Page 24 of 3013: Wonderland
“No, this is fine. I was just surprised. I guess I’m not used to transporting all over the planetoid in the blink of an eye yet.”
“I don’t think I’m used to it yet either. Here, try this.”
She opened her mouth and let him feed her a canapé. “Mmm, that’s good.”
As they continued to eat, stars began to twinkle overhead.
“We haven’t talked about this yet, but I think this might be the right time. I owe you an apology,” he said, out of the blue. “Actually, I owe you a few.”
Her brows furrowed as she studied his serious expression. “For what?”
“First, for not knowing you were in trouble.”
“That wasn’t your fault.”
“No, that’s where you’re wrong. My pride got in the way of seeking you out despite your response to my last message. If I had pushed that aside and trusted my instincts, I could have figured out what that motherfucker was doing to you before—”
She shook her head. “No, Raek. I’m glad you didn’t come find me then. If you did, you would have put yourself in danger. No one knew how crazy James was until…well, until the trial.” She paused, then said, “In a strange, twisted way, I’m sort of glad everything happened the way it did.”
He recoiled in horror. “What? How could you say that?”
“No, really. Listen,” she insisted. “If it hadn’t happened to me, it would have happened to someone else. But what if that other person didn’t have the connections I do? I reached out for help and got it. I needed to heal and recover and was taken to a safe place where I could do that. And now, I have people who love me and will stand by my side for all the days to come.”
“You’re damn right we will.”
She smiled even as tears filled her eyes. “If things hadn’t turned out the way they did, those women could still be buried out in the desert. They had no one, Raek. No one to look for themor miss them. Even now, people like those protesters who keep bothering me have all but forgotten those women who lost their lives. If what happened to me was the price that had to be paid to shed light on what was done to those other women, then I can live with that.”
He was silent for several heartbeats, then he said, “You are an amazing female.”
Lifting her glass in a mocking toast, she smiled. “I try.”
Shifting closer, he framed her face with his big hand. “You don’t have to try.” He brushed his lips lightly over hers. “You just are.”
When he pulled back, she glanced at all the food they still hadn’t touched. “I want to try those desserts, but I ate too much already.”
By his frown, she knew he was thinking she had barely eaten anything. Eating whatever she wanted when she wanted was a luxury she was still getting used to. When he pushed the containers to the side, he gestured her over to him.
“Come here.”
Without hesitation, she scooted over to his side and leaned against him like she had when she was young. He pulled her down with him, so they were lying on their backs, staring up at the sky. She chuckled when he shifted the stuffed rabbit under their heads like a pillow.
“Evo, start the show.”
Juliet gasped when colorful explosions filled the sky. “Fireworks! I love fireworks!”
“I know,” he said, snuggling her closer. “They aren’t real. It’s just images that are being displayed on the shield surrounding the island.”
“It looks real. This is amazing. Do you remember the New Year’s Celebration you used to sneak us out of the group home to attend?”
“Of course. You loved watching the fireworks.”
She sighed. “That’s another thing I thought about.”
“New Year’s?”
“No, those days back in the group home. I knew I loved you back then, but it was a different kind of love. As I grew older, that changed.”
“It was the same for me,” he admitted.