***
He remembered little of the drive out of the city, only panicked moments as he moved from one brother to the next, trying to prevent them from losing control, from shifting in the middle of the city.
If they did, Pierce wasn’t sure he could stop them. One, perhaps. But he was hurt and wounded from the fight, and tired. So very tired. He needed food and sleep, just like the rest of them did.
After nearly an hour of frantic work, and more than one close call, the trees began to outnumber houses, and the buildings fell in size. Clumps of trees began to appear, and then even a farmer’s field.
“We made it,” he gasped, turning around and slumping into his seat as Kassian finally collapsed into sleep with the others.
“That was a little closer than I would have wanted,” Mila said, trying to keep the tone light.
“Agreed. Next time we decide to do this, let’s go with forty-five minutes ago being the closest we ever get to disaster, m’kay?”
Mila stared at him, trying to discover if he was joking or telling the truth.
Her look made him snort.
And again.
She giggled.
And that was it, the dam was broken. The two of them burst into howls of laughter that they desperately tried to keep quiet so as not to wake the others. It was a difficult task, but the exertion of keeping their bears contained meant that they were thoroughly exhausted, and none of them stirred.
“I’m worried about Maximus,” he said as they recovered themselves.
He looked into the back seat. Not once had his eldest brother even stirred during the ride. His body was almost exactly where Pierce had put it, limp except for the slow rise and fall of his chest.
“But he’s alive,” Mila said firmly. “That’s what matters. We’ll make sure he’s okay once we get away from the city.”
Pierce nodded, but that didn’t stop him from constantly looking in the rear view mirror, hoping to see a big head stir and block his view.
“Where are we going, by the way?” he asked.
“The same cabin I took you to,” she said.
Pierce turned to look at her. “Did I ever tell you that you’re a genius, and that I love you?”
Instead of looking happy, Mila simply looked pained. “You don’t have to say that,” she said softly.
“Say what?”
“That you love me. I know you’re just trying to remain on good terms until you can ditch me.”
Pierce stared at her in shock. “Why would I ditch you?”
She frowned. “Pierce…I lied to you. I betrayed you and had you locked up. I was the one who took you from your home in the first place. How can you not want to get away from me the first opportunity you get?”
He frowned, looking forward.
“I’m mad, yes. But I think I understand you now,” he said. “You’ve probably done some other things while working for the Institute that I wouldn’t like.”
Mila flinched, but didn’t respond.
“You’re going to tell me about them, at some point,” he said. “Though they probably run similar to what you did to me and my brothers.”
There was what might have been the barest hint of a nod.
“But eventually, Mila, you came to realize that what you were doing was wrong. Not only did you manage to do that, but you also decided to do something about it. That takes guts. A fair bit of insanity and recklessness too, but guts.”
A ghost of a smile played across her lips at his words.
“My one question to you is this though: The person that I met. The personality, everything I learned about you while you were pretending not to know who I was. Was that all an act designed to get me to trust you?”
“No!” she blurted out, clutching the wheel tightly. “No, Pierce, I swear to you. I didn’t forge a false persona just to befriend you. The…the woman who fell in love with you, that is me. That’s the real me. The strike team leader for the Institute, that was the false person. The one who only existed because I thought she needed to. The person you met, the person you…you think you fell in love with. That person is all me, one hundred percent.”
Tears streamed down her cheeks as she spoke, her eyes blinking rapidly to help her focus on the road. Pierce could hear the emotion behind her words as she spoke. Raw, unguarded, and real. There were no lies, no curtain between him and Mila. What he was seeing was the real woman, the real Mila Chaire.
He desperately wanted to reach over and pull her to him, to hold her. Kiss her. Stroke her cheek. Instead, he simply raised a hand and brushed away the tears from the side nearest him. Mila tilted her head into his touch, resting her hand against him as she drove.
“That’s what I needed to hear,” he whispered, leaning close until his lips were almost pressed against her ear. “Because I know your intentions were honorable. And although I’m slightly offended you didn’t think I had what it took to be an A-list actor, I can kinda sorta see where you’re coming from. You hurt me, Mila, yes. I won’t lie to you.”
Her shoulders shook as a new round of sobs threatened to overtake her, but he hushed her softly.
“But you’ve more than made up for it. You’ve earned my forgiveness.” He hesitated. “Besides, I haven’t been completely honest with you either, though this was more of just an omission, as opposed to a lie.”
She straightened and glared at him. “If you’re about to tell me that you already have a woman in your life—”
Pierce’s eyes flew open. “What? No no no. Mila, that is not where I’m going with all this!”
“Okay,” she said, relaxing. “Spit it out then, don’t draw it out.”
He smiled. “What I was going to say is that I’m not…” he frowned, stopping. “No, I wasn’t always the gentleman you know now. I’ve…done things. Things I’m not overly proud of.”
She turned her head to regard him for a moment before returning it to the road. “And you don’t think you’re that person anymore?”
Pierce’s answer came easily this time. “I know I’m not that person anymore.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because you make me better than that. You make me want to be the person I’ve always been capable of being.”
“Why weren’t you that person before then?” she asked curiously.
“I guess,” he said slowly, “I guess I just never had a reason before. But I do now.”
Mila considered his words and then began to nod slowly. “So that’s why you were in jail when we got you, hmm?”
He sputtered. “How did you…oh, right.” Pierce hung his head as Mila began to laugh at his expense. “Of course you knew all along I wasn’t so good. You busted me out of a damn jail. How the hell did I not put two and two together?”
She snorted. “Don’t hate yourself too much for that one. That’s a male trait.”
Pierce found himself choking on his own saliva for a second time in a few minutes as he tried to act outraged while also attempting not to laugh hysterically.
Things were going to be all right. He could see that now.