I’m once again back in the damn wheelchair, trying to get my body to heal as fast as humanly possible, but this time, I don’t really mind it as much as I did before because I’ve come to notice that even though Everly is ridiculously fit, she can be kind of lazy.
Which means she’s often climbing into my lap when she’s sick of standing around or when she wants to kiss me. Sometimes even when she needs to tell me something, because it’s easier than leaning over and she knows it annoys me when people talk down to me.
Like right now as I try to swerve through the bodies filling Kace and Lily’s house. Constantly staring straight at peoples’ crotches as I go in search of my girl. Agitated, I slam my hand down on the button I’d had installed, grinning at the loud blasting car horn and the way it makes Tanner almost leap out of her skin, clearing a path for me.
I finally spot Everly sipping on a glass of wine as she chats with Lily who’s casually moving about the kitchen, organizing dinner. “Why you trying to always steal my woman, Lily,” I call as I head toward them. “She was meant to come and find me when she arrived, but you’re trying to keep her from me.”
Everly’s cheerleading practice ran late today as they’re preparing for a competition. So I had demanded her immediate attention as soon as she was done. Obviously, this time, I’d come off second best.
“Have you seen the bromance you have with Kace, Devereaux?” She laughs, placing her hands on her hips and raising her eyebrows as if daring me to argue. “Fair’s fair.”
I pull Everly into my lap, and she squeals as she attempts to keep the wine from spilling out of her glass. Just as I think she’s about to read me my rights, Noah comes storming through the door with a look on his face that I don’t see often.
“Where is she, Lily?” he demands, his tone so harsh that if Kace had been here to hear him, I’m pretty sure he would be lying flat on his back right now.
“Hey man, chill a bit, will you,” I warn him sharply.
Lily, on the other hand, doesn’t seem surprised and continues to stir the pot on the stove top beside her. “Noah…”
“I’ve tried calling her. I’ve tried going around to her place… which by the way is empty,” he continues, running his fingers through his hair in frustration. I knew that Noah and Molly had some weird kind of shit between them, but only because I’ve caught the odd moment where he would put his hand on her back when they were leaving a room or the way she would tease and torment him more than anyone else, even me.
What I didn’t realize, was just how deep things had gotten between them, but it’s written clearly all over Noah’s face right now. The panic and worry is evident in his eyes. “Where is she?” he demands again, obviously trying to calm himself and fight the anxiety he’s feeling.
“Noah, she’s fine,” Lily reassures him. “But you need to leave her alone.”
His brow furrows in confusion. “What do you mean?”
“Molly needed to go away for a while to sort through some things,” Lily explains and I can tell how much it pains her to have to relay this information, not just because she knows how much it’s going to hurt Noah, but because of how much it hurts her to have her best friend leave.
I can see Noah mulling over what she’s saying, the thoughts in his head working overtime. “You know if I wanted to find her that I could within minutes,” Noah adds, but there’s no conviction in what he’s saying.
Lily smiles sadly. “I know, but you won’t because this is what she wants and if you try to chase her, trust me when I say you’ll do more harm than good.”
My friend’s body slumps and I want to go to him, pat him on the back and tell him to hold his chin up, that she’s just a girl and that there will be plenty more, but I don’t. Because I can see the pain, and I know that I’d be feeling the exact same if Everly walked away, and how hard it would be to let her go and not chase after her.
Luckily Lily is far better at this shit than I am and she steps forward, wrapping her arms around Noah and giving him the comfort he needs. Everly jabs me in the ribs before giving me a look that tells me this is the moment where we need to leave and let them have their time.
Strategically, I turn my wheelchair, and we creep away. “I was coming to get you anyway ‘cause I want you to meet someone,” I tell Everly as I wheel the both of us back through the crowd to the living room where Dean and Kace are in deep conversation about a case that Dean worked on, and Zoe and Carter are both taking tips from Tanner on how to flip someone over their back during a fight.
I roll right up next to Dean, and Everly leaps off my lap instantly, straightening her dress and looking at me like she’s gonna throttle me later. But that’s okay because I’ll probably enjoy it.
Dean halts his conversation with Kace, who uses the moment to slip away, heading for the door out to the patio.
I wonder what he’s doing.
“You must be Everly,” Dean says holding out his hand and drawing my attention back.
“It’s nice to meet you, finally,” Everly grins, taking his hand.
“You too. We can’t stay for long, but the kids were dying to come and meet all of Luca’s superhero friends.” Dean laughs as Tanner playfully flips a giggling Zoe onto the sofa. “I’m glad I caught you, though, I wanted to invite you both to Christmas at our place this year.”
A strange buzz ignites through me, excitement maybe? “Um…” My mouth is dry, and when I look at Everly, I can see her eyes sparkling. I clear my throat. “Yeah… I mean… I don’t have any plans, so that would be… cool… I guess.”
Everly giggles, highly amused at my sudden awkwardness.
