For as long as I could be.
Clay stood over Tommy’s med machine, fiddling with buttons. I watched him for a second before I stepped in the room. He turned and gave me a smile when he heard me. “Did I imagine you coming in before?”
“You didn’t. I thought you were out cold.” I pressed up against his side and let him hold me. “Tommy okay?”
“He was having some bad dreams. I just adjusted that. Let him rest better. I did it for you, too. Little sick of having to take care of my family in the med machines. I want everyone awake, well, and communicative.” He squeezed my side. “How is everything going?”
I sighed. Clay had to be filled in. “In a nutshell, this is what’s happening.” I took a deep breath. “Waverly is going to be sold. We have to go save her. Ari, a super-soldier, and for some reason Jackson are coming to meet us at the space station. Ari can help with Tommy while we go get Waverly.”
Clay rubbed his eyes. “Never a dull moment.”
“No.” I touched the machine keeping Tommy alive. “Certainly not.”
“You slept?”
I shook my head. “No, but I’m not tired. Quinn slept, Keith did, you did. I’m just up.”
“When that adrenaline wears off, you’re going to crash.”
I shrugged. “Wouldn’t be the first time.”
The machine made a slushing noise, a low whooshing sound that was almost background noise if it wasn’t so darn important.
“You going to keep ignoring that I’m basically telling you to go to bed?”
I rolled my eyes and looked up at Clay. “Are we going to be okay? I don’t just mean you and me. I mean all of us. Are we going to be okay?”
The pretense of moving forward, of pushing until what I thought needed to happen happened, was exhausting. And that might be why I couldn’t sleep, not even when I’d lain down with Quinn. Here we were, all of us together, just as I’d wanted—aside from the fact that Tommy was being healed—and I didn’t have the slightest idea what to do now.
We had never stopped, not from the moment we’d met. For the first time I didn’t have a clue what we were all working toward.
“Yes.”
Clay’s simple answer shocked me. “Just like that? Yes?”
He ran a hand through his hair. “Paloma, you spend so much time thinking about the rest of us. I realized it while we were waiting to see if you’d be okay. You really don’t ask for much for yourself. One time, you asked to have your hair done and the promenade and things blew up. You take care of all of us like it’s your job. If you’re losing faith, I’ll find it for you. That’s what a relationship is for. When one of us is weak, the other is strong. In your case, you’ve have four of us. You asked, I answered. Lean on me. I’ll do the carrying right now.”
I sucked in a breath. I didn’t know which emotion threatened to overtake me but they were all playing hard on me right then. Love. Fear. Anxiety. Stress. Happiness. Sadness. “Clay, how do you always know what to say?”
He grinned before he kissed my nose. “I just speak from my heart to you, my love. Always will.” He pointed at the door. “So while I am taking charge, go to bed. Couple of hours at least. I won’t let anything blow up while you do.”
Okay. “I love you, Clay.”
“I know you do, gorgeous.” He patted my ass. “Now go.”
I slept hard. At some point, I became aware of the bed sinking. I’d been dreaming of nonsense. Floating bunnies and dancing space stations. Dizziness from the dreams made me groan, but I was pulled into strong arms.
Quinn kissed the back of my neck. “Sleep, P. I’m not here to wake you. Just share the night.”
I did as he said. I couldn’t fathom trying to talk to him just then. I pressed my face down to the pillow then decided it was too hot. Quinn must have realized my frustration because he flipped it over for me, and I face planted down on the colder side. I closed my eyes.
This time my dreams weren’t quite so easy.
I found myself in handcuffs. Garrison Sandler dragged me down the hall behind him as he shouted obscenities at me. I actually had heard them all before, but the last time they’d been hurled at me was from the mouth of my father when he’d found me after I had sex for the first time.
Garrison threw me into a broom closet. “You’ll stay in here until my sons forget all about you. It will happen. In twenty years, they’ll look at each other and remark that it was funny they ever had their weird wife no one wanted.”
