It feels like hours before we reach the light. The warmth of the fire heats my face and we stop to wait. A group of people sitting around the fire turn to evaluate us as we stand there, dripping puddles onto the floor. Their faces aren’t friendly but aren’t hostile either.
“Who the hell’s that?” a familiar voice shouts from across the fire. I try to move toward it, but Steven steps in my path. The dark silhouette approaches.
“No way! Lexi—is that you?”
My stomach flips hearing him call my name. “It’s really you!”
“Get your ass out of her way!” he commands the man in front of me, pointing his finger. Keegan pushes his way through the crowd and around Steven and Bruno.
When he reaches me, he grabs my legs and scoops me into his arms. I wrap my arms around his neck, hugging him so tight I think my arms might break.
I shout, unable to contain my joy. “You’re here! I can’t believe it! I never thought I’d see you again. I’ve missed you so much!”
His arms tighten around me as he laughs. “I know! I missed the hell out of you. What happened to you? You look like crap,” he says.
His comment makes me laugh out loud. He always was honest. “Thanks.”
“We’ve gotta talk!”
“Sounds good to me.”
He puts me down and I look up at him. He’s much bigger than I remember. He’s about three feet taller than me, and his muscles pop out from under his green T-shirt. My brother’s buff! When did that happen? And where is his brand?
I reach up, pulling his bald head to my level. If it weren’t for his voice, I would’ve never picked him out of the crowd. His curls have been replaced with a bold, dark tattoo wrapping around his entire head.
“What did you do to your head?” I smack his chest.
“It’s a cobra,” he says. “I think it suits my personality.” He winks.
I nod my head, unsure of what to say. Looks pretty freaking intimidating to me.
His cobalt-colored eyes fix on my crew. “Who are these guys?”
“Oh, that’s Bruno, Cole, and Cole’s guard dog, Zeus.” They shake hands and Keegan smiles, but I feel tension for some reason.
“Well, I need to talk to my sister. You guys can rest up and dry by the fire. We’ll be back.”
Cole locks eyes with me and shakes his head, not wanting to let me out of his sight. I shrug. I guess it’s safe. I mean, it is my brother. So I follow Keegan down a narrow tunnel and through a small opening. He opens a second door and I shuffle in, ducking under a five-foot walkway and into a room that resembles a cave more than a bedroom. I shiver from the cold.
“You okay? I’ll see if I can get you another set of clothes.” Keegan carefully lights a lantern and the room comes alive. “This is where I sleep.”
It’s almost bare except for the cot covered with a quilt and a pile of books lying in the corner. The quilt forces me to pause. I pull it between my fingers and examine the stitching.
“Is this?”
“Yeah. It’s the only thing I took when I left… It reminds me of the good times,” Keegan says sadly. He sits on the cot and gestures me to sit as well.
“Oh.”
He takes my hand and reads my mind as I examine the plain space. His room reminds me of a burrow with dirt-caked walls, dim lighting, and a musty smell. “It’s not as bad as it looks. I only sleep here.”
“I guess. I don’t do well in small, closed spaces—that’s all.” I face him, but can’t think of what I want to say. Or I know everything I want to say and don’t know how to verbalize it for fear it’ll all come out wrong.
Thankfully, he senses my hesitance. “I regret leaving you every day of my life,” he says. “But… I had no choice. There was only a small window of opportunity to get in here.”
“Why here? Out of all places, you came here. You could’ve been killed and you didn’t ever take into consideration who you were leaving behind.” I don’t want to be angry with him, but part of me just can’t fathom leaving him behind if our places had been switched.
He puts his face in his hands. “Of course I did—I still do. I always wondered if I’d see you again, but never in my wildest dreams did I ever think it’d be in the Hole. But you have to understand, I had no choice. I had to do what Dad asked of me.”
I yank his hands away from his face. “What are you talking about?”
“He never told you?”
“Tell me what?”