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Elijah frowns. “Are they all okay?”
Jynx nods. “I assume so. They haven’t asked for backup. I’d ask, but there’s no point. If he was going to tell us, then he would have.”
“Yeah, he would,” Trick agrees.
Atlas clears his throat, “I just got pretty much the exact same text from Alaric.”
“Oh really?” Jynx asks. “I think it's safe to assume that they’re together then.”
“Absolutely,” Atlas agrees. He shakes his head, “We’ll see them tomorrow. We can ask them about it then.”
Everyone smiles or shrugs, and we all go back to hanging out, eating, and simply enjoying each other's company. There’s no point worrying about it now, especially since it’s very unlikely that there’s anything to worry about in the first place.
Plus, they’re all together, they’re fine.
After a while, I realize that Pete is nowhere to be seen, and I excuse myself from the very animated story that Zemi is telling Lyric, Jynx, and me and go in search of him. We’ve spread out through the majority of the house, and I go from room to room trying to find him. I find Elijah, so I know that they haven’t snuck off together.
Which I would probably do, to be fair.
Finally, the only place I haven’t checked is outside. It’s really fucking cold, so I’ll be surprised if he’s out there, but the only other place he could possibly be is his house, and he’s been drinking, so he wouldn’t have driven down there.
Looking out of the big back doors on the dining room, I find him sitting on the steps at the back, his arm around Shadow, and gently stroking Wynnie. Grabbing a couple of blankets off the couch in here, I head outside, drape one around his shoulders, and pull the other one around mine as I sit on the back steps with him.
As soon as I sit down, he puts his head on my shoulder and sighs heavily.
“You know, you should be bouncing off the walls. It’s the night before your wedding,” I start. “I would ask if you were having second thoughts about marrying Eli, but we both know that’s ridiculous.” I pause, and glance at him out of the corner of my eye. “I think I know what’s going on.”
He looks up at me. “You do?”
“You’re getting married to the love of your life tomorrow, and the very next day he’s leaving for an undetermined amount of time,” I say quietly. “I’m not sure I would be able to enjoy my ‘night before’ party very much either.”
Pete’s eyes immediately fill with tears, and I pull him into my arms. He mutters, “It really fucking sucks.”
Suddenly it hits me, as clear as anything, what could help Pete and Elijah. It’s going to suck.
“I love you so much. I need you to know that first, before I say the next thing,” I start.
“What?” He asks, pulling back, tears dripping down his cheeks as he looks at me with confusion.
My hands cup his face as I wipe them away. “Go with Elijah.”
His eyes widen as he jolts, and then he smirks, trying to play down the hope that sparked in his eyes. “Are you kicking me off the team?”
“Never,” I reply fiercely. “But I think that you need to be with Elijah more than you need to be here. So join his team and go.”
He stares at me, and I know his mind is going a mile a minute.
Finally, a small hesitant smile crosses his face. “You mean it? You really think I should? You won’t hate me?”
I chuckle, “Yes, I mean it. I one hundred percent think that you should go, and I would if I were in your position. I could never hate you. I am going to miss you like crazy though, so I expect you to check in whenever you can.”
Pete’s eyes fill with tears again even though he’s smiling. “I promise. Now I’m sad again. This is a fucking rollercoaster.”
My own tears fall as I smile and say, “Yeah, but it feels right this way, doesn’t it?”
He nods, “Yes. Thank you, Ever. Thank you for seeing what I needed and fixing it. It didn’t even occur to me that I could go with him. I love you.”
“Love you, too,” I give him one final squeeze and then clear my throat. “Come on, let’s go back inside. You can tell Elijah, and we can find Trick and get him to fill Mr. R in.”