Christmas is always a hard time of year for me. It’s been a little easier since I found The Agency, and the SO7, given that we’re all a kind of motley crew and not many of us have big close family units. This time, though, it’s gonna be different.
Dean claps his hands together. “Great. I have a rather large family who are all dying to meet you,” he explains as he stands up and begins to wrangle the kids. “We still on for dinner next week?”
I can’t help but grin and nod, feeling like a giddy child. “Yeah, of course,” I say, failing to keep my excitement at bay.
“Bye Luca,” Zoe calls with a wave as her dad tosses her over his shoulder. “Bye superhero friends.”
“Shhhh!” Carter growls as he follows behind them. “You can’t yell stuff like that Zoe. Someone might hear you.” He turns and gives me a salute as if he’s got my back covered and I wink, letting him know I appreciate it. I can see the pride in his eyes, his chest swelling as he jogs after Dean and Zoe.
Those kids are special, to me at least. They’re innocent and untainted, and I have to admit that my mom at least got one thing right. She may have stripped away my family at one time and left me with nothing, but in the end because of the choices she made, I’ve ended up with more family than I could have ever imagined.
“Excuse me,” Kace suddenly calls. Only the team is left, plus Everly’s mom and Jack. Everyone looks to Kace. “Can you all come out here for a moment, I want to make a toast before we eat.”
Kace wanting to make a toast? Yeah okay.
I’m already suspicious as we all move outside, but when I see what he’s done to the backyard, I can’t stop smiling. There are paper lanterns and fairy lights everywhere, spread out across the grass, tied to the house, even across the roof of Clover’s kennel which she’s sitting outside staring at curiously.
Lily is the last out the door, awing as she sees the yard.
Still completely oblivious.
“So, I may have told a little lie,” Kace starts. I can hear his voice shaking slightly. It isn’t often my best friend gets nervous enough to be physically shaking, so that just tells me how much this moment means to him. “I didn’t bring you here to celebrate us getting reinstated. I needed all the people I care about to be here for this moment.”
Lily’s looking around in confusion, and Everly has to take the wine glass from Lily’s hand before giving her a gentle shove toward where Kace is standing in the center of a circle of paper lanterns.
“Lily, you saw a light in me when I was at the point where I thought there was nothing but dark shadows,” he tells her as he takes her hand and smiles warmly. “You stood for what was right when you knew you could lose everything in the process. And what you did, it changed all our lives, and it changed the future of what we do. You are the bravest, most selfless and loyal woman I know, and because of those and many more reasons…” With his hand still holding hers, Kace slowly kneels down on one knee, and I see the moment that everything finally clicks in Lily’s mind. “Holy shit,” she whispers, causing everyone watching to laugh.
“Will you marry me?” Kace asks, slipping a ring from his pocket and holding it up for her to see.
She doesn’t waste a moment, throwing her body forward and forcing him back onto the grass, their lips crashing together passionately while we all applaud.
When the clapping calms down, a sudden thought crosses my mind, and I groan out loud.
Everly looks down at me with wide eyes. “What?” she questions.
“I’m gonna have to explain to Zoe why Kace can’t be her boyfriend anymore.”
Everly chokes, coughing as she fights to get her breath. “Who told her Kace was gonna be her boyfriend?”
I grin, totally unashamed. “I did, as long as she promised she likes me more than our brother Carter.”
“Oh, Lord help us.”
ONE WEEK LATER
Determined to not let my injury get in the way of Everly’s development in her training, we’ve made a point over the past week to continue her training in The Agency gym. She’s really coming along, and I’m proud of the accomplishments and dedication she has for achieving her dreams. After a particularly intense training session—where I just yelled helpfully from the sidelines as she drowned in sweat—we step out into the hub and run into Tanner and Blair who are just leaving the lockup area.
“What are you guys doing?” I ask, pulling Everly with me.
“Axel’s having a rough time of it, he hasn’t left The Agency for like three days,” Tanner answers sadly, looking over at Blair whose narrowed gaze is still focused on the double doors they just came through. I can tell he’s worried and it twists my stomach. “I think he’s scared that if he leaves, the Board will take over and do some shit that none of us want.”
Unfortunately, Axel isn’t completely wrong.
Kace let me know that things are getting pretty tense between Jack and the Board members. The only thing holding strong and keeping Kenzi away from us using some much stronger techniques in order to get the answers they want is the fact that they took us off the case initially, and allowed the SO9 to royally fuck it up. Everly is positive it was Brandon that put the bullet in Zeb. With the body cam footage from both Zeb and Brandon mysteriously missing, it’s hard for us to prove anything, but I’ll fucking have her back if things get messy. With the information she’s already gathered, things aren’t looking good for Brandon.
The SO9 should be thankful for everthing Everly did for them. Let’s face it, we had to come in and save their dumb asses and we still managed to secure Kenzi. The Board now recognize our value, there’s only so many times Jack can use the ‘you didn’t trust us before so you need to now’ excuse. It’s beginning to wear a little thin with them all.
