Chapter 355
I open my mouth to say more, to explain everything, but Jackson wraps a gentle hand around my arm.
“They already know about what Blythe said about Juniper,” Jackson whispers to me. I turn my face up to him in surprise. “I told them when you were in the shower.”
“We have a call out to mom,” Rafe says quietly, looking at me curiously. “But you don’t have…like any idea about how he knew her? Just that she said something to him about…you?”
I shrug, shaking my head. “I don’t know anything else,” I say. “I was trying to get out of there as fast as I could. God, I should have –“
“Don’t, Ari,” Jesse says, looking at me sadly with his kind brown eyes. “There’s no way you could have known.”
I let my eyes drop to the floor. “Two,” I whisper, exhausted. “Two boys dead in one day.”
“It’s horrible,” Rafe agrees, nodding. “But if it helps…you saved a great deal more.”
I look up at him, not understanding.
He leans forward towards me. “You’re right, Ari – we were shit with those guns. We had one, maybe two full days of training on them. If you hadn’t used your magic and taken down those helicopters, they’d have continued firing. They’d have taken many, many more of us out and gotten behind our lines. You saved a lot of lives yesterday.”
I swallow hard around the thickness in my throat, considering that. And even though it does nothing to dull how much I miss Tony, how sorry I am about Blythe…it does help.
I nod to him, grateful for the perspective.
But Rafe just sighs and stands. “We have to go.”
Jacks stands up and puts me on my feet, clearly hating to do it but knowing he has a responsibility.
“Come on, trouble,” Jesse says, holding out a hand to me. “Let’s go bother Daphne. Drink a bunch of her wine.”
A little smile turns the corners of my mouth as I slip my hand into my cousin’s and give it a squeeze.
A little cry bursts from Daphne’s lips as she opens the door and sees us standing there. I frown in confusion at the little grey cat sitting on her shoulder, but there’s no time to think about it as she falls forward, wrapping me in a hug the moment I step into the room.
“I’m so sorry,” she whispers, holding me tight. “I heard what happened – it’s so horrible –“
I start to cry again, unable to help it, hating myself for it just a little bit. But hating so, so much more that Tony’s gone.
“Now now, don’t get her started Daphne, we just got her dry,” Jesse murmurs, his voice filled with sad humor.
“Oh, I’m so sorry,” Daphne murmurs, pulling away from me and wiping at her own wet face, the little cat peering at me curiously.
“When…when did you get a pet?” I murmur, lifting a hand towards it.
“It’s Jesse’s,” Daphne says, turning now towards him with her arms open. Jesse steps immediately into them, wrapping her up in a hug, pulling her tight against him. I can’t help but smile a little to see them together like that, even as I sniff and shut the door.
“How was mittens?” Jesse murmurs, pressing a kiss to her hair. “Did he behave? Sometimes he gets creative with his definition of a litter box.”
“Oh, shut up and kiss me, you idiot,” Daphne snarls. Jesse just laughs and complies with her demand, kissing her deeply. I let them have their moment, following the little cat as he jumps off of Daphne’s shoulder and walks over to the bed.
“Hello,” I murmur, bending down to study his pretty little face, but then I gasp when I realize that he’s not quite real, is he? No, he’s not just smokey grey – he’s made of shadows. “Jesse!” I gasp, spinning towards him.
“What?” Jesse asks as Daphne turns in his arms and leans back against his chest. He rests his chin on her head and I pause a second, smiling, because the two of them together is just so…
Cute.
Daphne’s face breaks into a grin as she senses my thoughts, and I can’t help smiling back at her.
The kitten jumps on me though, distracting me into a little laugh as he climbs from one of my shoulders to the other, scrabbling across the back of my neck. “Are you making him do that?” I ask Jesse, fascinated.
“Sort of,” Jesse says with a little frown. “But when I made him I gave him like…a personality, so he would make Daphne laugh while I was gone. He didn’t disappear?”
“No,” she says, looking up at Jesse and shaking her head. “He was my little companion. It was very comforting, having him here. Plus, I wasn’t allergic to him like I am other cats. And he didn’t eat or need to go to the bathroom.”
“See? Perfect pet.” He beams down at her and I’m struck again by just how easy and perfect these two are together, how incredibly right.
I grin, thinking that they’re kind of idiots for not figuring it out in the first place.
“So, how long do you guys have?” Daphne asks, looking up at Jesse. “Can we hang out?”
“Yup,” he says, nodding to her. “Rafe and Jacks are at a meeting. I didn’t want to sit with this sad sack all alone – too depressing –“
“Hey, you’re sad too,” I say, glaring at him and gathering the little kitten into my hands as I sit down on Daphne’s bed. The kitten mews, brushing himself against my fingertips. God, he’s actually soft – and warm –
“Of course I am, cousin,” Jesse says, giving me a sad smile. “Just trying to make you laugh. It breaks my heart to see you like this.”
“Well, if we have hours and nothing to fill them with,” Daphne says, moving over to her little mantle and reaching for a bottle of wine. “Wanna drink?”
“Yes ma’am,” Jesse says, grinning at her. “This is an excellent impulse. Yes, you’ll do fine as a Sinclair.”
Daphne just laughs, kicking him and grabbing some glasses as she moves over to me, but I stare a bit at my cousin. A Sinclair? Really? I mean, I love the idea, and seeing them together it makes sense - but I just wasn’t aware that these two had gotten to that point yet.
Still, I keep my mouth shut, not wanting to push it too far.
Daphne sits next to me on the bed and I put the kitten on my lap so that I can take the glasses from Daphne as she hands them to me. Then she fills each up a little bit and after I hand them around, we each raise our glasses together in a toast.
“To our friend,” Jesse says, quite serious, his own quiet grief making itself known.
“We’ll never forget him,” I say.
We clink our glasses together and then drink deeply, determined to make it true.
The next few hours pass quickly, with Jesse and I filling Daphne in on the battle – at least the parts that don’t involve Tony and thus don’t make me cry. I can tell that she’s dying to ask questions in that direction, because she still doesn’t know the whole story – but…Jesse can fill her in on that when I’m not around.
Until then the three of us just…hang out. And I have to admit that even if I do feel guilty about it, my spirits do rise, a little bit. It’s just…good, to be here with these two, cozy in Daphne’s room, drinking wine and being present.
It’s very, very good.
We’re well into our second bottle of wine and all feeling quite loose when a knock comes at the door.
The little kitten trots over to it and I gasp when he disintegrates into a little cloud of smoke and slips under the door.
“Oh, it’s Luca!” Jesse says, sitting up with a smile.
“Did…did you just kill Mittens?” Daphne whispers, horrified, her fingertips pressed to her mouth.
“What?” Jesse asks, turning to frown at her as I get up and eagerly move to the door. “No, he’s fine.”
His words are proved correct when I open the door to find Luca staring down at the little kitten at his feet, which stares up at him.
“What on earth is this?” Luca murmurs.
“That’s Mittens,” I say, grinning at Luca and bending down to scoop the little shard of Jesse’s soul into my arms.
“He…appeared out of thin air.”
“Yes, he’s magical and very cute.” I say, smiling up at my mate. “How’d you know I was here?” I ask quietly, very pleased to see him but confused at the same time.
“Went up to your room,” he says with a shrug, looking down at me. “It was empty. I knew there were like…two other places you could be, and this was the best bet.”
I grin at my mate and turn, nodding in invitation for him to come in. “Want a glass of wine?”
“Actually,” Luca murmurs, tilting his head to the side. “Want to give those two a minute alone? And come to my room?”
