my lips in thought. “Yeah, it’d be better if we tell him right away.” How fucking awkward is the rest of the trip going to be? Being a third wheel blows. I’m in that seat when Akara and Banks do the whole “we’re best friends and guys and you just wouldn’t get it” routine.
I wouldn’t want Akara to be put in that position.
“Want me to handle it?” Banks asks.
“We should do it together, I think.”
He nods. “Alright. Let’s do it now. Better than sitting in hell.” He slips past me, turns the knob, and he steps one foot into the room and dead-stops.
I come up beside him.
Fuck me.
It’s not Akara.
11
SULLIVAN MEADOWS
Gathered at the motel’s bedroom window, three familiar faces turn around at the exact same time. Like they rehearsed this epic entrance for a We Are Calloway promo.
Maximoff Hale.
Jane Cobalt.
Charlie Cobalt.
My three older cousins. The closest thing I have to older brothers and an older sister.
Surprise doesn’t even cut what I’m feeling. Fans revere Maximoff, Jane, and Charlie, and I’ve always held such admiration for them that I’ve joked with Luna how I’m partly their fan. The other part—I’m just lucky that they’re mine. My friends.
My family.
So seeing them in Wisconsin first brings a wave of joy. They traveled miles and miles. For me?
And then I really look at them.
They’re all zeroing in on my wet hair. Banks’ wet hair. And the bathroom we just evacuated together.
Moffy wears hard confusion. Luna says her older brother is a quintessential Captain America—a do-gooder soldier and team leader—but in my life, he’s the only person able to run next to me and never slow down. To me, he’s like his husband’s nickname for him. Wolf Scout. My mom created the Wolf Scouts, a wilderness & scouting organization. Moffy and I were even in the same troop, until he grew older.
As they always do.
I do too.
Though, in their presence, I feel young again.
“Hey, Sul,” Moffy says first, his green eyes pinging between me and Banks.
“Hey, everyone.” I nod probably way too fucking much. Cumfuck, I’m a shit liar.
Charlie slouches his weight on one leg. His head tilted and eyes roaming like he’s Inspector Gadget inspecting all of…this.
Jane—lovely, beautiful fucking Jane who always has the best words in the right ways, please help me. I widen my eyes at her. She wears the brightest pink lipstick, zebra sweater, and green tutu like the Princess of a Fairy Kingdom that I’m sure is fucking great—but I need her to save me in Wisconsin.
She gives me a furtive nod like, don’t worry. Her focus routes to Banks. “Thatcher’s outside with the others.”
The others?
But I see her tactic. Tension will definitely alleviate if he leaves Moffy and Charlie’s intrusive gaze. Which is good. I try to exhale.
“Thanks, Janie,” Banks leaves in a hurry.
Janie?
I frown. And once the motel door shuts behind Banks, I ask her, “He calls you Janie?”
“Oui. For a while now.” Setting her pumpkin-sequined purse on the dusty dresser, she notices my lingering confusion. “I go eat Sunday dinners now and then with Banks and the rest of his family. He’s about to be my brother-in-law.”
“Yeah, I know.” I just haven’t heard him call you a nickname. Or maybe I have and it hasn’t really registered how close Jane is with her future brother-in-law. Will she be freaked out that I kissed him?
I’m burning up.
But I pivot and ask, “Who else is here?”
“Akara is outside, and now Farrow and Thatcher are with him.” Jane names Moffy’s husband and her soon-to-be husband, both also their personal bodyguards. “As well as Ripley.”
Ripley is Moffy’s eight-month-old son.
“And Oscar.” The tactical badass bodyguard to Charlie. She nods to punctuate the end.
But Charlie adds, “And the drooling canine. My pants were wet for three-fourths of the ride here because of Arkham.”
My brows jump. Less on the fact that Moffy and Farrow brought their puppy along. “You rode with their dog?” I ask Charlie.
“Regrettably,” he says.
Moffy gives him a look. “You chose to ride with us.”
“You did?” My jaw falls. I knew Moffy and Charlie had patched up their fucking horrible feud, but Charlie actively choosing Moffy’s car for a road trip is like bridging two sides of the Grand Canyon.
Then again, Charlie did recently oust the CEO of H.M.C. Philanthropies, giving Moffy a chance to be head of the company again. But as far as I know, Moffy is still deciding whether to give up teaching swim classes for the stress of being CEO.