Nathan flashes a disappointed look at Wes, who’s still shirtless, and walks past him into the basement.
Foster takes his time, chatting with Wes at the door to introduce himself, and then they both come into the living room. Foster heads in my direction and slyly holds his hand in a low five behind his back for me to slap. I do so with a laugh, and he takes a seat on the arm of the sofa.
“Sorry to interrupt,” Nathan says flatly. “But I thought I should follow up on the ‘attacked by handlers’ situation.” He looks from me to Wes. “Who would like to start?”
Wes grins, amused by Nathan’s attitude. He comes to stand next to me, still not wearing his damn shirt, and I falter a bit in my explanation.
“We should sit down,” I tell Nathan, motioning to the card table on the other side of the room. “It’s kind of a long story.”
Begrudgingly, Nathan makes his way to a seat, and Foster and I join him. Wes pulls on his T-shirt and flashes me a private smile before taking out his phone.
“I’m ordering a pizza,” he says. “Before the storm gets too bad. Everyone good with pineapple?”
“Absolutely not,” Nathan says immediately. Foster laughs and says he’s fine with whatever.
Wes gives us space, going into his bedroom to call in the pizza, and when he’s gone, Nathan stretches his arms out on the table in front of him and collapses on them dramatically. “Do I even want to know what’s going here?” he asks.
“I do,” Foster says encouragingly.
“I wish this was the height of my problems,” I say, drawing Nathan’s gaze. “I know Gram told you some of what happened today, but...” I shake my head as the fear crawls back in. My temporary distraction with Wes is gone, and my body begins to ache with the truth of my reality.
“The Program is coming for me,” I say in a quiet voice. “It almost got me.”
Nathan’s expression hardens, and he reaches to pull me into a hug. When he accidently touches my head, I wince. He gets to see the damage firsthand, and his body is tense as he listens to the details my gram left out.
I tell him about Melody saving me, her bravery. “She was different, Nathan,” I say, smiling softly even as his jaw tightens. “I got to see the real her. I think you’d like this version. She’s kind of badass.”
“I guess I’ll never know,” he says, avoiding my eyes.
“She wanted me to tell you that she loved you,” I add a little quieter. “She wanted you to know that part was real.”
Nathan flinches, swaying slightly like he’s pained by the words. Foster pushes back in his chair and comes to wrap his arms around Nathan from behind. He tells him he’s a good dude, and the three of us sit together, acknowledging that Nathan got pretty screwed over in this deal. It’s hard to see all the moving parts sometimes, smaller tragedies pushed aside for bigger ones. I hate that Nathan got hurt.
But Nathan doesn’t break down. He pats Foster’s arm to let him know he’s okay. He sniffs once, regaining his composure, and then he faces me with a new determination.
“How do we end them?” he asks. “How do we beat The Program?”
“I have an idea,” Wes says, coming back into the room. We all look up at him, and he’s so... cool about everything. Like none of this surprises him. It makes Foster grin, and I understand that feeling. It’s unusual to know someone without baggage. It’s refreshing, honestly.
Wes grabs a chair and turns it around to sit backward on it. He sets his phone on the table in front of him. “In my research,” he says, diving into the conversation, “I saw that Realm went to Corvallis quite a bit. There was a passing mention of someone named Anna Realm. What if I track her down?”
“Who is she?” I ask. “His mother?”
“I don’t know,” Wes replies. “I didn’t think much of it at first, especially since it was only a quick mention. But now I’m thinking this guy Realm knows how to stay off the radar. Is his whole family like that? Maybe, or maybe they’re like, fucking accountants—just living their lives while he runs around stirring up shit.”
Nathan laughs and covers his mouth. Wes picks up his phone to scroll through the Internet. “Just a thought I had.”
“It’s a good thought,” I say, earning a smile.
Wes goes to grab his laptop, and when he returns, I tell Nathan and Foster everything else I can think of about today, everything we learned. Even the part about being friends with Realm. I leave out the stuff about me and Wes since we’re at his house and that would be weird. At least, I thought it would be.
“I’m assuming we were all friends before?” Wes asks Nathan and Foster. They’re a little thrown by the question and exchange a look.
“It’s okay,” I say to them. “Dr. McKee was full of shit. I told Wes everything, and his head didn’t explode this time.”
Wes is impressed by my joke and clicks into a forum on the web page.
“Yep,” Nathan says. “I mean, not super-close friends.” He looks sideways at me because he and Wes had a strained relationship. Not jealousy in a romantic way, but in a “competing for my time” way.
