I turned to go back to the bedroom and called over my shoulder as I went. “Rob, don’t let them leave until they figure out how and when they’re going to help us escape.”

Once I had gotten back into the room, I heard the talking begin. Julian’s parents sounded hysterical, but they were cooperating. The guys weren’t taking it easy on them, too, so that helped. A hell of a lot easier than I would have made it for them, anyway. And when it sounded like they had reached a conclusion and Rob was walking them out, I went into the bathroom to take the first shower I’d taken in days.

It was time to start repairing the broken pieces.

After a few long minutes of standing under the steaming water, I heard the door open and saw Michael standing nakedly before me. “Can I come in?” he asked.

I nodded and watched him enter. “That was really something, what you did back there,” he said.

My voice fell flat. “It needed to be done,” I said. “For Julian.”

“We worked out that they will distract David tomorrow. We’ll leave just before sunset.”

“I want to go to Asheville,” I said.

“Don’t you think we should get farther away than that?” he asked.

“No,” I said sharply. “It has to be Asheville.”

Michael looked at me as I stared at him with empty eyes.

“Lisette,” he said in a soft and gentle voice.

It was as if the floodgates opened again, and I didn’t even think I could possibly have any tears left to cry. Michael put his arms around me, and I rested my head on his shoulder as we let the water stream down over us.

“It was my fault, Michael,” I cried. “Julian kept trying to get me to leave and I refused. I should have just gone with him and then none of this would have happened.”

“No, this is not your fault. None of this is your fault. No one could have known that this would happen. All of us wanted to leave, but you were right not to leave anyone behind. That is not what caused this.”

“I’m not going to leave him behind now either,” I said. “Julian had always wanted to go to Asheville, that’s where he said he would take me and so that is where I want to go.”

“Okay,” Michael said as he held my head against him and cradled my neck. “We’ll go to Asheville.”

We spent the rest of the night packing what needed to be packed, which wasn’t much, and putting it in duffle bags that we would place in Rob’s car in the morning. Julian’s parents were scared enough to know that I meant my threat to their lives and the guys were certain that they wouldn’t cross us. They would distract David over dinner with a proposition regarding funding for the underground marketing of his new, and now highly sought after, drug. While they had been talking, Rob had dropped a hint to Julian’s parents about what David had done as far as pushing their son into the path of the bullet. He also dropped a hint about how opening up an investigation with his police unit works. He wouldn’t be here anymore and would be leaving the police force once we left, but it was one last gift that he gave to Julian, and to me.

Something small that might avenge Julian’s death at least a little bit.

That night, none of us slept. We huddled together on the bed and tried to close our eyes from time to time but sleep just wouldn’t come for any of us. It felt strange to still have three sets of arms holding me, but one of them not be Julian’s.

I remembered my mother telling me that the universe worked in mysterious ways, but I was pretty sure this wasn’t what the universe intended. I felt like I had lost my mother all over again, because Julian was the last connection to her that I had left. He was the only other person in the world besides me that could remember her smile and the way she used to nuzzle my face when I did something cute. He remembered the bologna and butter sandwiches that she made, and he used to beat up the kids at school in the lunchroom if they said anything about my sandwich being weird. He was a keeper of some of her memories too and now that he was gone, my mother was gone a little bit more than she already was.

I suppose there was one other person in the world who remembered my mother. But that was the person who took Julian from me, and the one who blamed my mother for turning him into what he was now; a person who cost me my best friend and lover and who took away the last of everything I had. David didn’t deserve to own any memories of my mother. He didn’t deserve to know Julian. He deserved what would be coming to him tomorrow, the surprise of seeing that we had all left and escaped his clutches and that he would be left without anyone even seeking vengeance on him because he simply wasn’t even worth it.

“Do you believe in heaven and hell?” I asked, inviting any of the three of them to answer my question.

“I’d like to think that there’s something after we die,” Rob answered. “But I can’t say that I know the answer to that for sure. I don’t think anyone really does.”

