“What the fuck?” Jacob says the moment his eyes land on Claude.
Claude just grins cheerily around said apple. “Welcome back, brother. We are team now!”
Oh, fuck me.
CHAPTER 13
MASON
The house quiets once Claude leaves, everyone settling into their own corners. There seems to be an unspoken rule that shit’s about to hit the fan, and everyone wants to spend the final evening minding their own wounds.
Once upon a time I would’ve hated my house being full of people, especially people who I don’t know as well as Reid, but it oddly settles me in a way to have them all here. The small noises they make, the fact they all wash their hands when they come in and out, their shoes stacked by the front door. Sure, they could have an illness that drops me to my knees, but maybe life is made up of more moments than being afraid of a cold that incapacitates me. I think my therapist will be very proud of my recent developments.
Can’t tell her my growth is from my recent escapade as a murderer though.
After a scalding hot shower to settle my nerves, I pace in front of the bed, waiting for Parker to join me. It’s been thirty minutes since he disappeared into a guest room with Jacoband Hayden, Dante and Reid downstairs blowing off steam outside.
The door finally creaks open to reveal an exhausted-looking Parker. I smile at him, hoping to ease his nerves, and wouldn’t you know, it works? His shoulders lower a little and his eyes get that glint in them that makes me feel like the only person on the planet.
“How is he? Did they talk?”
Parker shakes his head furiously. “Hayden refuses to speak to Jacob. Jacob spoke at Hayden for a few minutes, but then Hayden left to go to your study, and Jacob and I just caught up.” Parker runs a hand through his hair. My eyes get caught on the movement, wanting again to touch him in a way to comfort him, the feeling still foreign but nice. “I feel like the team is falling apart when we need to be the most together. I don’t know how to fix it.”
I take a few careful steps closer, close enough so he can feel my warmth, but we aren’t touching. “You’re doing your best. It’s not your responsibility… I don’t want to misstep, but I think some of this is Robin’s fault.”
“I… I kind of think you’re right.” Parker reaches out slowly, and I let him take my hand. We sit down side by side at the edge of my bed. My heart beats wildly when he tilts his head to rest it on my shoulder. “I’ve spent all these years thinking I was socool, trying to be the best that I can be, to earn approval, make us the best, but I’m starting to wonder for what. This whole plan… What’s the purpose? We’ve never been told. Hayden has this blind belief that it’s for the greater good. If we just keep going, we’ll find out. But we all graduate this spring and still don’t know anything. I don’t know anymore, Mason. I can’t let Jacob be the fall guy. And now Robin’s brought Claude into the ring… I don’t understand anything anymore.”
I turn my head and press a kiss to Parker’s forehead. “Maybe we feel things out, play from the inside.”
“What?”
“Well, when Claude kidnapped Reid, he wanted to know who else was working for Robin. There are more of you. More of us. Maybe we need to connect with them to figure this all out, and maybe we need to consider that Robin isn’t as altruistic with their motives as you’ve been led to believe.”
Parker lets out a pained sigh. “I can’t entertain the thought we’ve been doing all of this forbadfor the past three years. The entire point was forgood.”
“I know, but this is the first step. We can figure out the rest as we go. Right?”
Parker tilts his head to kiss my chin, making me shiver. “You’re so smart.”
Oh. I can tell where this is going. “Parker…”
“Distract me. I don’t want to think about this anymore. I want to think about you for a little while.”
“Me?”
Parker nods against my neck. “Always you.”
He slips his hand under my shirt at the same time that I fall back on the bed, letting his bodyweight fall on top of me. The room is dark, sun set a while ago, but it’s easy to see Parker even in the shrouded darkness of my room. He lights everything up, the darkness never that dark when I’m in a room with him. This love inside me could threaten to make me burst into a million little supernovas until maybe we become one.
“Hey,” I whisper, trying to get his distracted attention.
Parker lifts his head from where he’d been kissing my throat, eyes dark and needy. “Yeah?”
I trace my fingers over his eyebrows, settling them in his hair to tug a little. “We’ll figure all this out. I promise. But for now, I’ll let you take me apart and put me back together, if that’s what you need. It’s okay for us to need each other, I think.”
Parker smiles softly, tilting his head to nuzzle his cheek against my wrist. “You’re so soft, but not when I give you a gun.”
I snort with laughter. “That’s my tagline. Soft, except when he has a gun.”
