After the Ending (49 page)

Dani

I snuggled closer to Jason, staring into the fire and
wondering if it was the best night of my life. We’d found Zoe. She was safe. We
were together—all of us. I sighed, completely content.

Standing, Zoe called out over the roar of the
far-too-large bonfire, “Who’s ready for another?” She was tending an impromptu
bar she’d set up on a long, table-like boulder a dozen feet from the flames.
The volume and variety of alcoholic beverages her crew had gathered were astounding,
including a cornucopia of wines, liquors, and beers.

“I’ll take one,” Jason and Jake called out in synch and
then exchanged uncomfortable glances.

Meeting Zoe’s eyes, I stifled a giggle and patted Jason’s
knee. Watching Jason and Jake interact throughout the evening had been
absolutely hilarious and predictably awkward. Once Jason had realized his
sister and Jake were
involved
, he’d taken on the usual protective,
disapproving brother role.

I studied Jake, who was sitting beside Zoe’s vacant spot on
a tarp-covered hay bale. He was different than I’d expected—rugged and
reserved. Zoe usually went for clean-cut, sporty, generally
douchey
guys. But Jake, though definitely athletically built, was none of those things.

“So, Zo,”
I said, intruding on her thoughts while
she fiddled behind the rock bar.
“Jake sure is something. I’m…surprised.”

Zoe looked up and grinned, then masked it with a false
glare. “Well what’d you expect?”

“OMG shut up! You don’t have to speak out loud!
Helloooo
, secret conversation here!”
I screeched in her
head. Jake and Jason were already staring at her for the random statement, as
were a few of the others.

I watched as Harper, lean and muscular with a really
great derriere beneath his fatigues, approached Zoe and asked for a top-off. He
was drinking the same Scotch as Mr. Grayson, something from a simple and very
old-looking bottle. Cocking my head, I appreciated how appealing he looked
leaning his elbows on the boulder, swirling his plastic cup.

Zoe laughed at something he’d quietly said, and I smiled
at seeing her entire face light up. She had a habit of shielding her emotions
around almost everyone, but Harper had definitely weaseled his way into her
heart. Admittedly, I felt a pang of jealousy. For years, I’d been the only one
she would really open up to—or so I’d thought before I found out about the
stupid box—but I truly was happy she’d expanded her circle of trusted
confidantes. Just so long as I was always first, of course.

“So, he’s also kind
of amazing to look at. What are you, like, a hot guy black hole or something?”
I asked.

“That’s definitely
not true. And what about you? Ky’s easy on the eyes. Not to mention that the
sexy, ominous voice belonging to a certain mystery man in my dreams last night
was nice too…How’d you describe him, ‘pretty hot’?”

“Oh, right. Pot and
kettle, eh?”
I said and grimaced.
“But,
back to your men…you and Jake…have you two…you know…knocked boots…made the
beast with two backs…gotten
jiggy
with it…?”
I
wiggled my eyebrows.

At my flippant teasing, Zoe rolled her eyes in
irritation.

“Okay, sorry…didn’t
mean to pry,”
I said, feeling a little hurt.

“No, it’s not you.
I haven’t had the privilege yet…unfortunately. There’s been too much going on,
and we haven’t really had the opportunity. Well, not unless we want an
audience—close quarters, if you know what I mean.”

I thought back on the two months of close quarters Jason
and I had been sharing with our companions—and how little that had stopped
us—and blushed profusely.
“Um…yeah. I know what you mean. Right…”

Zoe shook her head in disbelief, or possibly disgust, and
tried to hide her amusement as she said, “
Normally I’d say, ‘spill’…but, I
really
don’t
wanna
know.”

“Yeah, probably not,”
I said, and my face heated
even more. Unintentionally, I remembered the time Jason had pulled me away from
the group during a lunch stop. He’d practically dragged me into some nearby
woods, braced my hands against a tree trunk, yanked down my pants, and—

“Could you stop thinking about having sex with my
brother, please!”
Zoe squeezed her eyes shut, trying to block the images I
was unintentionally shoving into her brain.

I grimaced again.
“Well…not
really, no. SORRY! I’ll try, I swear, but he’s just so—”

“I get it! Just…stop there…please.”
Zoe picked up
the two cups she’d finished preparing for Jake and her brother, and carried
them to where they sat by the massive fire.

