Page 81 of The Deeper Game
“I’m so sorry,” he whispered into my ear. “I should never have left you.”
“You thought Lupe needed you.”
“Youneeded me. It’s on all of us that we didn’t figure things out.” He pulled back and touched my chin. “He did this?”
“Yeah. Nothing broken.”
“Where else are you hurt?”
“My back. My feet.”
“Come on.” He picked me up and carried me back toward our SUV. “We were so worried,” he said.
“How did you figure it out?”
“Odin called about twenty minutes after I took off. He and Zeus were feeling wrong about the whole situation. Going ahead with these questions about Sleazy Travis being our guy—it was reckless. So Odin turned on his phone and called me, just to check in. He was freaked that I wasn’t with you. I texted Lupe a trick question. She texted me back, and I knew it wasn’t her.” He opened the back of the vehicle and settled me onto the end. He grabbed a soft blanket and wrapped me up and slid in next to me. There was eerie silence all around the quarry. “They got out of there and went to the Nav and found the message. I got there a little later. God, when we saw that mirror—”
“He made me write it.”
“I know.” Tenderly, he touched my cheek and looked into my eyes. “We all knew.”
“Thank you,” I said.
He snorted, like that was ridiculous, me thanking him. “We should be begging for your forgiveness, goddess. We were putting vengeance over what’s really important,” he said. “The Prime, it’s just some bank. Fuck the Prime Royale. Fuck ZOX. What matters is our family.”
I took a lock of his bright blond hair between two fingers, loving him outrageously. “He killed Venus,” I said.
Thor’s blue eyes glittered darkly. “And I believe he’s paying right about now.”
“They’ll kill him.”
“Well…eventually.”
I shuddered. “He was Lincoln,” I added.
“We figured.”
“So…they just left the Prime open and unburgled?”
“Nah, Matteo pulled the Gigis in. So he’s the fucking hero. Those girls are shit at takeovers, but they can crack a safe. They’ll get into those boxes.”
“You won’t get the jewels. The revenge on ZOX—they won’t know—”
“Vengeance isn’t as important as you. As us all staying together,” Thor said.
I began to tear up. I’d needed to hear that so badly.
“Hey, it’s okay.” Thor held me. “I’m sorry I left you.”
I mashed my face into his soft shirt, breathing him in. “You had to help Lupe.” A crunch of stones sounded from the direction of the rock pile. The crunches sped up—two pairs of feet. I didn’t have to look to know who it was.
“She’s okay,” Thor called.
I turned to look.
Zeus was ahead of Odin, eyes shining like diamonds in his sweaty face. A violent smudge of mud glistened on his cheekbone, and as he neared, I realized that it was blood. Odin was behind him, dark hair tousled, hard planes of his face set in a glowering mask.
“Goddess.” Zeus mashed into me, holding me against his big, solid body. I circled my arms around him, taking comfort in his hulking strength and heaving breath.
