She waved her hand.“I wasn’t askingthat.I was just…”
I laughed softly.“Being nosy?”
She bumped my hip with hers.“I am your mother.I’m allowed to be nosy.”
Then she looked at me more carefully.“I just didn’t know there was an Ender and you.”
“There isn’t,” I said quickly.“You were there when Wrecker assigned him to keep an eye on me.All the girls have one of the guys with them.”I told myself that was the truth, but even as I said it, something inside me shifted.
Because I didn’t feel like I was an assignment to Ender.It felt like… something else.
I’d grown up with him.We all had.Cousins in everything but blood.Except I’d never thought of Ender like that.Never been able to.I’d crushed on him quietly for years, tucked it away where no one could see it, not even me, most days.
Now?
Now I didn’t know what to call what was happening.
Mom slid another tray into the oven and sighed.“Just… be careful.”
I laughed lightly.“I just escaped kidnappers, Mom.I think I can handle Ender.”
She groaned.“Ugh, don’t remind me.”
She shook her head, voice thick.“I told your dad until I was blue in the face that Wrecker should’ve had one of the guys on each girl weeks ago, right after Star was attacked.”
I sighed.“You can’t blame Dad or the club.How were they supposed to know those guys were stupidandlethal?”
Nobody had seen them as a threat until it was too late.
We kept scooping cookies in silence for a moment.
Mom slid another tray onto the counter.“I just want this all to be over,” she said quietly.“I don’t want anyone else getting hurt.”
“Me too,” I whispered.
She wrapped an arm around my shoulders and pressed a kiss to my cheek.
And for the first time since everything happened, I let myself lean into it.
Chapter Sixteen
Ender
Wrecker stood at the head of the table, hands planted flat and shoulders squared.He didn’t pace.Didn’t fidget.When Wrecker was still like that, it meant whatever he was about to say wasn’t good.
Pipe sat to his right, jaw tight, his phone face down on the table like it had personally offended him.
“We haven’t heard from Yogi,” Wrecker said.
That was it.No buildup.No softening the blow.
A low murmur rippled through the room.
“Not a damn thing?”Slayer asked.
Pipe shook his head slowly.“I’ve called him six times since we got Clove back.Texted.Left voicemails.Wrecker’s done the same.He answered right away before.Now?Nothing.”
“So the coward is icing us out,” Kingston muttered.