...make one up, Hattie. They're coming with you, even if it's just to hide out here for a few days until we know Vince isn't anywhere near Atlanta. I don't want to hear another word on the matter. I tracked your phone, so I know you're near Beau's place. Stay somewhere up there for the night. I'll have the jet ready and waiting at that little airport that's just off the highway by morning. You know which one I'm talking about?"
"Yeah, but..."
"Rob will be there before dawn. You leave as soon as you get there and we'll see you guys tomorrow night, okay?"
I sighed, knowing there was no other way around her. "Okay, we'll see you then."
After hanging up with her, I sighed, looking around at everyone. "Well, seems like you're coming with us to England for a little while. The problem is...we need somewhere to go up here for the night. Somewhere low-key..."
"We need to go somewhere the Order wouldn't know about," Cruz said, shaking his head. "We need to ditch the car, find another, and head for the airport tomorrow morning. We..."
"We can go to my place," Beau cut in, stepping forward. "It's not far from here, just a few miles up the road. Hattie can get cleaned up, Drake can sleep, and so can the rest of us."
"What about your parents?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. "Won't it be a little weird having us all be there?"
He shook his head. "They're up in Memphis visitin' Austin, Brianne, and the kids. They won't be back till Sunday."
Savannah spoke up then. "As for the car, we can take mine. Ash and I rode with Gage down to the mall and left it there."
"And your parents?" I asked, looking around at the four of them. "What are they going to say when they realize you're not here and actually in England?"
She shrugged. "We'll just say that you surprised us all with a trip and didn't know when we'd be back."
"Which you kind of did," Ash snorted.
"Not that we really mind," Gage grinned. "A ride in the jet again and getting to see that beautiful Emmy, too...I don't mind at all."
Beau reached over and smacked the back of his head, rolling his eyes, before looking back at me. "It's up to you, though, Hattie. You've already trusted us with all this...now we're going to trust you."
***
Not fifteen minutes later, we were going into Beau's house. Drake was still half asleep, his arms slung around mine and Cruz's shoulders. He wouldn't let anyone else touch him, even though Beau had offered to help.
"Where're we?" he mumbled as we eased him down onto the couch.
I stuck a pillow behind his head that Beau had gone into his room for. "We're at Beau's house. We're going to be here for the night and leave for the airport that's south on the highway. Emmy's having the jet flown there."
"Did you tell them then?" he asked, cracking open on eye.
I nodded, smoothing his hair back from his forehead. "Yeah, I did. They're all coming with us. Emmy's orders."
He laughed slightly, closing his eyes again. "And when Em gives orders, you follow them," he said, and drifted back to sleep.
"Hey, Hattie?" Savannah asked then as she set my purse down by the couch. "I know this is probably going to be a no, but do you think we can go back to our apartment for a little while just so we can get some things together before we leave? I mean, it'll only take twenty minutes to get there, but I know..."
"I'll go with them," Cruz offered. "I have to ditch the car somewhere anyway. We'll take theirs and I'll follow, just so we can have a ride back here. We'll be gone less than an hour."
"You sure?"
He nodded. "You and I both don't want them going anywhere by themselves. Vince wants a way to get to you and he'll find any way he can...including getting to them."
After they left, it left the four of us standing in the living room. As Drake slept soundly on the couch, Gage flipped on the television to the late night news, which was playing a news report from what happened at the mall.
"Local authorities responded to a fire at Cumberland Mall, though there was no evidence of any damage or a fire at all. However, there was more speculation of what happened in the parking garage. Police detectives were on the scene, as well as crime scene investigators, but we have not received any reports of what had happened. The area was completely closed off with barricades, shielding everything from view..."
"You would think somethin' like that would be all over the place," Beau murmured as he watched. "Why isn't it?"
"The Brotherhood and the Knights are able to clean up messes pretty easily without the interference from law enforcement...and I'm more than sure the Order's capable also, since they're the ones causing it most of the time. Money can buy you anything if you've got enough of it. They'll take care of the cleanup and the damage, including buying new cars for those totaled."