“They’ll never forget me,” I shouted back at him. “Not ever. There will never be a time they won’t look for me, that they won’t find me. That’s what family does for one another. They’re my family. Make no mistake. There might have been a time when I doubted it, when I didn’t believe. But not anymore. They love me completely because that's how I love them.”
Garrison reared back like I’d struck him.
I woke up. The room was quiet, except for the sound of Quinn breathing. I smiled. My inner demons could take their nonsense and go away forever. I wasn’t afraid the Sandlers didn’t love me. I could feel it deep inside, even when I was sleeping.
Quinn muttered something, and I rolled over to be closer to him. Dreams didn’t plague me for the rest of the night.
I woke up to a hand on my arm. Opening my eyes, I saw Keith staring down at me. “Come on.”
“What’s wrong?” That wasn’t how he usually woke me up. A kiss, a hug, a joke. Not ‘come on.’ Quinn’s eyes shot open, too, and he was out of the bed without question. Still in my pajamas, I chased Keith down the hall to the med machine. Dread traveled up my spine, leaving the cold pain of fear wherever it touched.
“Is he dead?” I shouted at Keith’s back, and he shook his head.
“He keeps trying to be,” he answered me. “Clay managed to get the machine to bring him back several times. I don’t know if it really helped or not, but when you did this—nearly died—talking to you seemed to help. I think he’d want to hear your voice as much as anyone’s.”
I hoped he was right. I couldn’t remember anything but odd dreams and nothingness from my times in the machines, but I’d try it.
I put my hand on the machine. “Tommy, hi. It’s Paloma.” In case he didn’t know? Why was I already sounding so stupid? “Um, I know this is hard. You’re not feeling well, and you’ve been through so much lately. We all have. But you don’t get to quit fighting.” Something beeped across the room and Keith crossed to it. Whatever wanted his attention, I didn’t need to know right then. “We have things to do. I’ve been trying to figure out what our future is. What do we do next? Because I’ve got to tell you that I am never, and I mean never, going to try to take back Sandler space again. Not even with the Earth brigade. My days of leading a charge are behind me. So what are we going to do now? I need you.”
“What’s up, Keith?” Clay played with buttons that I hoped were helping Tommy feel better. He didn’t look up from what he was doing.
When Keith didn’t answer, Quinn walked to Clay’s side and studied the panel. “When did you get good at this?”
Clay shook his head. “I’m not. I’m barely competent. But I became as barely adequate as I am when I kept our wife alive. What is your twin doing?”
I kept talking, even as Clay and Quinn continued their discussion. “Tommy, listen, I know it’s hard right now. But I need you to get better so we can all figure out this next step together. I was actually thinking maybe you had the right idea when you were taking care of everyone, before I busted in and upset the status quo. Maybe there is a way to have a quiet life. Maybe we should go back to that house. By the fishing village. Where the Sisterhood used to be.”
Quinn scrunched up his face, talking to me instead of Clay. “I don’t think that’s going to work as a permanent place. There aren’t kids around. Don’t we want to have other children for our kids to play with?”
Kids? Yes, that was something I did want to have some day. “Tommy, did you hear that? Quinn is right. W
e need to be around kids. I am going to have four children. One from each of you.” I really was making this up as I was going along.
Quinn continued to address me. “P, I must tell you, twins obviously run in the family. If you’re planning on having all of us impregnate you, then you might have eight kids.”
“Quinn!” Clay was yelling now. He wanted Quinn’s focus on him. “What is Keith doing?”
“Ari’s here,” Keith finally answered instead of Quinn. “They caught us. I guess those super-soldiers know some tricks to speed. They’re bringing their shuttle on board. I’ve never been so glad to hear from anyone as I am to hear from Ari.”
Keith took off running, and Quinn whirled around. “There’s more than just Diana’s husband who are super-soldiers?”
Clay had enough. He slammed his hand down on the machine. “Is there a reason you didn’t answer me Quinn?”
“I didn’t know what Keith was doing. It seemed a waste of time to interrupt him rather than let him take care of business and tell us. Why were you asking me anyway?”