“Okay, I’ll—”

“Oh!” I gasped as the connection between us instantly
disappeared. Turning to Jason, I scowled. “Hey! You said you wouldn’t do that
anymore!”

Zoe, handing a glass of whiskey to Jake, watched us
curiously from the other side of the fire.

“And you said you wouldn’t use it to carry on long,
private conversations when it wasn’t necessary. You know what happens…,” Jason
said, trailing off when he realized he might be revealing too much to people we
barely knew.

“Well, there are
some
things I wanted to know that
aren’t polite to ask when everyone can hear, thank you very much!” I snapped,
but my irritation was deflating rapidly. I was already worn out from using my
telepathy to find Zoe and her people, and Jason didn’t want me to end up
shivering and passing out again.

“Dani…,” Jason warned.

“I know, I know,” I grumbled, pouting.

Shoving Jason’s drink at him, Zoe interrupted, “Wait, you
passed out? I thought you just got sort of ‘tired’.”

I looked at Zoe suspiciously. “How’d you know…are you in
my head!? Zoe! Get out!”

“You were just in
my
head!”

“That was completely different. I couldn’t see your
memories! You could be keeping all kinds of secrets, but I can’t just scoop
them out of your brain. Like with the—”

“Secrets?” Zoe asked, her dark eyebrows drawn down in
confusion. Abruptly, she shifted her gaze to glare at her brother. “Is that
you? Are you…seriously? You’re blocking my Ability?
Really
?” She wagged
her pointer finger at Jason and me. Narrowing her eyes, she said, “You’re not
telling me something.” Hands on her hips, she fixed her penetrating stare on me
and waited for a response.

I shrank back, huddling into myself. I hadn’t seen this
side of Zoe for years. She was one of the strongest, most determined people I
knew. She could be downright terrifying when she wanted something, and at the
moment, she definitely wanted something—information.

Jason cleared his throat and nudged me with his shoulder.

“I need another drink. Care to join me?” I asked Zoe with
fake perkiness. Inside, my stomach roiled uncomfortably.

We trudged over to the array of alcoholic beverages, and
Zoe started concocting something with a half-dozen ingredients. “Um…I was just
gonna have more of this,” I said holding up my nearly-empty, red plastic cup of
wine.

“This one’s for me,” she said, holding up the drink
shaker. She handed me the bottle of Pinot Grigio so I could refill my cup, and
continued on with her task.

Sighing, I blurted, “Zo, I know about the box…your dad’s
box. Jason has it.” When her eyes snapped up excitedly, I added, “He hasn’t
opened it.” I paused, studying her expression. “He said you’ve been obsessed
with it for, like, ever. Why didn’t you tell me about it? Why’d you keep it a
secret?” My voice sounded small, lost.

Zoe’s eyebrows drew down in confusion, wrinkling the skin
between them. Slowly, understanding smoothed her expression. “It wasn’t a
secret. Well…not really,” she said, hesitating. “It’s embarrassing, D. I mean,
what would I have said, ‘my dad has a secret box, and I want to know what’s in
it so badly I’ve stayed up thinking about it almost every night since I can
remember?’ It’s sort of ridiculous, don’t you think? I don’t understand why he
hid it from us.” She paused again. “What if there’s something really horrible
in there?” she asked quietly.

I was taken aback, more than a little ashamed of my
inability to put myself in her shoes. Not that they’d fit, but still…

Zoe mixed her super complicated drink in the shaker and
stared at the surface of the flat boulder.

I suddenly felt like a really crappy friend. “Zo…I’m
sorry. I didn’t think…I just kept wondering why you’d hide it from me. Maybe
like how you wondered why your dad hid whatever’s in the box. I thought maybe
you didn’t really trust me, not completely. I thought…I don’t know. I thought
stupid things, and I’m
really
sorry.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, D. It’s not personal, I
promise. I thought about telling you…but I guess I was sort of scared. I still
am—like knowing what’s inside somehow changes everything—even though none of
that really matters anymore. Jason’s the only family I have left.”

Seeing the raw emotion painting her face, tears welled in
my eyes for the second time that day. “Zo…I’m…I’m just so…so…,” I said, but I
started crying before I could finish the sentence.

