The Long Game (The Fixer #2)(86)

Ivy had been convinced that wasn’t an accident. It was too neat, too clean, too convenient.

Unfortunately, the shooter resisted. The words the president had spoken to me the day before echoed in my head.

Too neat. Too clean. Too convenient.

“Morning, Tessie.” Ivy turned over onto her side. “How did you sleep?”

I woke up thinking. I can’t stop thinking.

“Yeah,” Ivy said softly, taking in the expression on my face and the dark circles under my eyes. “Me too.” She pushed a strand of hair out of my face. “How about I attempt to channel Bodie and make us some pancakes?”

Ivy was many things, but a good cook wasn’t one of them.

“Don’t give me that look,” Ivy said. “I’m a professional. I fix problems for a living. I’m fairly certain I can handle some pancakes without causing our kitchen to explode.”

The kitchen didn’t explode, but the pancakes did. Ivy called Bodie to undo the damage. When he walked through the front door, he wasn’t alone.

“Look who I found lurking on the porch,” he said.

Vivvie hovered in the doorway for four or five seconds, her big brown eyes fixed on mine. Her lips trembled, and I thought of the way we’d left things in the hallway.

You’re supposed to be my friend. My best friend—

Before I could finish the thought, Vivvie launched herself at me, jackrabbiting across the room and flinging her arms around me. She pressed her face into my shoulder and hugged me hard. My arms curved slowly around her.

Bodie and Ivy exchanged a glance, then made their way into the kitchen. I barely noticed. All I could think was that the last time I’d seen Vivvie had been on the security feed. Her hands had been bound behind her back. She’d been trapped, terrified.

“I’m sorry I got mad at you!” Vivvie blurted out, pulling back to look up at me. “When everything happened, and I didn’t know where you were, and people were getting shot, and—”

“Hey.” I kept my voice soft but caught Vivvie’s attention before she could progress to full-on babbling mode. “You had a right to be mad, Vivvie. You had a right to be upset. I knew something—something big—about what happened with your dad, and I kept it from you.”

“I’m glad you didn’t tell me,” Vivvie said fiercely. “I don’t want to know, Tess.” She swallowed, her thumbs worrying at the sides of her index fingers. “That’s what I realized, when I had a gun pointed at my head. I love what we do. You and Henry and Asher and me.”

The way Vivvie said Henry’s name, wedged between mine and Asher’s, was a knife to the gut.

“I love helping you fix things,” Vivvie continued. I could hear the tears in her voice before I saw the sheen of them in her eyes. “I like making people happy and righting wrongs. I like being us. But I’m okay with letting someone else handle conspiracies and terrorists and things that can get people killed. I don’t need answers.” Vivvie pressed her lips together and offered me a teary, apologetic smile. “I’m not like you, Tess. Or Henry. Answers don’t matter to me. People do. And if not knowing is the cost I have to pay to keep any of us safe—I don’t need to know.”

There was so much I couldn’t tell Vivvie—about Henry and Senza Nome, what had really happened in that school, the fact that Daniela Nicolae was still out there, alive.

“Okay,” I told Vivvie. She was giving me permission to protect her. I loved her for that.

“I’m going to hug you again now,” Vivvie warned me. Before she could make good on the threat, the doorbell rang. Vivvie glanced out the window, then grinned. “You might want to prepare for a group hug.”

A second later, she flung open the door, and Asher bounded in. “Did I hear someone say ‘group hug’?” he asked, throwing an arm around each of us. “What’s next on the agenda? Might I suggest either an impromptu dance party or an epic battle of pillow fight proportions?”

“No.”

The answer to Asher’s question came from behind him. I looked up and saw Emilia standing in the doorway. For a second, as our eyes met, I saw her in the library. I saw her stepping out into the aisle. I saw her thrusting her chin out and facing Dr. Clark head-on.

“Asher’s been banned from pillow fighting.” Emilia’s voice gave no hint to whether or not her thoughts in any way mirrored mine. “Trust me,” she continued dryly, “when I say it’s a kindness to all involved.”

You gave yourself up for me. You risked your life for me.

“What?” Emilia shot back, staring me down. “Do I have something in my teeth?”

She didn’t want a thank-you any more than she’d given me one for taking on John Thomas for her.

“I could be wrong about this,” I told Emilia, “but I’m pretty sure they call it a group hug for a reason.”

I saw a flicker of raw surprise cross Emilia’s features before she hid it. Asher latched a hand onto his twin and pulled Emilia to the rest of us. Vivvie wasn’t one to question a hug, so within seconds, she had one arm wrapped around Emilia and one around me. Asher kept hold of his twin and pulled me tight.

A little too tight.

We started to topple. Asher threw his whole body into it and brought all four of us to the floor. Vivvie started giggling.