Kind of rough knights, but they're my knights anyway.
We do end up sleeping in Wild Child's bed, with a visit to the shower on the way, and I don't have a single nightmare all night.
41
EMILY
I emerge into the common room, freshly showered after it turns out the guys are just as horny in the morning as they are at night, and with the right encouragement, apparently I am too. I had to make them let me shower alone, just so I had a chance to get out and grab some food without getting dragged into yet another round. I'm going to be walking funny for the foreseeable future if this keeps up.
“Emily!”
Oh my God, how did I forget that Mom was here too? Has she heard anything? Does she know? Well, not much I can do about it now, is there? “Mom.” I try to sound completely natural, which goes about as well as you might think.
She's sitting with Eagle-eye over in a corner, while Jupiter is chasing his own tail in circles in front of the TV. A few more of the guys are hanging out, one of them with Zoe in his lap, but at least there's no overt fucking going on. I'd hate for Mom to get the completely wrong impression. Or maybe the right one. I don't even know.
“What are you guys up to?”
They glance at each other, almost awkwardly, before Eagle-eye speaks. “Figuring out how to bring down your dad once and for all. He's coming, soon, and we need to know what to do. Your mama's got some clever ideas, now that we've got her here. Maybe it's her we should've kidnapped.” He grins at his own joke while I roll my eyes. Jupiter spots me and comes running for a little attention.
“Hey buddy. Missed ya.” I give the back of his neck a good double-handed scratch. Then I look back up to Eagle-eye and Mom. “So what do you guys have?”
He pulls a beat-up laptop off the little table next to their couch and turns it around. The browser's up to a news site, and there's a picture of me covering the whole front. Dad would probably comment on my lack of makeup but I've seen worse. Then I scan down to the headline. Mayor Hawthorne's Daughter Still Alive. And in a smaller headline underneath it, And how he lied about it.
“Is this a good thing?”
Mom nods. “It means that Kurt hasn't managed to quiet all the reporters this time. That was the first thing he set to after he caught you outside the biker hideout.”
“We prefer clubhouse,” says Eagle-eye kindly.
“Right, clubhouse.” She smiles at him.
Oh, please God, no.
Ignoring the possible ramifications of my mom hooking up with the club president, I focus on the article.
There isn't much. We didn't have much time before Dad swooped in with his cops. I remember how he had the reporters shuffled off into the black van. This site's brave to go up against the most powerful man in the city. They're straight out accusing him of lying to the city, misstating the situation and creating a more dangerous city by bringing in his task force, rather than helping. I don't disagree. And Channel 17 News isn't one of the dinky outlets either. This report has been on cable.
The most damning accusation is the truth, though. That he has deliberately endangered me and falsely declared me dead for political gain. That he's led the city council around by the nose, feeding them half-truths and lies to get what he wanted, and that his drive for the senate is just more of the same.
God, if only people would believe this, but he's so good at being believable. I can totally picture him talking his way out of this too.
“There will be a press conference this afternoon to address this,” says Mom. From her regretful expression, it's obvious she's thinking about the same as I am. In a week, everything will be forgotten, and the clubhouse will be in ruins, if Dad gets free reins.
Just as King, Hero and Wild Child come into the room, looking for me from the looks of it, a thought comes to me. It's probably stupid again, but I also know what I did wrong last time. I didn't have my guys for protection.
“We should go.”
“What?” Mom's eyes go wide.
“Go where?” Hero looks at me suspiciously. And when I explain, all three of them say no.
“No fucking way,” growls Hero. “You saw what happened at your try at a press conference. He's not going to let us kidnap you a third time. You'll be locked up tighter than King's repressed memories.”
“Hey, fuck off, man.”
“My press conference worked!” I point to the laptop. “It's already sown the seeds. The only reason I got in trouble was because you guys weren't there to protect me.”