Not only is the Sinclair Syndicate a big player on The Agency’s wanted list, but Gibbs and Hendrix are right up there alongside them. And to have someone in their grasp, that’s close to Hendrix is like fucking winning the lottery to the Board. It can mean the difference between winning and losing, but first, they need to know what Kenzi knows and will do almost anything to get what they need from her. While I’m hoping it won’t come to that, Kenzi needs to give us something, fucking anything we can use to keep the bloodsuckers at bay.
“We’re just heading out to get Axel some food,” Tanner says. “Maybe you guys can sit with him for a while?”
“Absolutely,” Everly answers instantly, and Blair is definitely relieved, finally able to draw his attention from the guarded double doors and follow Tanner to the exit.
I can already see Axel through the glass windows as we approach. The guards punch in the security code for us, and the doors buzz and swing open. I nod to the guard as I swing through on my crutches, Everly rushing to keep up with my large strides. Axel is sitting on the floor of the clinical looking corridor, his back pressed against the wall and his head back, eyes closed.
“Bro, you need to go home and have a shower, or a sleep, or fucking both,” I admit honestly. “You look like shit.”
He huffs out a breath and holds up his middle finger, but doesn’t bother to open his eyes and look at me.
Everly pulls off her backpack and digs around inside it, finally pulling out a cold bottle of water and a protein bar. “Here, have these, it’ll keep you going until Tanner and Blair get back.”
Axel cracks his eyes open and assesses the offering, taking in a long breath before climbing off the floor, achingly slow. “Thanks,” he concedes, taking them both and chugging back half the bottle of water in a few seconds. “I’m gonna lose my shit soon, man,” he admits, looking at me with bloodshot eyes.
We make our way slowly toward the end of the small corridor, just to try and get some separation between him and that damn room with Kenzi in it.
Finally, I lean back against the wall, taking some of the pressure off my arms. “Why is it taking so long? Have you had any sort of conversation with her about fucking anything at all?” We’re getting desperate. I don’t care if she’s told him that she prefers chocolate milk to strawberry, at least she’d be talking.
“She’s told me to go fuck myself on multiple occasions, but that’s all,” he groans and takes a huge bite of the protein bar. “I’ve tried talking about things we used to do as kids. I’ve tried talking about her dad, friends she used to have, our third-grade teacher who used to pee her pants every time she sneezed.”
I screw up my nose in disgust. “Um… ew…”
He lets out a puff of laughter. “You’re telling me. I feel like I’m torturing myself with all this reliving the past bullshit.”
“Have you got any kind of response from her? Tears, laughter, any kind of emotional response to what you’re saying?” Everly asks softly.
Axel shrugs. “Yeah, I guess. She tells me to stop, cringes like she doesn’t want to hear what I’m saying. Like she doesn’t want to remember. And when I talked about her dad, she just blocked her ears and refused to listen. It’s making me angry. I want to force her to hear it, to listen to how much pain she put us all through when she disappeared.”
Everly reaches out and touches his arm in a show of support.
I nod, knowing what she’s saying. “Man, we have your back, whatever you need to do to stay in control and not let those assholes from the Board take over, just let us know. We’ll stand by you.”
He looks up, his eyes holding mine for a few seconds before he gives me the smallest nod, acknowledging that if it comes to that, he appreciates having me stand behind him.
The members of my team aren’t just buddies or work colleagues. Unlike other teams, we work well because we consider each other family, and family will go a hell of a damn lot further for each other than friends will.
“I refuse to give the Board the chance to screw her up even more than she already is. She won’t talk. Not to me. Not to the other agents. Not to Jack… so, I finally had to get clearance to do something drastic.”
“What did you do?” I ask nervously, looking over and seeing Everly is chewing her lip, just as curious and scared to hear what the answer could be.
Axel opens his mouth to speak, but suddenly, a door clicks and the lights in the hall begin to flash and swirl in red colors. Everly rushes toward me, and I drop my crutches, ready to protect her if need be.
Then we see a face, Kenzi’s head pops out the door first, her eyes urgently scanning the hall for an escape. When she spots us, her eyes shoot open wide, and on natural instinct, she shoots out of the room and heads in the opposite direction toward the two double doors we came through.
I hobble forward, ready to try and at least chase her, even though I know I can’t be too much help, but Axel grabs my arm and pulls me back. “What the hell man?” I exclaim, but all he does is nod his head toward the doors.
She’s just a few steps away when both the doors fly open violently, forcing her to leap back.
I can’t help but smirk, seeing the Malice MC, Axel’s and Kenzi’s family standing there in all their glory, the hard looks on their faces enough to make any badass shit their pants.
Kenzi stalls, and just when I think she’s going to try and fight her way through, she falls to her knees, a gut-wrenching sob leaving her body.
“Who are they?” Everly asks nervously.
“Those guys?” Axel smirks. “Those are my something drastic. Those are the reinforcements.”
Next in the Series
Coming Soon
Perceive – The Vindicated Series Book Four