Forget Me Not (29 page)

“I don’t know yet.”

I look around the dim, sparsely furnished room. The small television is on its side against its overturned stand; the hand-knitted blankets on the shabby armchair and couch sprawl out, skewed and amiss. Shattered glass from the cabinet lies all over the carpet, and all of its odds and ends are strewn across the floor. The glass frames on the mantelpiece are crushed, their photos crumpled and discarded on the floor.

My brows wrinkle, and the aching lump in my throat reappears. An image of Al lying bruised and broken on the cold stone table flashes into my mind.

Jax scans the small apartment.  “Looks like they put up a good fight.”

“Poor Al. Where are they now?”

Lilly’s voice comes from another room. “They’re safe with Dad.”

“Thank God.”

Jax plonks himself in the armchair. A loud whoosh of air puffs out of the tweed cushion. Relief they’re safe opens my throat just a little. Safe but not unhurt. Will slides to the floor beside the end of the couch and strokes the sweat-plastered hair from my forehead.

“Do you think Al will make it?” I ask through my thick throat.

Lilly emerges from a door between the kitchen and the lounge with a first aid box. “Yes. I checked him out while we waited for you at the Council building. It’s mainly external damage, nothing too serious. So long as he doesn’t get an infection, he’ll be okay. A few of the wounds looked angry, but penicillin will soon fix them. He’s also dehydrated and half-starved, but he’ll be all right.”

“We went back for you, but the room was empty,” I say.

She kneels beside me and opens the box. It’s stuffed to the brim with bandages and wadding, antiseptic creams, needles and safety pins, small vials of colored liquid. “Bertie cleaned Al up, and while I was examining his wounds, the lights all turned red. It was really weird. Not long after that, we heard a billion people stomping through the hall.”

“A billion?” Jax says. I can’t see him through Lilly sitting between us, but I can hear the smirk in his voice.

“Well, maybe it’s an exaggeration,” she says.

She unwinds the bloodied bandage from my leg. As she reaches the last layers, I wince and squeeze my eyes shut, fending off the sting. The bandage has glued the wound together with the fibers of my pants, and each small tug feels like it’s tearing the scab open.

“I need warm water and a wash cloth,” she says.

I glance around at Bertie’s prized possessions strewn on the floor, determined to look anywhere but at Lilly’s work site. “You ported them back to the farm?”

“Yes. I heard doors open and close and the sound of agents searching, or so I guessed. I think the light was some sort of alarm. They must have found those guards we beat up and knew someone helped Al and Bertie escape.” She sits back on her haunches, appraising my almost-exposed injury. “I wasn’t hanging around with only myself to defend the three of us, but if I’d known who was waiting in the basement back home… I may have risked the agents.” She shoots me a dirty look. Beau.

Jax lets out a booming laugh and hands her a small purple bowl with steam rising above it in fingered wisps. She’s talking nonsense
—nothing at the farm could have possibly been worse than agents.

Lilly turns her glare on Jax. “You ought to laugh, Jax Belfry. Just wait till you get home.”

Jax’s laugh trails off, and I can’t stop the smile creeping onto my lips.

She dips the cream cloth into the bowl and dabs it onto the bandage fused to my leg with dried blood. It stings, but the warmth of the cloth seeping through the mess soothes my pain.

Jax slides back into the chair. “What punishment did you cop—a grounding? Extra chores?” He slaps the arm of the chair. “I know. I bet he confiscated your town privileges.”

She rewards him with a massive pout and slams the wet cloth against my wound.  I suck air in through my teeth and pull away, swatting Will’s hand from my forehead. “Argh.”

“Sorry.” She drops the once clean cloth into the deep bowl’s murky pink water.

Will’s mouth turns up in a smile which doesn’t quit
e reach his haunted eyes, and his hands fall into his lap.

Lilly spins around to face Jax. “He’d been sitting there for hours waiting for you to port back, so I wouldn’t laugh too hard if I were you.” Her eyes glow.

“Whatever.” He shrugs.