"And you totaled a few," Gage nodded, looking up at me. "I'm still trying to figure out how a little thing like you did all that..."
"Anger and adrenaline," I answered, looking back at the television.
Beau reached over and took my hand, nodding down the hallway. "Come on. Go take a shower and get cleaned up, okay?"
I looked down at my bloodstained dress that had long since dried into the fabric. "I look like something straight out of a horror movie, huh?"
"That you do," he nodded. "I think I've still got a pair of your shorts and a t-shirt from the other weekend when we all went to the lake. You forgot them over here and you need something to change into. As for shoes, though...well, you're outta luck."
I shrugged. "I don't really care."
We stopped in his room to get my clothes I'd left before he showed me to the bathroom, though I'd been in it a hundred times before.
"You know where the towels are and there's shampoo and stuff already there. Do you need anything?"
I nodded. "My purse. Savannah put it by the door. Do you mind getting it?"
"Sure," he nodded, but didn't make a move.
"What?" I asked.
"I...I don't know," he shrugged, leaning against the doorframe. "I guess I should thank you."
I laughed humorlessly. "For what? Scaring the crap out of you? I'm sure seeing me like that must have been something else."
"It was somethin' else, that's for damn sure...but not for that. For telling us everything, even though this secret life of yours has been happenin' for your whole life. For not telling us before, only because you didn't want us to get caught up in it."
"That's why I didn't want to," I said quietly, shaking my head. "Because I don't want you guys to be."
"Well, we kind of did that to ourselves, following you guys when we saw you head for the parkin' deck. We didn't know what was goin' on and we sure as hell got our answer. But we'll be okay, even lettin' us in on the secret and who else knows what else after this."
I nodded and was about to hug him, but stepped back when I realized I still hadn't taken a shower. "Thanks, Beau."
"You're welcome," he smiled. "Now, take that shower, I'll get your purse, and then we'll all get some sleep. That Drake's already snorin' up a storm on my couch, though, causin' all kinds of racket."
I laughed, shaking my head as he left the bathroom, closing the door behind him.
Once I locked the door, I took the tape off my cut, put my sheathed knife on the counter, and stripped out of my dress, tossing it in a pile on the floor. I'd have to figure out how to get rid of it before we left in the morning.
The water ran red as I soaked myself in the shower. No matter how much I scrubbed, too, there was still some coming from my hair. I went through half the bottle of shampoo before I couldn't see any more going down the drain, but it did absolutely nothing for my nerves. It wasn't just the blood I was trying to rid myself of then, but everything that happened in that fight. Even when I was out, dried off with my hair still damp, I could still feel it. It was more in my mind than anything.
I killed someone.
Three someones.
And I'd never killed anyone before.
I could remember the first day I'd ever trained with Emmy, Juliet, Ryan, and Jamie. It had been a five months since the Antecedent attack and I was spending my Christmas break with them in Pallandino. We were all in their training building and I wanted Juliet to teach me some new moves, but the ones she taught me would be lethal on my opponent.
She'd said something to me then, before we'd even started, that I wouldn't understand until now.
"I've told this to Emmy before...and I'm going to tell this to you now before we even start," she began, standing directly in front of me. "Being the cause of someone's death, even if it's for your safety or someone else's, it's going to affect you no matter what. The first one is always the one that will stick with you and it never gets any easier, no matter how evil the person is. You have to be prepared for that shock, Hattie, or else you're going to let it eat you alive."
At the time, I'd nodded. It wasn't until now that I realized just what she meant.
Because, after I got dressed, I wiped my hand across the mirror over the sink and looked at myself, at the cut on my head, the bruises on my neck. I was clean and yet I wasn't.
It was then that the shock set in and the tears welled up, spilling over.
I found myself on the floor a moment later, leaning back against the wall with my knees pulled up to my chest and forehead resting against it. I was crying silent tears, but I was trying my hardest not to jump up, scream, and break anything I could.
I could hear when Cruz, Savannah, and Ash got back and everyone talking.
The television was still on, though it was on some reality show instead of the news.
