Unlucky Like Us (Like Us, #12)

by Krista Ritchie

“Don’t touch me,” I warn. “Jeezus.” He glares like I bitch-slapped him again. “You’ve got serious problems, you know that?” “You kidnapped a Hale,” I sneer. “You’re the one with the serious fucking problem.” The living room tenses. Cousins exchange panicked glances. “It wasn’t kidnapping,” someone says. “Yeah, she came willingly,” another guy says. “That’s what you’ll convince her to tell everyone. Won’t you, Paul?” I grind my teeth, tasting acid in my mouth. “No one in her family is gonna believe that.”

I’m putting on someone’s boxer-briefs. Smells clean, otherwise I’d rather stay naked. They throw my clothes in the sink. Instead of running the faucet, they squirt lighter fluid on my oldest shirt. I watch them torch the Van Halen tee, and I feel nothing. Absolutely nothing. She’s all that matters to me.

“SEAN!” they yell at my dad. “He’s fine! He’s fine. He’s with us! Let him be! He’s just worried about the fucking girl.” Their arguing becomes background noise. Blood pumps in my head. My ears ring. “Luna!” I yell and open a door in the short hallway. Bathroom. Empty. “Luna?!” “Donnelly,” she calls out, sounding near the end of the hall. She’s here.

She’s disoriented on a lopsided bed, her right wrist handcuffed to the wooden headboard. Her damp hair is tangled with ribbons, her eyes swollen from crying. I latch the lock on the door and rush over. “Luna?” I press a knee to the mattress, and I touch her splotchy, tear-streaked cheeks. Luna. What’d they fucking do?! “Donnelly.” Her voice shatters, overwhelmed tears slipping out. She’s intaking the sight of me like I’m just fiction inside her head. “Donnelly.” “I’m here. I’m here. I’m here.” Her tears roll over my hands, and her surge of relief rattles her body.

While I’m bending to her, the crystal hangs between us like the force between me and her, and a swell of emotion pools underneath me, through me, through Luna. Love and light are the powers that’ve guided me. Been racing towards them my whole life. I just never realized all this time I’ve been racing towards her. She wraps her weakened arms around me. “Where…where are we going?” she asks. “To your planet, space babe.” I scoop Luna into my arms, cradling her carefully against my chest, and she closes her eyes, seemingly breathing in my words like morphine.

Police are saying something about the drugs and collecting evidence. I’m a second from shouting how she needs a fucking doctor, and then in sprints my best friend. Farrow is running straight for Luna, his trauma bag already half-unzipped, and for a brief second, his eyes flash down to me. I’m handcuffed. On the ground. His focused gaze is suddenly stabbed with pain.

I stand and shout to Farrow, “She said she hit her head.” “On what?” He drops the trauma bag and assesses Luna. “Concrete. The ground. She fell.” The cop is pushing me towards the door. “Check her ribs!” It’s all I can release before the cop carts me outside.

Squinting against more camera flashes, I spot Joana’s car on the curb. Nearby, Oscar is talking heatedly in his phone, and once he sees me, his lips stop moving. The world stills. Bet this wasn’t on his Bingo card. Watch Donnelly get arrested for his family. If there was a time my friends thought I’d go to jail, it’d be for pissing outside after a night at the bars. It’d be for streaking on a college campus. It’d be for defending one of them at a club and getting in a fucking brawl. It’d never be for my family.

Truth is, I’ve never been arrested. My rap sheet is squeaky clean, thanks to my cockroach tendencies and a whole lotta luck. Guess that’s changing.

An older cop with a grayed mustache slides into the driver’s seat. He shuts out the chaos, and the car is hushed again. He taps on the screen near the steering wheel. “Sorry about the cuffs. We have to treat you like the others.” His brown eyes meet mine through the rearview mirror. “We can’t let anyone know you’re the informant. You understand?” I nod once. “Yeah.” “We’ll have to book you.” I blow forward. “I need to be with her at the hospital. I can’t be stuck in a holding cell—” “It’s important that no one in your family knows you drew us here. It’d put you at risk, and that’d put the Hales at risk again. And frankly, your involvement is an asset we can’t lose right now, so just hang tight.”

need a phone call. Just one call! Please!” Nothing. Goddammit. Frustration and fear are eating at my patience, and I just need to know she’s alright. I’ve heard from no one in probably five hours. Time is agonizing here.

5 hours?!?!?