She peels the bandage back, and the air hitting the wound stings, but I keep my eyes on Lilly so I’m not tempted to look at the open cut. I’ve always been terrible with this kind of thing. I had to turn my head when the nurse gave immunization shots because the first time I didn’t, I passed out. “How’d you get back out again?” I ask to distract myself.

“I need clean water.” She hands the bowl to Will. “I used my feminine charms to get the spare set of port bands out of Marcus.” She waves her hands in the air with a huge grin, showing off the skin-toned port bands against her slender wrists.

“I didn’t know we owned a second set,” Jax says.

Will hands the purple bowl to Lilly. The water is once again clear, and steam rises from it like a hot cup of tea. Jax swings his long legs around and rests his now bootless feet on the table.

“He said he’s been working on them for a while. Thankfully Dad didn’t know they were ready.” She arches her brows, crooks her head, and her eyes radiate satisfaction.

Will settles back onto the ground without a word.

“Marcus was rostered to guard the tech alarm for the next stint,” Lilly continues. “So I snuck down to the basement. Hopefully he’s still covering for me.”

“That man really has no idea what goes on under his own roof,” Jax says.

Lilly dabs at the wound with a now-warm cloth, looking at it between dabs. When it finally comes away clean, she sets it aside and pulls an antiseptic wipe out of the first aid box. She tears it opened with her teeth and swipes it over the wound. The coolness makes me jump after the warmth of the cloth. The thought of Beau’s anger and the memory of him appearing right as we left makes me chuckle. She reaches above me and pulls down a hand-knitted blanket. Thick lines of red, green, yellow, blue and black all fit together in a zigzag pattern.

“You’re going to have to take off your jeans.”

“Nice.” Jax wriggles his eyebrows.

“Get out!” Lilly throws a cushion at his face. He sweeps his hand up and catches it from the air, snickering as he heads toward the kitchen to join Will, who left the moment she mentioned removing clothing.

I grit my teeth against the pain of my jeans scraping over the wound and pulling at the open flesh. Softer fabric would have been so much kinder. A jostle of the blanket positions it over my middle, covering my underwear. The wool prickles on the bare skin of my legs, but it’s so snug and warm I pull it up under my chin like a small child with a blankie.

“What have they got in here?” Lilly rummages through the box.

“Is it safe to come back?” Will says from the kitchen.

“Yep.”

Both boys walk in and settle back into their recently vacated positions. Jax tosses a plastic packet onto the low lying table, sending it sliding across to a crinkling halt just before the edge. My hollow stomach lets out a loud grumble. I’m so hungry. I snatch at the packet. “Yum, chocolate cookies.”

“Awesome, this is perfect.” Lilly pulls out a small glass vial filled with violet-colored liquid. She holds it up to the light between her finger and thumb. “This will take the pain away.”

“What is it?” I ask.

She clamps her teeth around the cork stopper and pulls it out. “An elixir of lurve. It will fix all of your boy troubles,” she says with a wicked wink.

“Seriously, Lilly.” Jax shoves a cookie in his mouth and saunters into the kitchen like he’s above the joke. A small smile touches my lips. Huh, he’s got nothing smart to say?

“Told you.” Her gaze follows him out of the room, then meets mine and undoes us both. We erupt into giggles.

“It’s a Collective rejuvenation potion. It’ll numb the area and speed up the healing process if applied directly to your wound.” She waves the vial under my nose.

My head spins like I’ve stood up too fast. It’s a strong, unfamiliar odor, sharp like chemicals but mixed with the sweetness of honey. The harsh vapors make my eyes water. I pull away from the assault on my sense of smell. “Ew.”

Lilly places a cotton ball over the end of the vial, turning it upside down, and the cotton turns as violet as the liquid. She rubs it over my thigh. A soft tingle, like tiny drops of water in a hot shower, takes the place of my pain before fading to nothing, leaving that part of my leg numb.

Muscles I didn’t even realize were tense let go and relax, letting me melt into the couch. The unmistakable smell of bread toasting wafts through the air, and my tummy grumbles in complaint despite the lingering taste of chocolate cookie. Will’s hand continues to move across my head, stroking my hair. I push myself up to face him. “What happened to you?”