Clay groaned. “Because Keith was busy, and I wanted to know what he was doing. I’m working on Tommy’s vitals. Paloma is talking to him. You were standing here. It made sense to see if you could go find out what Keith was doing.”
I really couldn’t stand anymore of this conversation. “Enough.”
A muscle ticked in Clay’s jaw. “Sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it.” Clay pressed another button. I needed to learn how to work that thing so I could help. “I’ve never been so grateful to think of Ari arriving.”
Well, that was different than how I’d thought it was going to end. I’d have placed money on them ending up in blows. Maybe things really could get better with time.
Their cousin burst through the door but then flung himself backward, bending over to grab onto his knees. I rushed to his side. What had just happened? “Ari?”
“Are there brown snakes on the walls?”
I took a deep breath. This was a result of the ordeal he’d been through and the drugs used on him. This could easily have been me if Waverly hadn’t gotten help for me as fast as she had. In fact, my father-in-law had called for her to come do that. Why had he done so? I’d have to dwell on that subject another time.
“No snakes.”
Rohan rushed into the room and stopped abruptly next to Ari. He patted him on the back. “Brother, you are going to have to start assuming the things you see are not there. Decide they’re not.”
Ari lifted his head. “I know that. Intellectually, I get it. But you have to imagine how hard it is to suddenly see… never mind. You won’t get it.” He stood and walked to the med machine. “Give me a quick catch up. Tommy’s very sick. We rushed as fast as we could. Actually, I didn’t know ships went that fast. Talk to me. And, hey, gorgeous Paloma. Good to see you again, sweetheart.”
I smirked. Ari was going to be okay. If he could flirt, he’d make it. Clay started talking about Tommy’s condition, and although I started out listening, it was Quinn who caught my attention. He stared at Rohan like he’d just seen a person for the very first time. Canyon came in, Jackson right behind him, followed by Keith.
“I’m not short.” Quinn’s pronouncement seemed off, but what didn’t lately?
I shook my head. “No, you’re not.”
“They are really tall.”
I sighed. I’d forgotten to introduce them. “They have names. Canyon, Rohan, this is Quinn. Quinn, Rohan and Canyon. They are why we came for you. They figured out you were still alive. And this is Jackson. Jackson meet Quinn.”
Quinn put out his hand. “Nice to meet you.”
Everyone shook hands while behind me Ari discussed pneumonia and drug modifications. Maybe this was going to be okay.
Jackson finally spoke. “Not that I don’t love a good dash through space, but why am I here?”
“I don’t know. Diana said you should come. We weren’t in position to have a long talk on the matter.”
“All right. Well, maybe she wants me to look at the ship. How has she been holding up? Any gunfire?”
Keith shook his head. “None. But there might be now. Dad may be just out of range and who knows about the station where they have Waverly.”
Rohan pointed in the hallway. “Another room perhaps. Dr. Ari does very well when there are less distractions. Your brother is struggling to breathe. He’s going to want to pay attention to that and nothing else.”
Quinn’s eyes widened. “Can you hear Tommy breathing?”
It was Canyon who answered. “Yes.”
They were right. We wanted to leave Ari to take care of Tommy. As we were leaving the room, Ari spoke over his shoulder. “Rohan, brother, it’s Dr. Bennett. Or it’s Ari. But Dr. Ari is what children call me. Weird coming from you.”
Rohan exhaled loudly. “So much simpler when all I had to do was plot death.”
Clay linked our fingers together. I was really, really glad Rohan and Canyon were on our side.
“I think we should buy her.” It was Jackson who finally came up with a plan that made sense. I’d listened for two hours as my husbands argued how best to assault the station. I was totally out of my depth and knew it. I’d spent so much time plotting, and I wasn’t any better at it.
But when Jackson spoke, it made sense. “He’s right. Go in. Buy her. Get out.”
