“Where have you been? I miss you. I want you in my life far more than you know.”
“Skyla.” Her voice purrs soft like a kitten, her eyes enlarge as they bear into mine. “You do realize time doesn’t work the same way on the other side. I will try to be far more mindful of that.” A tiny dimple goes off in her cheek as she gives an impish grin.
“What did Gage want?”
She’s quick to shrug. “He said he was checking out suspicious activity. I guess he’s looking out for all of you now, isn’t he?”
“Don’t let him fool you. He’s only looking after himself. And stay away from him, too. He’s dangerous and manipulative.”
A laugh bubbles in her throat. “Believe me, Skyla, I’ve been known to handle a dangerous man or two. Gage won’t hurt me.”
“Maybe not, but he’s hurting everyone else.”
She ticks her head to the side. “So, what do you have planned? You do realize you belong in the position of power, not him—Celestra, not the Fems. You’ve disrupted the entire universe with your inability to act. For goodness’ sake, tell me you’re doing something.”
“I’m doing something.” I glance back at Gage and Logan. “In fact, I’ve got a deadly plan of my own in the works. And I hate that lives will be lost because of it, but in the grand scheme of things it’s for the good of the Factions.”
“What? When? How?” She yanks my hands forward in an effort to pull the answers from me.
“I’m on the brink of hiding the markers, but even so I’m thinking of handing over as many of his people as I can to the government. The feds are thirsty. And this time, I don’t mind feeding them. And then I might just incapacitate as many Fems as possible. Marshall and Mother are willing to provide for me.”
“That’s a major move. Do you think it will work?”
“Yes. I just need my people to side with me again. And I will do whatever it takes to remove Gage from his reign of power. I need people back. I need to weaken his army. I need to slaughter and remove the Fems.”
“And that’s all it will take to put you back in a position of power?”
“Only the Justice Alliance, or the Decision Council can decipher that. But a few successful blows will certainly set me off in the right direction.”
“If I were you, I’d get clear instructions from Mother.” She takes a breath as she looks to Gage. “Good work, Skyla. Just know that I’m busy working for our people, too.” She up and disintegrates before I can ask her another question.
I head over to Logan and Gage and interrupt their heated debate as I wrap my arms around Logan.
“I think it’s time for cake.”
We head back and hoist out a chocolate marvel and a bucket of ice cream. Ellis and Giselle helped me lug it all out here. We sing “Happy Birthday” to the sexiest man I know, the one who never wavers, who is for my people and me, who has my heart forever.
Once everyone’s had their fill of cake, Logan lets the boys go wild with it, and soon all the kids are covered in frosting from head to toe. We wash them in the warm water at the shoreline and bask in the glory of a brilliant tangerine sunset.
“Happy Birthday, Logan Oliver.” I kiss him as a warm breeze licks between us. “I love you.”
“I love you, too, Skyla.” He lands a spontaneous kiss to my stomach, and I catch Gage staring in our direction.
Take that.
August arrives, hot and bloated, like a beached whale struggling to get back into the cool of the water.
The morning of the dual—triplebaby shower is a busy one, with my mother running around frantic as she tries to get the last of her gift bags assembled. The third person in today’s uteral extravaganza is Laken. I asked Bree to include her as a guest of honor and she reluctantly did. Most everyone Chloe and I know, knows Laken as well, and not one person has complained about it other than Brielle herself.
In fact, she’s still bitching about it as we speak.
Bree’s freshly dyed blonde locks are piled on top of her head in a messy bun. “I don’t know why I had to buy her anything. I don’t even like the girl.”
“Then I wish youdidn’tbuy her anything,” I quip as Mia passes me the small lavender lace bag we’re loading up with all of the handmade goodies my mother has been whipping up since Christmas. Mia and Melissa, Em, Chloe the she-devil, Bree, my mother, and I have all been working in assembly-line fashion for the better part of an hour to knock out these goodie bags.
Each guest in attendance this afternoon will receive a little white baby shoe filled with a bag of pink and blue jelly beans (my mother bought out all the baby shoes at the local .97 cent store, and some guests will receive a right shoe and others a left), a plastic wrapped chocolate dipped pretzel rod drizzled pink and blue (handmade by Melissa and Mia—I helped lick the bowl), a small candle encased in glass (the bottom dipped in glue and rolled in lavender glitter—and it is making a damn mess), one of my mother’s masterfully crafted vagina-inspired necklaces with the delicate pearl inlaid on that infamous sweet spot (don’t tell Gage, but she still uses the mold she made from the boys’ feet from when they were newborns), a small bag of cotton candy (she had Mia and Melissa print out labels that readthank you for coming!), and Mia and Melissa, being the deviants they are, added Gage, Logan, and Wesley’s pictures beneath it to create one hell of a double entendre. Evidence that both my sisters will do great at Host University in a just a few weeks. They’ll be commuting, and I’m selfishly glad to still have them at the house with me.
Chloe thought we should include a gift card to The Gas Lab—the restaurant Ezrina and Nev run, that was once my own. Of course, I agreed. But we all know Chloe is shitting her pants because she knows she has to go through an insurmountable amount of pain to deliver that baby, and she’s trying to butter Ezrina up. I’m thinking of holding Ezrina hostage for a few blissful hours on that fateful day. Lord knows I’ve got access to the sexiest binding spirit of them all—that is, if Marshall is up for playing my reindeer games. And if he knows what’s good for him, he will. We are in a war, and all is fair in this hellhole my ex has dragged us off to.
