The three of them head off and Chloe chortles with delight. “So it begins. That man treats me like a queen.”
I turn to find Wes by the door and speed over as if I were about to tackle him, and how I would love to shove him through the damn wall.
In a moment I’m on him, swinging open the front door that just saw Skyla leave, and I land us on the other side like a morbid ballet move. My fists knot up his jacket as I crash him to the side of the house again and again.
“You little shit!” I riot in his face.
Wes flicks my arms off in an aggressive move, the fury etched on his face matching mine.
“Skyla knows I have the power to give life or deny it.” My chest pumps heavy and hard. There’s not enough air on the planet to satisfy me.
His cheek flickers with the hint of a smile. “Well, brother, it looks like you chose to give it.”
Wes and I stare one another down, look through one another as our respective shitty futures glare right back at us.
Wes gifts me a hard shove to the chest. “If you wanted to ensure an empty womb, you should have fucked her yourself.” He takes a step toward the door. “Pull it together and get back inside. Your wife is with child.” He glares at me with a hatred I have never felt from him before. “And believe me when I say, they are both very much yours.” His lips pull back. “A baby. I guess the devil gets his cut, after all.”
The fog does its best to cool me, but this hell burns bright in my spirit, and the chilly hand of the fog only highlights how much misery I’m dipped in.
I head back in and spot Em, Nat, and Michelle catering to Chloe, her feet already up on an ottoman.
Chloe is left, so I go right. It takes great effort to maneuver through the tangle of bodies, half of them disembodied. They’re not even trying to hide it. If this is some new strategy Skyla has employed, my mind can’t keep up with her. Don’t know what it means, don’t care. The universe just took another royal crap on my head, and I haven’t had a chance to wipe my eyes clean yet.
“Gage Oliver.” A warm hand lands on my shoulder and I find a friendly face, one that looks remarkably like the face I love like a brother, Cooper Flanders. “Just the man I was hoping to see. Got a minute?” He navigates us to the patio and I’m back in the thick of the mist, my body ablaze and frozen all at the very same time. It feels surreal, but the shock of seeing Skyla hasn’t worn off yet and I’m still numb to my weary soul. She was stunning. The stars should bow to her glory. And they will one day. I’m making sure of it myself. I’ll write my apology in the stars when this charade is over. But in the meantime, this is a fight I cannot lose. At the end of the day, I am an innocent man who chose love at all costs. Some might say the cost is too high, but I disagree. Eternal separation is in the bounds. I would slaughter my mother in her sleep if I could prevent an eternity without Skyla, without my children.
Coop winces. “Congratulations. It’s certainly been a banner year for you. New body, new wife, new life. It doesn’t get better than that.” His lips expand with a shit-eating grin.
This isn’t Coop. Cooper Flanders is a good and decent guy. He doesn’t stick a rusted blade into someone else’s wound. But then again, he doesn’t know I’m wounded. No one does. That’s the point.
“Thank you.” It comes out without sound, a clicking of the tongue. If anyone on the planet can relate to my abject misery, it’s this guy. Wes has shoved a shit sandwich down his throat for the last solid year. I’m sure if he knew that I repaid Wes the favor last month he’d be congratulating me on a whole new level.
“You happy?” That glee in his eyes dissipates a notch. “Getting everything you wanted—is it what you thought it would be?”
A crowd of women breaks into cackles down by the barn, loud, supernatural howls, and I can’t help but think they sound like witches.
“Yes, Coop. It is every damn thing I thought it would be.” A fucking nightmare. “I’d ask how you were doing, but I think I’ve got a pretty good handle on it.”
He rocks back on his heels, a dark chuckle in his mouth. “You’d be wrong. In fact, I’d say things are finally starting to look up for me.”
“Really?” Of all the people who could have pulled me from my stupor, I would have placed Coop at the bottom of the list.
Coop and I bear twin sorrows and identical goals in life—get the love of our life back where she belongs, in our own damn beds. Skyla most likely will never land in my bed again, but I’ll settle for eternity.
Heis making everything new, including my relationship with Skyla. These are the shitty terms and I accept my fate. Coop still has a damn good reason to fight. Not that he’ll win. Not with my brother. Wesley wins every dogfight he’s in. But it’s admirable to see Coop struggle to survive. Laken has her memories. Game over. But I’ll be the last to break it to him.
“Let me guess,” I say as we step into the darkness. “You’ve got a new plan in motion on how to get Laken back?”
“That I do, my friend.” His eyes widen a notch, his demeanor hauntingly serious, but there’s a playfulness in his tone. He’s mocking me, and for the life of me I can’t figure out why.
Coop examines me with those look-alike Logan eyes, his penetrative gaze feels intrusive, unfriendly, and it’s sure as hell unwanted.
“What is it, Cooper? If you’re here to make me feel like shit, about a dozen people already beat you to it. I’ve enraged Skyla. I’ve got kids that wonder why the hell I’m not in their lives anymore like I used to be, and every Faction member on the planet would like to invert my balls. So let’s have it. Belt out your verbal assault, or let’s go with the physical one. Either way, I’m okay with it.”
A good old-fashioned fistfight is something I’ve been craving. Personally, I was expecting another one from Logan, but he’s laying low, letting his anger smolder, ignoring me at every turn. The last time we truly spoke was the night I kicked Celestra to the curb. He let me come into his home. Ellis came over and we watched a movie and got stoned because we had to.
“Iknow,” Cooper whispers, his eyes drifting to each of mine. There’s a palpable irritation in his voice.
“You know what? My life hasn’t exactly been under wraps for the last few months. What do you profess to know, Coop? The fact I slaughtered your people, or the part where I married Chloe? You said it best, Coop. It has been one hell of a banner year.”