The strokes stop. He drops his gaze, and his head shakes. “I’m so sorry,” he says, keeping his face turned down. “I stunned the agent with a shock right to his chest. It threw him back into the wall.” He raises his eyes to meet mine, and they’re wide with excitement, but fall quickly with no sign of his smile. “He slumped to the ground, so I looked around to see if Jax needed help.”

A snort comes from the kitchen. Will ignores Jax and continues to talk. “He was fighting like a crazy man. You know Wolverine’s berserk.”

“What?” Lilly scrunches up her face.

“It’s a video game. Anyway, it was like he was consumed in a fearless rage, and I thought if I got in there, well, he’d probably take me out by accident. It was exactly like X-men versus Street Fighter.”

“I’m flattered you think I’m awesome.” Jax walks into the room with a toast-filled plate and cans of spaghetti tucked under his arm. Smirking at Will, he sets them down on the table.

“What?” Will says, playing dumb, his face deadpan.

Jax winks at me, and I wonder why Will bothers. Replying only encourages Jax’s private jokes. Private in that they’re just for him. He’s the only one who ever laughs.

Will pauses in his story while he, Jax, and I grab food and scarf like we’ve never eaten. Lip twitching, brows arched, Lilly stares at us devouring the toast. She must have eaten when she went home, but for me, it’s been forever. She shoves things back into the first aid kit and pulls the zipper closed.

Jax looks over my legs, which are bare to the wound high on my thigh, with a slow, combing gaze. His shining eyes meet mine, and he brings his hand to his mouth, stroking his bottom lip. Our eyes locked, his lips turn up in a growing smile which warms his whole face.

“You look better. There’s more color in your cheeks,” Will says.

I hold Jax’s gaze.

Will clears his throat. “Mae, are you listening?”

Jax’s smile morphs from warm to cheeky. A smile, the twin to his, sneaks onto my lips.

“Mae!”

Breaking eye contact almost physically tugs as my gaze moves to Will. His eyes bore into me, and my head falls, my gaze dropping to the floor. A hot flush darts up my neck, heating my chest, face, and ears to near boiling.

“While I was watching them fight like guys in a bar brawl, something hit me from behind. Hurt like hell. I turned around, and an agent at the far end of the hall shot at me with a gun.” Will stuffs toast into his mouth and swallows in one gulp. “Lucky for me, these suits are gold.”

“Yeah?”

He reaches for a can of spaghetti and shoves his thick finger through the ring pull. “They just bounced right off. I was totally hyped, so I ran down the hall and charged at him. Seconds later, everything went red, like looking at the world through tinted glasses. I stunned him with the mace and it threw him back around the corner into a horde of them. They scared the life out of me.”

“I bet,” Jax says.

Will pulls the metal lid of the can back, curling it open, either ignoring or not noticing Jax’s comment. “I turned and high-tailed it out of there. It wasn’t long after I found a dark staircase like the one we took down to the dungeon. I hid in it until they’d all passed. When I got back to the hall, Jax was gone, and I couldn’t see either of you. You weren’t even inside the room.”

He stops to draw a big breath. Spots of color flush his cheeks, adding a pink highlight to his sun-kissed complexion. I raise my eyes to his, but he stares at the tin of spaghetti, digging a fork into it. “I’m sorry,” he says, “I’m sorry I left you.”

“It’s not your fault, Will. Fights like that are totally unpredictable. Besides, I can look after myself.” I place my hand on his arm, but his face still twists in a pained stare.

“When I finally managed to sneak out of the building,” he continues, “I went straight to the meeting place in the park, and that’s where I found Lilly trying to decipher your message.”

“Yeah, I thought it said Crazy Asshat,” Lilly says.

Jax bursts into loud chuckling laughter, and I shoot him a glare.

Will reaches for the last slice of toast. “I knew right away what it meant, so we came here.”

“He went crazy when you weren’t here,” Lilly adds. “He couldn’t sit still. He kept looking over the balcony every few minutes, until I reminded him you didn’t have transport, and then he finally relaxed.”