Page 147 of Take You Home

Maggie hesitates before shaking her head. “It’s okay. I have plenty of holdings that the Chain doesn’t know about.”

“You sure? It wouldn’t be a burden.”

Chester’s chest twinges. That’s not just affection in Obie’s voice, he realizes‍—it’s concern. Not concern that Maggie can’t handle herself‍—she did start World War I, after all‍—but concern that, if Maggie ever did need help, she might not think to ask for it.

That her first instinct wouldn’t be to reach out to her friends. Not like Chester’s would be.

AnddoesMaggie think of them as friends? Any of them? She clearly likes Trevor and Sasha, but she seems to keep some distance between them. And she’s worked with Cass and Ez in the past, but Chester doesn’t know if she’s really spent time with them outside of that. Even her relationship with Obie seems to revolve more around bowling and the conspiracy than anything else.

Does Maggie even realize that she has people who care about her?

Somehow, watching Maggie give Obie a faint smile and shake her head again, Chester has the nagging feeling that she doesn’t. “I’m okay,” Maggie says now. “Thanks, though.”

“Well,”Bryant says, “I am currently homeless and will gladly take a safe house. I’m pretty sure Mina from Bibimbap House would let me sleep on the floor of her food truck if I asked nicely, but it doesn’t sound terribly comfortable.”

“Sure,” Obie says readily. “Actually, you can move into the same apartment I gave to Roma during her fake defection‍—it’s not under contract at the moment.”

“Ez and I can set her up there,” Roma offers. “Make sure she has everything she needs.”

Obie’s eyes soften. “That’d be great. Thanks, Gutierrez.”

“No problem.”

“And I’ll stop by with JJ and Desi tomorrow,” Cass adds, nodding cautiously at Bryant. “I stockpiled a few extra identities before Gregorio left the Chain. We can easily put one together for you.”

Bryant looks a bit overwhelmed by the flurry of volunteers, but she nods gamely. “All right. Thanks, guys.”

Warmth spreads through Chester. It looks like Bryant has officially become one of the people that Obie is going to take care of now, and Chester knows from personal experience that it’s the best place to be. Lightly, he squeezes Obie’s hand.Thank you.

Obie’s confused voice wafts through Chester’s head.For what?

For being you.

Obie smiles at Chester before pushing himself to his feet. “Come on,” he says, reaching out a hand. “Let’s go home.”

Chester’s heart feels full. “Home sounds good,” he says, waving goodbye to his friends‍—his family‍—as Obie threads their fingers together, snaps open a rift, and guides Chester through.

EPILOGUE

Two Weeks Later

Chester’s bowling ball whizzes down the lane, crashes into the pins, and knocks just fewer than half of them down. He thrusts his fists triumphantly into the air.“Gooooooal!”

Obie buries his face in his hands. “You take pleasure in humiliating me, don’t you?”

Chester leans over to press a self-satisfied kiss to his cheek. “You love it.”

“No, I loveyou,”Obie grumbles, fighting back a smile when a grin jumps onto Chester’s face at the words. “All right, puppy. Want me to see if I can knock down the rest of your pins for you?”

Chester gestures towards the lane with a flourish. “Be my guest.”

Obie grabs the next ball from the rack, centers himself on a deep breath, and strides forward, letting the ball slide off his fingers. It rolls sadly into the gutter just before hitting any of the pins, and Obie drops his head back with a groan.

“Bummer, man,” Trevor says solemnly, patting Obie’s shoulder. “Our bad luck streak has returned.”

“It’s allyourfault,” Sasha says, scowling at Chester. “Once you, like, changed your name and everything, we lost all our mojo. We need Kyle back.”

Chester sputters indignantly. “But Kyle never even existed! Kyle was just me in a cheap costume!”