"I've been so mad at you," I say, relief flooding over me. "But I missed you, too." I hug my arms around my torso, suddenly feeling so cold now that the guys are in the other room.“And since when do you bake cookies?”
"Since I had to figure out how to apologize. It was Magnus's idea, so if they suck, blame him. What else can I do?" June asks me, her gaze serious like she truly wants to make this right.
"For starters…" I huff. "Don't lie to me ever again. I still don't know everything that's happened, or what it is you do for a living, but it's time that I find out. This life, I'm in it now, whether you want me to be or not. Silver and Miller are a part of it. Alec is too, in his own way."
June does a terrible job hiding a smile. "Can we talk about the fact that you're dating three men?"
"Apple doesn't fall far, does it?"I roll my eyes and shove her playfully. "But seriously. No more lies. No more walls between us. There's a difference between being private and hiding things from me. I know you're a reserved person, you've always been that way. But you have to talk to me. You have to tell me things. I want to be there for you, June."
"I know. I should have been honest. I just didn't know how. I'm working on it, the being open thing. It doesn't come easy. I'm sorry it came between us. I recognize now that we can't be there for each other if we don't communicate." June tucks her jet-black hair behind her ear. "I won't lie to you anymore. Not about things that matter."
"Don't add a disclaimer like that." I point at her. "No lies, ever. Deal?"
She holds out her hand, her pinky toward me. "Promise. But same goes for you."
I look at her outstretched hand and then her.
"I don't want anything to come between us ever again," she says, a hint of something I've never seen her exude...it's almost like she's being vulnerable for the first time ever, at least, with me.
I slide my pinky around hers. "Deal."
When I woke up this morning, settling things with her was not something I thought would happen, even if it was something that I deeply wanted, even if I wasn't willing to admit that to myself fully.
June has been, in her own unique way, a great friend, even if her methods aren't ideal. The thought of moving forward past what I've been through without her wasn't something I yearned for. Sure, we have more to discuss and the trust between us to rebuild, but the great thing about life is, we have time.
Something I thought I had lost, the stiletto piercing Ricardo's skull giving me back what I thought he had stolen.
But even though I regained that freedom from him, I still lost my mother and my father, despite him living to tell the tale. I hate that he gets to continue breathing when my mom is the one who deserves to be alive.
"June..." I meet her gaze.
"Yeah?"
I ask her a question I've been holding onto for far too long. "Have you ever killed anyone?"
She chuckles and rolls her top lip between her teeth as if she's pondering the answer to the question. "Lately?"
My eyes widen and I clasp my hand over my mouth. "What the fuck, dude, really? How many?"
I scoot onto my bed and June does, too, both of us kicking our feet up and confessing things that would absolutely land us either in prison or a mental institution. Nothing about what we've done is right, but I'm reminded of the thing Miller told me when I struggled with the guilt of not feeling guilty after killing my boss: just because something is illegal, doesn't make it wrong.
And after she's told me some of the things she's gone through to get to where she is today, I come to terms with the fact that he was right.
June and I aren't bad, we've simply figured out a way to overcome what's been forced on us. It was our lives or theirs, and we chose to live.
A knock draws my attention to the door, Alec standing there in the doorway, his arm reaching to the top of the frame. "Did we interrupt?"
"We?" I look past him, the rest of the guys, June's and mine, filling the hallway.
Magnus shoves past him, two bags in his grasp. "I ordered take-out." He comes right over, plopping onto the bed next to me and June, making himself right at home.
And in a way, my heart recognizes that’s what this is: home. Not a place, but here, with these people surrounding me, uplifting me, loving me, despite going my whole life thinking I'd never find what I have with them. I thought I knew what I was missing until I was overwhelmed with their presence around me.
We might be killers. We might be the villains of this story.
And they might not be blood, but they are my found family.
EPILOGUE – CORA
