Crazies

Chapter Forty-Four

A/N
Sorry, this update is going but later in the day but I was forced to leave the house, lol.
Please enjoy and let me know if you find any mistakes!!

A cure.

I roll the bottle between my fingers and watch the blue liquid swirl inside.

It just seems way too simple for this all to end with a big box of shots.

"What are you thinking?" Karen's voice forces me to abandon my overwhelming questions running rampant in my head, and I carefully tuck the bottle back inside the box.

"Just that things are lining up way too perfectly," I say as I lean my head back on the headrest and watch the streetlight flash by my window. "Not to mention, why would the DH's and the West Side Kings have different colored cures?"

"True," Jay agrees, "makes it feel more like an experiment than a rescue."

I shudder at the thought and thankfully the conversation stalls out as the four of us grow silent. My gaze drops back down to the closed box sitting on my lap, and now that the words were out there, I can't stop thinking about them.

The what-ifs are like this parasitic entity that eats away at the hope I have about leaving this place.

What if this was all an experiment?

What if we're just the lab rats being tested on?

It doesn't matter, I remind myself to keep from drowning under the weight of those negative thoughts. I can't change what's happened. All I can control is how I handle the situation now.

I busy my mind by counting, not wanting to give my mind a chance to conjure more thoughts, and when I hit 720 Jay is pulling into the driveway leading home.

Charlie is still on duty at the gate and he already has it wide open for us. His worry is easy to read on his normally happy face and I realized he must have watched the road the entire time we were gone.

Jay, the big softy, stops at the perimeter of the gate and rolls his window down. "Charlie, what you still doing on duty? Your shift ended when we left."

"Den échei nóima," he says, his normal thick accent wraps beautifully around his native language. Charlie doesn't offer a translation, always finding ways to teach us Greek and he waits to see if any of us could figure out his simple sentence. I crack a smile when Jay's face dramatically squeezes in extreme concentration. It's plain to see he can't figure it out and I know he's going to be pouting about this later.

"It means, it doesn't make sense," I translate, not wanting him to pass out with how hard he's concentrating. He flips me off behind his head causing the three of us in the car to crack up. "Don't get agitated with me for helping."

He ignores me but I don't take it personally. The Greek language is a sore subject with Jay since he can't seem to remember the words.

"That's right," Charlie directs at me before looking back towards Jay, "It doesn't make sense to go home when I would be right back here, waiting for the four of you to come back. So how was it?"

"Just created more questions," Jay confesses while giving the box on my lap a sidelong glance, "but nothing we won't be able to figure out."

"Well go on then," Charlie says and takes a step away from the Jeep. "Those other boys came back a few minutes ago and everyone is in the main house."

"Thanks, now go home," Jay demands, to which Charlie just waves him off. I nudge Jay's arm, indicating for him to drop it. Charlie's a grown man and can choose what he wants to do, not to mention he's too stubborn for his own good.