THIRTY-THREE
Mila
While Khazand I were having our reunion, and he was explaining and introducing himself to Ozzie, everyone else in my life sort of…showed up.
Literally, everyone is here.
My weekend in Asheville is replaying on a loop, except now, all the adults in the family have relocated to Beta Beta Psi. This house can accommodate many people but is not nearly as big as the Gwynn homestead.
Not only my Beta Beta Psi sisters, but also Emmeline, Carl, Beau, Bryan, Tabitha, Sawyer, Melinda, and their significant others.
There’s a hum of activity around the place, and Leela seems to take everything in stride as if this is normal. Of course, Emmeline and Carl have brought enough food for a small army, but that still doesn’t explain what they’re doing here.
I finally corner Emmeline and urge her outside to the back patio with me. Getting this woman to sit still for a minute is a feat. “What are you all doing here?”
Emmeline lifts her chin and replies, “Ozzie told us you went missing, so we were all loaded for bear already.” She says this like it should be no surprise to me.
“I was missing for maybe an hour, and I texted Ozzie.”
“He was so worried, honey. And so was I. If one of my kids is in trouble, nothing is stopping me from turning the world upside down and shaking it until they fall out. When I heard you were fine, I still had all this pent-up energy to burn, so we got in our cars to see for ourselves.”
I bow my head. “I’m not one of your kids.”
“As far as I’m concerned, you are.”
“It’s not safe for you here.”
Emmeline leans forward in her seat and says, “It’s not safe for anyone in this world, period. Existing is unsafe. What’s even less safe is anyone coming after one of mine. So, don’t worry about a thing. The Gwynns have got you. Whoever is out there will have to come through me.”
“You, Ma?”
The back door creaks open, and Ozzie comes out, looking slightly unsettled as his wide frame fills up the Adirondack chair next to mine. And I realize he was wondering where I was for a few seconds before he found me on the porch. My chest fills with a special kind of achy sweetness that only this man can make me feel.
The sound of a vehicle parking on the street and a car door slamming shut wipes away that cozy, achy feeling in a split second. I rise to my feet, and my pulse begins to pound. “Someone’s here,” I breathe.
We can’t see the street from here, but I know it’s him. Crypto. He’s found me.
Khaz, Ozzie, and Emmeline stand as if to block me from running to face the danger myself.
“Everyone,” I say, “I appreciate you trying to protect me, but this is something I have to deal with on my own.”
Ozzie threads all twenty of our fingers together as we face each other.
“Do you even know what you’re up against?”
I nod. “Yeah. That’s why I brought a handgun to college in the first place.”
This man pulls me close and hugs me so tight that I know there’s no chance he will let me face Crypto alone.
He assures me of that fact with: “You brought an entire invisible armory with you to college, but that can’t stop everyone from loving you. No more than one gun will matter versus whatever those people out there are bringing to the fight.”