“What about the other women?” Quinn played with a piece of my hair. “I know you, P. You’re going to take one look at that situation and want to get out of there with everyone. We can’t buy all of them. That will be suspicious. Also, I don’t think Clay, Keith, or I can go. Dad’s men will know us.”
Clay shrugged. “Then we’ll kill them.”
“Look at Mr. Death. This from you? Kill them?”
Clay pointed at Quinn. “Paloma doesn’t like violence, so I’m not breaking your nose. But know that I want to. Badly. Ari’s even here. He could reset it so I could turn around and break it again.”
Keith groaned, and I sat back in my chair. No, I couldn’t be weak. I made myself rise. “I’m going to go cook us something. You’re all hungry, that makes you grumpier than usual. Then we’re going to talk about rescuing Waverly. I would love to rescue the others. So if that means we go in firing and take out people who sell women to the Dark Planets, then so be it. I guess I’m blood thirsty, too.”
I needed space, and I took it. Chopping vegetables calmed me down. We were going to have to adjust our food rations, although I was sure our four new passengers had brought food with them. We’d combine it into one. Time passed, and I managed to put out an okay soup that would be somewhat nutritious. Vegetables. Chicken. No one would complain. I called to the guys over the speaker system, and they came.
Ari had to be hungry, too, so while the others sat down and started eating, I brought Ari his soup. He sat staring at the med machine with an unreadable look on his face. I set down the soup.
“Everything okay?”
He nodded. “I sorted it out. The breathing will ease now. That’s going to get better. I’m relieved I arrived. There is a nuance to knowing what to do here. We train in two ways in med school. First for having the machine, second for not having it. Sometimes you have to act like you don’t have the machine even when you do. Does that make sense?”
I shook my head. “No. But as long as it does to you.”
Ari sighed. “Listen, gorgeous, it’s not the lungs that concern me. It’s something else. I did a body scan. There’s a reason he caught that infection. The explosion that nearly took you out, and knocked out Quinn? Tommy took a hit, too. Only, no one treated him for it. Did he struggle walking out of the dungeon?”
My breath caught in my throat. “Yes. But I thought it was the infection.”
“No. That machine is going to do its best, but there’s every possibility there will be some damage done to Tommy’s leg that won’t heal. He may have a limp or some other complications. I don’t know. I won’t know unti
l he gets up. We may have to operate outside of the machine, if at all. We’re going to have to wait and see.”
I stiffened my spine. “Well, whatever he needs, he’ll get.”
“That’s for sure.”
I’d see to it.
11
Nice To See You Again
Jackson pointed at the screen. He’d managed to pull up a schematic of the space station where the sale was about to take place. “On one hand, we’re lucky.”
I sat in Clay’s lap. He rubbed his hands up and down my arms. I hadn’t told them yet what Ari had let me know about Tommy. Ari thought Tommy would be in that machine another few days. There would be time. We needed to focus on getting Waverly out. If their heads were going to be as filled with worry as mine was, then we’d never rescue their sister.
“How’s that?” Quinn had been quiet during most of the planning. I was going to have to speak to him about it and get him to talk to Ari for a while, too. If he would. Tommy was usually the one to get Quinn to do things he didn’t want to do. For that matter, maybe Quinn did want to speak to Ari.
I really had to work on concentrating. These thoughts weren’t helping anyone.
Jackson spoke again. “If you father was willing to send his men into the Dark Planets, we’d be shit out of luck. They sell women constantly there. As he won’t cross that border—and sometime I’d like to know why—he’s stuck using the space station right on the edge. They only engage in that trade twice a year. She’s been locked up, but is most likely still there until tomorrow. That’s what I call lucky.”
Well, I’d take that kind of luck for once. “I can’t know for sure, but I think he doesn’t go into the Dark Planets because that is where his brothers are.”
My statement made the room go quiet. Clay cleared his throat. “Maybe he can’t face them as they actually knew him before he was this. Or something. We’d have to ask Ari to psychoanalyze him, but I’m not sure it would be worth it at this point. I don’t want to know my Dad. I just want to be done with him.”