The Orphans (Book 5): Civil War Read Free Page B

my mind. I love you to death, but I need to get out of here and walk around.”
    Shaun’s face crinkled up as he tried to hold a smile in but couldn’t manage it. The smile was infectious and Ellie couldn’t help but follow suit. “What are you smiling at, weirdo?”
    “You just said that you loved me.”
    Ellie never missing an opportunity to throw him off balance. “Yeah, like a brother, or a cousin, stupid.”
    Shaun’s face went void of color and he looked at the ground awkwardly, unsure what to say. Ellie actually felt guilty for a second but still let it sink in deep before she reached down gripping his hand and squeezing tight. She said, “Shaun, of course I love you. Jesus after everything we’ve been through together over the last two years I don’t know how I couldn’t be in love with you. You are the reason I’m still alive and that I haven’t lost my shit, Shaun. We’ve had so much happen and through everything, regardless of what is happening, it seems like you just soldier on. I don’t know if you're just hard headed or you have a shell a foot thick, but yeah you can handle anything, and yes I do love you very much.”
    Shaun smiled again, his face started to regain the slightest hint of colors as his cheeks began to grow red. “You aren’t screwing with me are you, Ellie?”
    She shook her head no and this time he believed her. “You think at some point, Shaun, you could keep up with my advanced sarcasm skills.”
    Shaun rubbed his hands through his hair. “It isn’t easy sometimes. You are lucky that you are blessed with good looks.”
    “Oh, Mr. Fox, you would love me regardless of how I looked, and you know it.”
    Shaun pushed up off his seat leaning in for a much-needed kiss. When he closed his eyes and could feel the beginning of what was going to be a great kiss the unquestionable sound of Greg accompanied by Joey making gagging noises at the door was evident. Greg said, “God, would you slip her the tongue already, Fox. The two of you are going to be dead or old by the time you finally make a move.”
    Shaun did as he was told and extended a very prominent middle finger to the two of them. He pushed up off the bed giving her one more kiss on the forehead and said, “I’ll be back later to help you take your stuff to the barracks. We have that meeting with Clary and Aslin. I’m pretty sure that we’re going to finally figure out what we’re going to do going forward.”
    “Well, are you going to let me know what they said?”
    “Yeah, of course,” Shaun said, “but you know there’s no chance they’re going to let you go anywhere. We need to take people with who are fit and able. I give you a couple months and you are going to be going out with us all the time just like we had been waiting for.”
    Shaun grabbed his pack and rifle and Joey squeezed in running over and giving Ellie a quick hug. “I'm really glad you are getting out of here, Ellie. This room is nice and all but I hate hospitals. I asked a couple of the girls if they could make you some cookies. I thought that you might like them.”
    Ellie smiled thinking that it would be hard for Joey to be any sweeter than he already was. She sat there awkwardly until it was uncomfortable to sit there any longer without saying anything. “So, what kind of cookies are they, Joey?”
    “The best kind there is, Ellie. I had them make chocolate chip cookies. Oh, I love those, they’re so good.”
    “So, are you going to give them to me later, or did you bring them with?”
    “Oh, I got hungry helping with the blood drive, so I thought I’d just eat one, and then I got a little hungrier….I guess I ate them all. I’ll see if they can make you some new ones. Sorry about that, it’s just that I get so hungry sometimes and there’s no food around and those cookies were saying, hey, Joey come eat us cookies, and, Ellie, before I knew it they were gone.”
    Ellie patted him on the shoulder. “Don’t worry about it,