“Why are you crying?” Zoe asked. I hadn’t realized she’d
come around to my side of the rock until I felt her arms wrap around me.
Resting her chin on my shoulder, she teased, “All this crying is excessive—even
for you, D.”

Laughing despite my sniffles, I replied, “Oh my God, I
know. It’s getting ridiculous. I’m like a hormonal pregnant woman.” As Zoe
stiffened behind me, I hastily added, “Which I’m not. Absolutely, definitely
not. No way. Yikes!”

As if on cue, we burst into peals of laughter, nearly
collapsing on the ground.

“Oh. My. God. It feels so good to laugh,” Zoe said,
attempting to catch her breath while she held herself up with one hand on the
boulder’s surface.

“Ah! I know!” I agreed. My face was tired and twitchy
from smiling so hard, and I felt like I’d done about five thousand crunches.
“My stomach hurts!”

“You need another drink!” Zoe returned to her side of the
bar and refilled the cup I’d unconsciously drained during the emotional
conversation. Noticing she was starting to make another complex drink for
herself, I didn’t feel so bad about downing my previous one.

“So…” I took a sip of the crisp wine and wiped the
residue of my tears from under my eyes. “What’d you think of MG? You said you
just heard his voice? You didn’t actually see him?”

“No, his voice just sort of appeared as I was having a
delicious dream about making out with Jake…
animalistically
,
I might add. It was awkward, to say the least. Once I realized who he was and
what he was doing, I tried not to freak out. I felt really vulnerable having
him in my head, but it was also sort of interesting. It was surreal to be aware
but asleep at the same time.”

“I know, right!”

“He sounds hot though.”

“I know, right!” I agreed with a giggle.

“Ladies,” Ky cut in. Leading Sanchez and Ben, he sidled
up to the bar and plucked a few clear shot glasses from a stack. Setting them
down, he filled each to the brim with top-shelf tequila and handed one to his
brother and one to the gorgeous, exotic woman at his side.

“Bottoms up,” Ky said. They clinked their shot glasses
together and gulped down the deceptively fiery liquid, all three taking the
burn like real men. But it was
very
obvious that Sanchez was a woman. Ky
quickly refilled the shot glasses, and they headed back toward the fire.

“That’s not a very pretty face, D. Do you smell something
foul or what?” Zoe asked, and I realized my facial features had twisted into an
undoubtedly ugly sneer.

“Something like that,” I said. “What’s the deal with her
and Jason anyway?”

“I’m not sure exactly, but they obviously know each other
from…before.”

Feeling an odd mix of hope and dread, like when opening a
college acceptance letter, I asked, “Well…have you, like,
seen
anything?
Were they…involved? I mean, she seemed really happy to see him, and he
seemed…sort of happy, too…I guess.”

“At the time I thought it was just a weird dream, but I
saw a memory a while ago. They were together…but not romantically—at least, not
that I could tell. They were with a group of friends…at a bar maybe?” Zoe
shrugged. “I’m not sure.” Glancing at me mischievously, she smirked. “Do you
want me to find out for you?”

“You mean, like, brain spy?” I thought about the
offer—really thought about it—and shook my head. It was unbelievably enticing,
and I felt bad that Zoe had to deal with the temptation to delve into people’s
minds, to discover their secrets, every second of every day. “No. I don’t
really want to know anyway,” I lied. And I knew Zoe knew; she could read me
like her favorite, dog-eared, well-worn book—Bob Ross’s biography.

“Okay. Let me know if you change your mind,” she said,
then leaned across the bar and conspiratorially added, “I don’t think you have
to worry anyway…Jason hasn’t taken his eyes off you all night, and Sanchez and
Harper have been going at it for years.”

“What?” I squealed, then covered my mouth and bounced up
and down on my toes. “Oh wow,” I giggled. “That’s
so
freaking juicy!”

Zoe allowed a moderately wicked laugh to escape her lips
as she rounded the boulder, drink in hand, and linked her arm with mine. “Come
on, I’m cold.”

Reaching back for my cup of wine, I exhaled with relief
and let my best friend pull me back to the fire.
We’re okay.

“Remember what I told you about Harper’s visions?” she
whispered near my ear as we slowly walked back to our designated seats next to
our respective men. “I think he had one when he hugged you earlier…his face
looked really worried, and I could feel how upset he was.”