I smiled at her. “Things are a little different now.”
“Funny how that goes. I only have one Super Soldier to contend with. You have five. That has to be a lot. Plus Wade and Trenton have strong personalities.”
I opened and closed my mouth. “I think I’m a lot to deal with. More so than any of them. I’m sick and in constant danger to myself and others. I can do weird things with my mind that make me sought after by bad people. I probably got my family killed. I think if anything, they’re dealing with a lot in me.”
She smiled slowly. “I think my husbands are dealing with a lot in me, too. I like you. You’re a little disgruntled. I am, too. You just express it better. I think we’re going to be very close friends.”
I blinked. Really? She had gotten that from what I said? “Um, sure, sounds good.”
Were friendships made just like that? “Come on. Two of my husbands are going to want to check you out medically, and that’ll be no fun. You might as well have something delicious to eat before that happens.”
My stomach grumbled, but I had a more pressing concern. “I could really use a shower.”
“That’s easy. I’m going to bring you to Waverly’s. They’ll find you there, your guys, as soon as they realize you aren’t where they left you, which will be very fast. Look.” She pointed, and I followed her indication to where Anders appeared in the distance. “He’s already figured out that you’re moving, and he’s watching.”
She was better at this than me. How had she spotted him so fast? “I wasn’t worried. They take very good care of me.”
“We’re lucky in that.”
It was great to hear it expressed that way. “When you don’t have anyone to care about you for a long time, it is really infectious in the best possible way to be wrapped up in it now.”
I was feeling better already. Diana was direct, a little quirky, and a bottle of positive energy. I could really get used to her company.
She brightened up. “Yep, good friends.”
On Mars Station I wouldn’t have imagined that possible. Things had altered, and I couldn’t say I was the least bit upset about it. I had a new friend. It was tentative, and I liked the feeling, a lot.
Waverly’s house was a distance away, but I could tell immediately why Diana brought me there. It was an actual house, like the ones we’d had on our planet, not a military encampment where people lived. Of course, any security The Farm had probably didn’t extend this far out. Still, I could see why she would have chosen this, despite the risk. This felt more like living and less like simply existing. This was why I hadn’t liked Mars Station. I wanted real, not made to be a replica of it.
The owners weren’t home, but Diana entered like she had every right to do so. I hoped that was the case and Waverly and her husbands weren’t going to object to us just barging in. I gave up worrying about that in the shower. It was warm, and I decided that I could stand there all day without needing anything else. Of course, I wasn’t going to do that. I’d never been anywhere where water wasn’t a problem. I had to be cognizant not to overuse supplies. So when I could tear myself away from the comfort, I turned off the spray and wrapped myself in one of the towels that was neatly stacked next to the door.
As I dried off, I noticed that Diana must have left a change of clothes for me, too, and I quickly dressed, glad not to have to put on the same thing I’d been wearing since we got attacked on the planet. Was that just days ago? It felt like a lifetime.
I stepped back into the hallway and caught the sound of voices downstairs. Waverly stood at the bottom of the stairway and smiled warmly as I approached.
“Sienna, I’m so glad you’re here.”
All eyes were suddenly on me, and I was glad to see that Trenton was among those waiting.
“Thank you for letting me clean up here. It was a real treat.”
She waved her hand. “It’s nothing. What’s mine is yours. How are you feeling?”
A blond man stepped up next to her, and as I approached, he watched me with kind eyes. “Would you mind if I looked at your wrist? I’m a doctor.”
I met Trenton’s gaze, and he nodded. Not that I thought anyone would lie about that, but when everyone was a stranger in a universe where few could be trusted, it was nice to have the support.
“Ari and I have known each other a long time.” Trenton crossed to me and put his hand on my shoulder just as I held out my arm for Ari. Maybe we could get this fixed so I never had to deal with doctors again. I’d just be fixed. I almost jolted at the peak of optimism coming back in my head. If my whole life were an experiment, then perhaps I was learning how long it would take for me to come back from a huge event like the one I’d had on the Evander ship.
Ari nodded. “So eight isn’t a great number, but it’s better than nine.” He dropped my arm. “Wade is really upset that you got to nine. But we’ll just say that eight is improvement and feel good about that. He also told me that you literally took down a ship of Super Soldiers by taking on everyone’s pain. I can’t say that I one hundred percent understand that. I mean, the science of it. I’m thinking the women on your planet must have some extreme action in your frontal cortexes and—”
Waverly interrupted him. “Ari.”
“Right, sorry. The why of it can wait. You are not a science project for me to figure out. I’m much more interested in how you’re feeling now. Emotionally. I’m not sure I’d be standing straight.”
Trenton sighed. “Before they eliminated psychiatry as not necessary in our society, that is what Ari did. He really does care about how you’re feeling.”
“That’s kind of you.” But there were a lot of eyes on me right then. “I’m not really comfortable talking about myself, and these circumstances make it even worse.”
“Then we’re going to eat,” Waverly called out, and everyone turned and headed toward the kitchen.
Trenton nodded to me. “Hungry?”
As it turned out, I was obscenely hungry. Ravishingly famished. Everyone was quickly introduced, and I realized I had met most of them the last time I was around them. It was just hard to keep track of new people, but I quickly caught up. Waverly had four husbands: Canyon and Rohan—they were both Super Soldiers—and also Jackson and Ari, who were not. Diana had five: Damian, Judge, Cash, Lewis and Sterling. The last was a Super Soldier, the others were not.
My guys eventually filed in. Although The Farm had a huge amount of people on it, the gathering made it seem like there were family groups of people that got together within the larger group itself.
Maybe that was what we were all looking for when it came down to it, a group that we could call our own that helped us have a sense of community in a universe that was more interested in letting us float off into oblivion if we weren’t careful.
“How many do you think got away?” Sterling asked Blaze, who was the last one to come in. “How many Evander soldiers are still running around out there?”
Blaze winced. “Not sure. I was pretty out of it. Like those flashes of light when you first wake up from cryo and you’re not really there yet. That was then. Trenton would know better.”