ENEMIES(67)

Nicole gave me one more hug, and I was back to being a mess, but a good mess this time.

“Okay.” She stepped back. “Get dressed and get all hot for your man.”

My man.

I sighed after she left.

My man. Her words echoed in my head. Stone and I said no romance. We hated each other, then bam, death put us in bed together, and that’s where we still were. And my phone buzzed.

The driver was here.

I didn’t have time to ponder that.





The driver’s name was Morpheus.

I thought he was joking until he took a call and I heard the other person call him ‘Morph!’ so yeah. Morpheus. He didn’t look like the Morpheus I was thinking. He was a young guy, dressed in a button-down shirt, jeans, and black and gold leather dress shoes.

The shoes made me pause, but okay, then.

He picked me up in an SUV, and driving to the stadium, I could tell he’d done that a time or two. He whipped around, used side alleys that I didn’t think cars should drive in, and then he pulled up outside of door 8. I hadn’t told him I needed door 8, so there you go. The epitome of professional service.

“Here you go.” He turned to me, sunglasses hiding his eyes. “Mr. Reeves said you’d go home with him?”

Took a moment, but he was asking me that.

“Uh. Sure. Yeah.” I had no clue. But it didn’t matter. That felt good, knowing that Stone was planning for that.

And I wasn’t pondering that either.

From down the sidewalk, merging out of the crowd of people going for the main doors, I saw Georgia first. She was tall, long black hair. Her complexion was so clear and gorgeous. She looked like Gina Torres from Serenity. Her husband was next to her. He was the male version of Gina Torres, and ironically, dressed similarly to Morpheus. Cream-colored button-down shirt. Jeans. Leather dress shoes.

Two boys came from behind, and a little girl.

Apollo. His sister, but my gaze was on Jared.

He’d gotten taller. Could that happen? But yes. The last time I saw him was Thanksgiving the year before. He would’ve been a junior, and he’d shot up at least another inch, maybe more. He was lean. Wearing a Kings ballcap, a Kings jersey, and Nike shorts, his feet were decked out in the latest shoes. Apollo was dressed the same.

I got out of the SUV, my knees knocking together.

Georgia saw me first. A bright smile showing, she came over and enveloped me to her. She smelled like peaches and citrus. A big squeeze. “Oh, my girl. Dusty.” Another squeeze before she stepped back. She wiped a tear away.

Hands on my shoulders, she held me for another moment, just taking me in.

“You are so beautiful.” Her hand cupped the side of my face. A sad smile pulling at her mouth.

Her mouth tightened, her jaw starting to shake, and the tears began falling.

Her husband stepped up, sliding an arm around her shoulders, he drew her to him and nodded to me. “It’s nice to see you, Dusty.”

A pair of arms wrapped around my waist.

I looked down.

Dark curls were there and I had to think a moment. Apollo and Angelina. I couldn’t remember how old Apollo’s little sister was, but she looked up, a beaming smile. “Hi! Did your mom really name you after dirt?”

Apollo groaned. “Angie, you weren’t supposed to say that.”

“What? That’s what Jayjay told me.”

Jayjay.

I knelt down, hugged Angie and whispered in her ear, “No, but that’s what Jared likes to tell little girls that he’s fond of.” I pulled back and winked at her.

I was guessing she was eight because her eyes got big and she started blushing.

Standing, I looked at my brother.

He was fighting back tears.

My eyes were red and my own were coming. I didn’t fight them. They fell free, and seeing them, his own started flowing. He was holding a soda in his hand, but it fell and he just stared at it on the sidewalk.

I didn’t think he saw it.

I went to him, and in one breath, I pulled him to me. “Hey.” I wound my arms tight around him.

He stiffened. His body was so skinny. Tall, but skinny, but damn. His arms came around me, too, and he wasn’t weak, like at all. Oomph. He was hella strong. Holy Jesus. He was almost crushing me, hugging me so tight. I felt his body start to shake, and I felt the wetness on my shoulder. I just hugged him harder. The two of us, we were crushing their memories between us. Gail and my dad. Who were they? If we hugged just a bit harder, we’d make them disappear, or bring them to life. Right? That’s how it worked?

No. The harder we hugged, the faster the tears fell.

We were all a mess. Except for Angie. She was trying to stop the soda from running free when Jared and I separated.

Georgia. Bud. Even Apollo was having a hard time holding back the tears. Jared’s eyes were red-rimmed, swollen, and I could only imagine I looked worse. We all stood in a circle. I wouldn’t let go of Jared’s hand. Georgia came over, hugged me again. She smoothed her hand up my back in a comforting motion.

And Angie. She started crying because the soda wouldn’t stop running over the sidewalk.

“Oh dear.” Georgia laughed, realizing what her daughter had been crying about. She scooped her up, and her husband helped to clean Angie’s fingers.

And Jared, he was just staring at me. “It’s good to see you.”