I found him.
I found him.
I …
“We found you,” I whisper as he kisses my hands and then pulls my arms in as far as he can, pressing his forehead to my knuckles. His eyes are closed, and I can hear him panting on the other side of the door, his teeth gritted the way they were that night in the basement, when he was so full of emotion that he didn’t know what to do with it.
“Gamer Girl,” he murmurs. “Gamer Girl. Dakota. My Dakota.”
“Parrish,” a voice chokes out from behind me, and we both pause as Parrish opens those gorgeous eyes of his. I’ve always compared them to a feast of sorts, like dark chocolate and toasted coconut with drops of golden honey. I feel like a starving person in a way I’ve never experienced before, like this is the first bite of solid food I’ve had in years.
It’s Chasm, stepping up behind me and yanking on the door handle. It’s locked—but at least we have the skeleton key with us. Maxx hands it over to Chas without a word, and he tries it on the door, but it doesn’t work. He frowns, but only for a moment, lifting his gaze back up to his best friend.
“I can’t believe you’re actually here,” Parrish whispers, eyes flicking over to look at Maxx.
“You were sorely missed,” X breathes back, awe and relief and affection fighting for the prominent emotion in his quavering voice. “The world is not the same without you, Pear-Pear.”
“Don’t call me Pear-Pear,” Parrish says with a small laugh, his voice husky and thick. He hasn’t let go of my hands. He ends up rubbing his face against my knuckles again, pressing hot kisses as he goes. Even with the distance between us, the time and space and bullshit and everything else, his touch burns straight through to my heart. My knees nearly buckle at the overwhelming sense of relief, but I won’t let them. Because that would mean being separated from Parrish, and I’ll never allow that. Not ever again.
Never.
“We’ve missed you so much,” Chasm tells him, the barest hint of an accent creeping into his voice the way it does when he’s overwhelmed. He says something else in Korean, and Parrish smiles with that full, lush pouty mouth of his.
He responds in time, and Maxx adds on, and the three of them laugh. I don’t even care that I can’t understand what they’re saying; the sound of their mirth is too beautiful for me to keep the emotions back. Tears run down my face that Parrish very carefully brushes away by sticking his right arm through the bars. The feel of his thumb on my cheek makes every horrible, angst-filled moment worth it.
Even though I had to hurt Maxine, even though I slept with Chasm and X, even though I made Tess hate me more than she already did. Even though I set the theatre on fire and caused Lumen and Danyella to turn against me. Smashed up a parking garage full of luxury cars. Delivered a dead maid’s body. Shot a rapist’s corpse.
None of that matters right now.
“I’ve missed you, too,” Parrish whispers back, narrowing his eyes to slits the way he does when he’s fighting surges of strong emotion. “But I’m scared for you. You should probably go.”
“Yeah, fuck that,” Chasm snaps back, yanking on his hair with his hand and spinning in a small circle. He points at his best friend with a shaking hand. “You can just knock that self-sacrificial bullshit off; I don’t want to hear it. It’s waste of all our fucking time. We need to get you out of here.”
Parrish exhales, pressing another kiss to my hand and rubbing his face against me again.
“I don’t know how you’re supposed to get in here. Trust me: I’ve tried every method I can think of to get out. You need the key.” I shiver at the sound of Parrish’s beautiful voice. My King of Sloths. My Lackadaisical Lord. My stepbrother. My first time. My first love.
“There has to be a way to get him out,” Maxx says, his green eyes still focused on Parrish. “Justin wanted us to find him, so—” Maxx pauses, moving around to block me from the footsteps echoing down from the staircase.
Mr. Volli appears a moment later, offering up a dramatic slow clap that just fucking infuriates me.
“Congratulations!” he says as Parrish, Maxx, and Chasm all scowl at the same moment. I keep my fingers tangled with Parrish’s, refusing to let go. “You did it. Justin will be so proud of you. He was hoping you’d find him tonight, actually. All of his plans hinged upon it.”
“Get him out,” I demand, my face turned toward Volli, but my body still angled toward the door. “Justin said he’d never lie to me. Well, I found Parrish. He’s mine now, according to him.”
