“No, love,” I say softly. “Everyone’s just tired, eh?”
Of life. Of love that hurts. And it’s in this moment more than ever, that I feel the weight of all the things I need to say to him. Of the conversation we promised each other days ago.
We should have it now.
Skylar’s asleep. Jack’s awake. It’s a good time. Before another busy day drags us under and we keep existing around the truth. Beyond the past.We’ve done this before.Some of it, anyway. But the details have become less important.
Tell him.
Words form on my tongue and my heart starts to pound. It’s impossible that Jack hears, but his eyes search mine, as if he knows I’m standing on a cliff edge, and he shifts, sitting up and I see it—he’s about to say something too. Something that charges the air as it manifests, like the sea before a storm breaks.
I clamp my mouth shut, holding my breath. Jack’s green eyes bore into me, steady despite the lingering fog he woke up with, and?—
The front door opens.
A sudden scrape of metal and wood that carves through our connection like the sharpest knife.
I jump out of my skin, startling Skylar awake in the same moment Jack surges to his feet, the instinct that nearly tookhim from us carrying him halfway to the hallway before I even manage a breath.
“Jackie.Wait.”
He ignores me, pressing on, barefoot on the floorboards, favouring his stronger side just a fraction, but it doesn’t matter to him.
Protect first.
Pay later.
It’s how we got here.
I scramble to rise. Skylar does too and we roll to our feet as a figure appears in front of Jack, reaching the doorway before him.
Tall.
Rangy.
Messy hair and rumpled clothes carrying the scent of cold air and something metallic from a land far away from here.
For a tempestuous heartbeat I can’t make it make sense. Then Jack takes another step, light catches the face of the man beyond him, and the relief that hits me is so profound it’s almost pain.
Mal.
He’s home.
21JACK
My brother stands like he’s belonged within the ancient, salt-worn walls of the Joker his whole life. He carries nothing but the damp clothes on his back and a weariness that has me closing the distance between us without another thought.
I hug him to me, brief and hard, knowing I’m on borrowed time as the room behind me comes to life. As someone I love makes a choked sound that’s almost a sob. “All right?” I pull back to look at him. “You’re okay?”
Mal nods, and though he’s tired, I see the truth in his clear gaze, and let him go.
He moves beyond me. I feel Sol at my back, and trusting he’ll follow, I slip to the open front door and head downstairs.
I’m at the bar when Sol catches up to me.
He grabs a rum bottle off the shelf and takes a healthy swig.
Don’t blame him. I’m so glad he’s here. And yet… “Why are you here? I thought you were heading out this morning?”