The driver throws a red baseball cap and a pair of gray sweatpants at me. “That’s all I had in the car.” “Thanks, boss.” I sound a little choked, but I put the Studio 9 baseball cap on, brim low over my eyes. “You okay?” Akara turns to me. “Is Luna?” I ask him. He can’t hide his wince. “She hasn’t woken up, Donnelly.”

“Hey…” Someone speaks gently. I follow the sound of the soft, soothing voice to the darkened corner of the room. Sitting on a cushioned chair, the man slowly stands and approaches the hospital bed. I squint harder, piecing together his features. A hoop piercing in his lip, barbells in his brow, a black dangly earring—I think I know him. The tattooed skull and crossbones on the tops of his hands seem familiar, as do the inked swords on his throat and wings on his neck. Why is his hair brown? “You…dyed your hair,” I croak, my throat raw.

Beautiful in all its symmetry. I’ve always loved his tattoos. But is that one…new? Next to a red sparrow is a name. Inked clearly. Visibly. Maximoff. My brother’s name. I must be dreaming now. Or hallucinating. “Why is Moffy’s name tattooed on you?” The words are tight in my aching ribs. Farrow steps away from the machine and glances at his collarbone peeking from the V-neck. Then he looks at me. He frowns for a second before gently taking a seat again. “Do you know your name?” he asks. “Luna Hale,” I say, confident about this. “Luna with No Middle Name Hale. That’s what Tom likes to call me.” My voice sounds frail.

Did she forget some things????? Did she forget she likes donnelly???!!??!?

“What happened?” I ask quietly. I barely hear my own voice. “Why am I in the hospital?” He’s calm as he answers, “You fell and hit your head on concrete.” Oh. I don’t remember that.

Omg she doesnt remember things please tell me she didnt forget donnelly

To show I’m cognitively aware, I add more details, “I live with my parents in a gated neighborhood.” His fingers hover over the keyboard for a split-second before he types again.

No luna

“I’m fine,” I whisper. “Wanting to be okay and needing the help to get there are two different things, and you shouldn’t be scared to need help. See, I won’t judge you. I won’t treat you like you’re fragile glass, if that’s not your thing. I’m just here to help you.”

I inch up the bed. Barely budging, but in my excitement, I gain some super strength. “We had family dinner last night,” I say into a confident nod, the words surging out of me. “Mom cooked meatloaf, and Moffy told everyone that Declan is retiring. He’s getting a new bodyguard soon, and he’s completely freaked out about it because Declan has been with him forever.”

OMG SHES MISSING YEARS WORTH OF MEMORIES SHE DOESNT REMEMBER DONNELLY

“What day of the week is it?” I bite the edge of my lip. “Saturday.” “The month? All I need is the date.” I puff out my cheeks in another breath. Let’s see. I remember Moffy’s 22nd birthday. It was a few days ago. He was born on July 13th. So it has to be… “The sixteenth.”

No luna

“What’s the month?” he asks. “July.” I imagine opening the drapes and seeing the sunshine and blue skies of summer. “The year?” I do mental math and give Farrow the correct year. The best part of this year will be my eighteenth birthday, which can’t come soon enough.

No luna youre turning 21!!!!

Wait…is that…? My brother’s name! My eyes widen. I’m about to inquire more about it when I notice a wedding band. It has to be one. It’s on his ring finger! What. The. Fuck? Does that mean…? The ring. The new tattoo…? Is he married to my brother??? When did this happen?! How could this happen?! “Wait, Farrow!” I call out. He spins around to face me, and my pounding heart tries to eject from my body again. He eyes the monitor as I ask in a whisper, “You’re married?” He swallows hard, then combs a hand across his hair. He just nods.

“To whom? When?” I press my fingers to my forehead, and in doing so, I catch sight of black ink on my arm. I have a tattoo?! My pulse spikes. “Is-is this your handwriting?” I stare at music lyrics in Farrow’s familiar scrawl. I instantly recognize his handwriting from all the birthday cards he’s given me throughout the years. “Luna—” I touch my tongue with my fingers now. “Oh my God,” I mumble. No wonder my mouth felt strange—I have a tongue piercing!