A knock on the bathroom door before Savannah's voice came through. "You okay, Hattie?"
I called out a meager, "Yeah."
I knew she could hear my tears, but let me be.
Sometime later, the television was cut off and more talking, this time quieter so I couldn't make out many words.
Ash came to check on me a little while later, then Beau. Again, I said I was fine.
Then, after another hour or so, complete silence.
And I was still sitting on the floor of the bathroom, crying.
It wasn't until the knob rattled before the door opened a crack that I looked up.
Drake's eyes first went to the pile of towels on the counter, my knife next to them, my dress on the floor, and, finally, to me. When he saw my tear-streaked face, he stepped into the bathroom and closed the door behind him, locking it back. I didn't move as he slowly walked toward me, sitting cross-legged right in front of me, so close I could have moved only slightly to touch him.
"You're not okay."
Three words. That's all he said.
Bottom lip quivering, I shook my head before leaning forward, rested my forehead against his chest, and a new round of tears began to fall.
"First time, huh?" he murmured, wrapping his arms around my shoulders to pull me closer. He pressed his face into my hair.
"They told me this would happen," I whispered hoarsely. "It just really didn't sink in until it did, though. I just..."
Drake didn't say anything, didn't tell me everything was going to be okay.
And I was glad he didn't, because I didn't want to hear it.
"I never thought I would be able to do it, but then today...seeing you go down...I wasn't thinking," I told him. "I didn't realize how it must have looked until I saw the expressions on your faces. All of you. Even Cruz moved away from me like I would have done the same thing to him if he came closer."
"You saw the threat and took care of it, just like you've trained to do. It was instinct. You were just trying to protect."
"And I know I should feel proud knowing that I can protect you guys, but I just..."
I started crying harder, leaning up to wrap my arms around his neck.
And he let me cry it out, because that was the only thing I could do. He didn't say anything, just held me close, his arms around my waist as I practically sat in his lap, and pressed his cheek to the top of my head.
It wasn't until one of my hands threaded into his hair, feeling the huge bump on the back of his head, that I came to my senses.
"Oh, gosh," I said, pulling back, my hand still on his head. "Here I am blubbering like a baby and you're...how are you feeling? Does your head hurt? Are you dizzy? Are you still tired? Do you...?"
Drake smiled, shaking his head slightly as he brushed my hair behind my ear. "I'm fine, though Cruz still thinks I still might have a slight concussion. A little bit of sleep was all I needed, though it didn't help the huge bump."
"You sure?"
He nodded, laughing. "I wish you were this worried over me when you're the one who beat me up."
"When I beat you up, it's usually because you deserved it."
"I swear you and Cruz like to hit me just because it's fun."
"That's because it is."
"I have a concussion, so you can't do anything to me now."
"I thought it was only slight."
"But still a concussion."
***
We figured out a way to get rid of my dress.
While everyone was asleep out in the living room, Drake and I snuck outside through the backdoor by the kitchen. In the backyard, Beau's dad kept an old oil drum for burning things like boxes and wood...
And my dress was going to be next.
After pouring a little gasoline on it, I lit a match I'd found in a kitchen drawer, and tossed it in. Almost instantly, flames began to glow, heating everything around it, burning the fabric until it looked like it was almost melting.
Over the glow of the fire, my gaze met Drake's as the orange flames reflected in his eyes. I could almost see what he was thinking then, and hope sparked in my chest along with my love for him that never left.
We were going to do everything.
We were going to get the book.
We were going to figure out what those last three pages and the map led to.
We were going to fight Vince Peters and the Order and keep everyone safe from them.
We were going to follow Jesse and Lorraine's adventure through her journals and live it ourselves.
And we were going to do it together.
***Yay for extra long chapters!
Lots going on - Hattie's friends know everything now, they're going to England with them, Drake's got a boo-boo, and no, Hattie's not going to kiss it and make it feel better...yet. ;D
So tell me what you think!
100 votes and 30 comments before the next upload?
Let's do it!
Comment and vote!!!1***