The others made their way across the lawn—all but Lake and Nico. Atticus reached into his backpack and pulled out more granola bars and water. The boy in Jericho’s arms snatched it, took a big bite, but then immediately broke it in half for the little boy in Arsen’s arms.“Brother’s hungry,” he said.
“We gotta get them out of here,” Seven said. “I know the exchange wasn’t until this afternoon, but I don’t want to wait around to see if a bunch of Sons of Anarchy wannabes are punctual. What do we do with them?”
“My father has a friend in social services,” Atticus said. “She’s going to meet us at the rest stop just before Bennington. We’ll give them over there. She’ll make sure to keep our names out of it.”
“This is yucky,” the little boy said even as he took another bite.
They must be so hungry.
Jericho laughed. “I think so, too. How about we stop and get you something to eat on the way?”
“Jericho…” Atticus said his name like a warning.
“Come on, Freckles. They’re hungry. A trip to McDonald’s in BFE nowhere isn’t going to mess with the plan.”
“Yeah, okay,” Atticus said, giving in easily.
Arsen handed him the toddler in his arms. “Here you go. Good luck. The rest of us are heading home.”
“Lake is heading to a private clinic,” Atticus said. “I’ll drop you a pin. He’s gonna be there for a while. That wound is bad.”
Arsen gave a single nod.
Ever wanted to protest, but Arsen was already dragging him away. He looked back over at the women, who were following Jericho and Atticus at a slower pace than Arsen’s hurried one.
“Why are you dragging me?” Arsen didn’t answer, just kept tugging, leaving Ever no choice but to let him. “Hello? Why aren’t you talking to me?”
Arsen turned on him abruptly, causing Ever to come up short or plow directly into his chest. Arsen gripped his shoulders hard. “You could have died. You could have fucking died. That man had a gun to your head. What were you thinking?”
“I-I heard a baby crying,” Ever said quietly.
Arsen’s face crumpled, and he dragged him into his arms. “You… If anything had happened to you, I would be ruined. Do you hear me? I will never get over it.”
Ever’s tears soaked Arsen’s shirt. “I had to do something. They were crying so hard. I thought maybe it was alone.”
“Your soft heart could have gotten you killed,” Arsen said against his ear.
“I just wanted to save somebody,” Ever said.
“You did,” Arsen shot back, voice raw. “You savedme. You saved me the day I found you, and if I lose you, I will never be okay. I know you have a big heart, and you want to help the world, but please, let me be selfish with you. I can’t stand the thought…” He trailed off. “Please,besenok. Can I just be selfish with you? I will give you your happily ever after. I promise. Can you just let me do that? Can you just let me love you and keep you safe?”
Ever could barely speak past the lump in his throat. His happily ever after.
“Yeah,” he whispered against Arsen’s shoulder. “You can do that.”
“Thank you,” Arsen breathed against his cheek, like he’d granted him some gift.
“Can we go to the bookstore?” Ever asked suddenly.
Arsen pulled back. “What?”
“I—” Ever blushed. “All my books got rained on in the fire.”
“I was professing my undying love and devotion and you’re thinking about books?” Arsen asked, sounding more amused than angry.
“You said happily ever after, which made me think of books, which made me remember my books are all damaged. You said you’d give me my happy ending. My happy ending has books.”
Arsen laughed. “Okay,besenok. Once we get home and get some sleep, I’ll take you to get books.”