I hang on to him like he’s a buoy in a turbulent ocean. “I need to know,” I say shakily. “I need to know, Farrow.” He pulls back a little, his hands on my shoulders. He holds my gaze, and I search his eyes for the past. I can’t see anything beyond the present. Then he says, “I married your brother.” He pauses. “But he’d tell you that he married me.” Happiness is submerged beneath a swell of despair. “I wasn’t there.” I missed it. “No, you were there,” Farrow says, getting choked up. He clears his throat, looks to the left, then back at me. “You were in my grooms’ party. You were in the procession walking ahead of me.” I’m crying. “I don’t remember.”

“And-and,” I stammer, “you’re acting like my doctor, but you’re just a bodyguard. Your dad is my doctor.” He shakes his head. “I’m your doctor, and I’m also Maximoff’s bodyguard.” My jaw hits the floor. “You replaced Declan? Moffy would’ve hated that…” I trail off, not just because Farrow is starting to smile but because I remember my brother married him in the end. “This all might come back to you soon,” Farrow reassures me.

I wet my dry lips. “Can you just tell me how long I’ve been here? In the hospital?” How long have I been asleep? “Have I missed years?” “No,” he says with certainty. I inhale a stronger breath. “Months?” “It’s barely been six hours,” Farrow says.

Woah

“I shouldn’t be here,” I choke out and rise to my feet. I don’t know where to go. I can’t leave the hospital and risk paparazzi seeing me. “Hey.” Oscar catches my shoulder before I turn. “You found her. You just got arrested and sat in jail to protect the Hales. You are a shirtless motherfucker right now, but you’re not a villain.”

“I’m cleaning up a mess I made. Does that seem very heroic to you?” “Their mess isn’t yours.” He points down the hall. “Your family is here. You’ve never been a dumb motherfucker, so I know you get this. Your family is here.”

I blink away the image. Suffocated by it, I turn around to leave. “Stay,” Lo says, his voice sandpapered but sharp.

I just want her to wake up. “I tried…” I hear my voice shake. Lo puts a hand on my shoulder. And he pulls me into a hug. It almost breaks me. Then he whispers, “I know.” I start to shake my head. “You did enough,” he breathes. My hand flies to my pained face. Been thinking I could never do enough in his eyes, so I can hardly believe it. “I didn’t.” She might never wake up.

He pulls back. I pinch my wet eyes and face him as he says sharply, “You didn’t put her there. You got her out.” He sounds as choked as I feel. “And I know…” He trails off, his throat thick with emotion. His brows are cinched. He runs his tongue over his molars, collecting himself. “I know what that took.”

“They’ll make it out. Luna. Lily. They look small, but they’re tough.”

Quickly, angrily, he wipes an escaped tear off his cheek. “I was supposed to be in that car, Donnelly. My mom—she asked me to go to the fucking Putt Palace, and I said no.” His voice cracks. “I said no, and I should’ve been there. Then you might’ve been in the car with us. Everything would’ve been different. Better.” “We don’t know that,” I breathe.

“It’s like my choices in life have these catastrophic repercussions. I made a shitty selfish choice that hurt my sister, my mom, and now they’re both in the ICU. For what? Because I was scared to confront you?” Face twisting, he slumps back in his chair. “I’m such a fucking—” “Elf,” I interject. “What?” “Didn’t you say elves were sorta selfish? I dunno, they’ve always seemed dope to me.”

“She called me twice! Right before—right before the accident.” The Crow is spouting crocodile tears, if I do say so. “And I need to see her. She called me.” “This isn’t about you,” Rose sneers. “Oh, be quiet, Rose,” the Crow retorts. “For once, in your life, just shut up.” “Excuse me?” Rose’s eyes flame.

Fuck her

“Mom.” Daisy tries to corral her out the door. “Visitors’ hours aren’t for another four hours. You don’t want to be here for that long. We’ll call you—” “Will you?” she snaps. “No, we fucking won’t,” Ryke declares. Lo comes forward. “Unless your name is Garrison Abbey and you’re bringing breakfast bagels in ten minutes, you’re not allowed in here. I don’t care if you have goddamn proof that Lily called you. I know Lil better than anyone. She won’t want you here, and over my dead body will you be the first face she fucking sees when she wakes up, you understand?”

The door swings open again. “Garrison—” Lo stops himself short. “Not Garrison,” Farrow says in a tensed breath, a tablet under his armpit. Everyone seems to spring to a stance, and Farrow extends a hand, as though saying, wait. “I need to speak to two people. Lo and Donnelly.” Me?

