“I’m sorry.” Right now, it’s not out of a desire to tease Quill that I rest a hand on Josh’s arm. Though I don’t exactly mind riling him up, either.
“S’okay. It’s worth it. Pretty cool adventure we’re having, huh?”
I can tell his previous cheerfulness is now tinged with something darker. It must be a struggle for him to have ended someone’s life.
“When all of this is over,” I say, “we’ll hang out with your family, and I’ll buy Zoey the biggest doll she’s ever seen. What’s her favorite color?”
“Blue. And she’s not a huge fan of dolls, but if you buy her a book, she’ll love you forever.”
“Ialreadylove her, just for that,” I declare.
“And my parents will love you too,” smiles Josh, looking a lot happier than he was a moment ago, when he was calling our adventure ‘cool’. “When they hear everything that’s happened, I’m sure they’ll invite you right in and coddle you and—”
“Alright, Josh,” cuts in Quill. “I’m thirsty.”
“Huh?”
Josh stops in confusion and turns back to him.
“Forgot my water bottle at the house. Go get it.”
“Quill!” I protest. “That’s not nice, you can’t just order him—”
“Beat it,” adds Quill, and Josh finally gets the hint.
“Right, right. I didn’t mean it like that, obviously. Just as a friend who—”
“What’re you still doing here?” grunts Quill.
“Sorry!”
Josh hurries away, and Quill watches him until he’s out of sight. Then he turns to me.
I’m glaring at him, my hands on my hips, positivelyfuming. Even more so when his mouth twists up into a smirk.
“You’resuchan asshole. You can’t treat him like that. We both owe him our lives. He literally showed up at Devil Tower looking for me, and when Logan went down to free him from the cell, he—”
“If Logan hadn’t left because of him, the mafia wouldn’t have gotten to you,” points out Quill.
“Well, they would have eventually. Logan wouldn’t have spentallhis time with me. He’s not you.”
“Thank God for that,” growls Quill.
I roll my eyes. “Anyway, even before he saved us, Josh was helping me. He’s the one who told Logan you were with Tragen. And I guess Logan knew enough about what Tragen was up to to be able to find me. He shot Tragen, and Josh killed Coltello’s guy.”
“Meaning everyone’s dead, and we should be able to go home,” grumbles Quill.
“Everyone is definitelynotdead. Whoever hired Tragen is not dead, and Coltello himself isn’t dead. And their followers are probably not dead either.
Sighing, Quill pulls me to him, burying his face in my hair. “I’llprotect you. You don’t have to be scared, cricket.”
“I’m not scared,” I mumble into his chest. “Not out here, anyway. I probably would be scared if we went back to Astley. Why do you want to go back? Is this still about your to-do list?”
“No. I don’t want to go back. I just don’t want to be stuck here with idiot Josh.”
“Oh, my gosh, Quill!” I step back, my eyes flashing. “He’s my friend. You need to be nice to my friends!”
“Friend.”