That sounded like the same kind of answer that Julian would say. Maybe the universe did work in mysterious ways like my mother had said.

Adam was quiet. Maybe he didn’t know, or maybe he didn’t want to think about it.

“Do you?” Michael said as he met my question with a question.

“Of course,” I answered. “It would be hard not to believe in hell when you’ve lived there.”

And I’d never heard a more fantastic argument for the afterlife than that.

14

Julian’s parents had insisted that David use his entire security detail to protect the fortune of physical assets they were bringing to dinner.

He wasn’t stupid, so he left a skeleton crew of guards at all of the campus exits. But the guys had been training, and a skeleton crew of just a few guards was something that they were able to easily take out without being noticed.

And just like that, we got into Rob’s car and left.

Rob drove us all the way out of Charlotte and because his car was still registered as an undercover cop car, no one gave him any trouble on the road when he blazed down the highways at well over the speed limit. Michael sat in the front with him and searched online for a place for us to stay. I sat in the backseat with Adam and stared out the window as I leaned against him, watching the blur of scenery and relishing in the feeling of freedom until I fell asleep. I drifted in and out of naps and so did Adam with his arms wrapped around the front of my stomach. No one cared any longer about stopping the corruption at Lineage, we all just wanted to get away from it.

Eventually, Michael found a cute little cottage in the mountains that was listed for rent and as soon as we arrived there, I knew it was perfect.

It was a little A-frame loft home, just like the ones Julian used to show me in magazines. It was nestled between the mountains and surrounded by nothing but land and streams and trees. We went inside and put down our bags and stood looking out the back windows at the mountain views.

“This feels like where we should have been all along,” Adam said.

I couldn’t have said it better myself.

We were all exhausted from the drive and the ordeals of the past few days. As soon as Michael had locked up, we all piled onto the big soft bed and immediately fell asleep. When we woke up, it was dusk and the stars in the sky glittered as if someone had thrown a handful of broken glass into the night and it lingered in the sky and reflected the light of the moon.

“I’m pretty sure this might be the most incredible thing I have ever seen,” Rob said as the three of us stood outside looking at the clear night sky with one extra big blanket wrapped around all of our shoulders.

“This can be our life now,” I said. “We can all be here together and be happy, right?”

I knew that at some point I would need to choose one of them. But now, with the loss of Julian, I didn’t want to think about it. I couldn’t lose someone else.

“Right,” Michael said. “For Julian.”

Adam squeezed my hand and Rob kissed the side of my temple. I let out a deep breath, knowing that at least for now, the four of us all had each other.

The next day, Rob followed up with some of the agency connections that he still had. One of his buddies did him a favor and erased the tags of his car, so that no one could find us or trace us here in the mountains. He was able to keep tabs on things from afar, at least until his friend transferred to another precinct, and he found out that due to Julian’s sudden death, Julian’s parents were indeed about to open up an investigation. With the help of Rob’s intel which he shared with his buddy on the force, David’s drug operation was discovered and brought to light by some of the cops that weren’t in league with the corrupt pay-offs. David’s whole operation had been exposed and shut down, with David now facing charges. A small karmic win, but at least it was something. And more than that, we were out and that was all that mattered.

“What are we going to do here now?” Adam asked. “It’s been so long since I had a choice that I’m not sure where to begin.”

“Whatever you want to do,” I said. “This is our time now.”

That night, though, the dream that came to haunt me made me angrier. I didn’t like my dream this time, especially since it featured him. Julian. My childhood best friend and the first man to ever steal my heart away. I didn’t like that Julian was in it with my mom. Instead of feeling glad that I got to see them, as I usually felt when I dreamt about my mother, I felt angry and upset. I was mad and jealous that Julian got to be with her now, even if it was only inside of a dream. I was upset that seeing him in my dreams reminded me that he wasn’t here anymore.

I missed them both so terribly.