Lo asks Farrow under his breath, “You can’t talk in front of everyone? It’s that bad?” He already seems gutted. “It’s complicated. Bring Maximoff if you’d like.” He motions for us to exit, and Lo waves his oldest son out the door with us.

Maximoff hasn’t uncrossed his flexed arms. “You look pissed,” he says. He’s talking to his husband. Farrow does have an angry furrowed brow. “I want to choke out my colleague right now, so yes, I’m extremely fucking pissed.”

Farrow is typing at rapid speed. “Okay, so she woke up—” “She woke up?” I jolt, paddles to my heart. “Jesus, why wouldn’t you start with that?” Lo retorts, about to charge for the door. “Wait, wait!” Farrow shouts, extending his arm to keep Lo here. “You can’t see her yet.”

Lo goes pale. “She’s not okay?” Maximoff asks. “She’s confused about time, and unfortunately…” His glare punctures the door, then the tablet. “My colleague decided to ask Luna if she’d like a rape kit. I wanted to wait until she was in a state where she could consent or at least process this request, but they asked when I wasn’t there. And Luna said yes.”

Omgomgomg

“The results came back two minutes ago,” Farrow says. Oh fuck me. I scrape my hands over my head, breathing harder. “She gave me permission to disclose the results with family.” Farrow glances over at Maximoff. “Don’t break anything, wolf scout.”

“There was semen…” The medical jargon goes in one ear and out the other in a snap-second daze. All I hear: semen, no abrasions, no signs of force. Of course there wouldn’t be. I had sex with Luna. Me. That morning. Twice. Consensual, loving, smoldering, extraordinary sex.

Farrow’s brows pinch at me in confusion. “There was semen…” I stare harder at him. Sudden realization sobers his face, but like a good friend, he doesn’t speak the answer; his eyes flit cagily to Lo. Lo is already glaring at me. “Whose semen?” I scratch the back of my head. I never thought he’d find out I broke this promise. Never imagined a scenario where he could or would need to know. My luck has completely run dry.

He adds, “Because I could’ve sworn you promised me that you’d wait for her.” My nose flares, stifling emotion. “I didn’t wait. We didn’t…I slept with her this morning. Or…” What’s the time? “The morning before Lily picked her up. It probably hasn’t been twenty-four hours yet.” Lo grinds his teeth, his gaze lethal on me. “I don’t know if I want to hug you or strangle you.” I can barely breathe. “I’ve got that effect on people.” I nod to him. “I’m not really into strangling though. I vote hug.” “I vote you better get out of my face.” He’s pissed but relieved,

Maximoff is upright again, cracking his stiff knuckles. “Do they need DNA proof it was Donnelly?” He’s asking Farrow. “If Luna lets the police admit the kit into evidence, then they’ll need it. It’s a good idea to get it anyway.” “Whatever I need to do,” I tell them.

Then he tells Lo and Maximoff, “Wait here. I’ll be back to talk about Luna.” Lo turns to me. “Take a good look, Paul. Maybe you’ll understand what it means to wait.” Oof, right to the nuts. Not exactly the jugular, but it definitely hurt something.

Lol

“He’s only upset about you lying to him.” The doors slide open. “Feels like I keep putting myself in positions where I have to.” “Don’t make promises you can’t keep,” Farrow says like it’s so easy. “You read that life lesson over a toilet?” I quip. “Was it framed or what?” It’s my first joke in a while. I’m happy she’s awake, but the tensed side-eye from Farrow starts to strain my muscles and puncture the humor.

I’d categorize him as out-of-this-world sexy, and maybe it’s not just because of the tattoos scattering his carved arms and ridged abs. It’s not even his height or his handsome face. It’s how he’s coming towards me like a bright comet soaring through a darkened galaxy…headed for a favored planet. Headed for me… And then I see the chain around his neck. I freeze.

“Who gave you that kyber crystal?” Because it looks an awfully lot like mine. The bed is propped better, but now that I’m motionless and sitting up, I realize how much he’s frozen. “You gave it to me,” he murmurs. “You don’t remember?” I could lie again, but the instinct to trust him with the truth is a powerful force inside me. “I’m trying to remember.”

Another glance to the door and he mutters, “Now I know why Farrow told me to wait.” “You know Farrow?” Right as I say it, I gasp. “I know who you are!” Relief rocks him. “Thank God.” “Donnelly,” I say with total confidence. “You’re Beckett’s bodyguard.” He goes still again.