Free Uprising (Alternate Earth Series, Book 2) by S.J. West Page B

everything.”
    Nina nods. “Understood.”
    After Nina phases to deliver Brand’s decision to Peyton, I hear him take a deep breath and stand a bit taller. He’s taken on a great burden, one I hope doesn’t break him in the end.
    Mason takes me by the hand and says, “JoJo wanted to see you as soon as you woke up. She wouldn’t tell me why, but I promised her I would take you up to her workshop.”
    Silently, I’m grateful to escape what’s about to occur next. I don’t want to play a part in Dillon’s torture if I don’t have to.
    Mason and I find Gabe, JoJo, Zack, and Chandler busily working in the attic of the mansion. Natural sunlight is able to filter in through the large windows on either end of the open area, bringing a warm glow to JoJo’s workspace. Back home, all of her studios have glass walls. JoJo told me once that natural sunlight was the best to design by. Long tables have been set up for cutting out pieces for the leather outfits. JoJo is sitting in front of her sewing machine, busily stitching a jacket together while the guys are all cutting out pieces at their own individual tables.
    “Well, hey, stranger,” Chandler says when he sees me, abruptly abandoning the scissors in his hands with a clatter as he drops them on top of his table. He walks over to me and gives me a big hug before stepping aside so the others can greet me in the same way. “It’s good to see you rested. We were all worried about you and Leah going on so many missions one after the other, without taking any decent breaks. The two of you made the rest of us feel like slackers.”
    I look around the room and see two racks filled with at least twenty outfits. Not all of them are made out of one color of leather. I assume that’s because it’s hard to find a large quantity of the same leather in this world, but JoJo has patched the different colored pieces together in a way to make them still look stylish.
    “I would hardly call any of you slackers,” I comment, nodding to the clothing. “It looks like you’ve all been busy doing this, plus your other duties.”
    “We are doing our best, mon cherie ,” JoJo assures me. I notice a soft rosiness to JoJo’s cheeks, and her dark hair looks a little glossier and bouncy for some reason. It makes me even more self-conscious about my own appearance…and smell.
    “Sorry,” I tell them, tugging on the white t-shirt I’m wearing. “I should have taken a shower before we came up here.”
    “Nonsense,” JoJo says, waving a hand in my direction to assure me she isn’t offended by my messy appearance. “I was the one who asked Mason to bring you here as quickly as possible.”
    “Though you wouldn’t tell me why…” Mason points out, gently hinting that he too wants to know what JoJo has to say.
    “Don’t feel bad. She wouldn’t tell any of us either,” Zack adds.
    JoJo takes one of Gabe’s hands and says, “I didn’t want Jess to be the last one to find out that Gabe and I are expecting a little one just because she was out saving the world.”
    “Oh, my gosh!” I exclaim, hugging JoJo and then Gabe. “I needed to hear some good news for once. The two of you just made a bad day good again.”
    “Bad?” JoJo asks, looking worried. “What has happened, mon cherie ?”
    I shake my head. “Nothing that you need to worry about. It doesn’t concern us. I’m just so happy for the two of you!”
    “Does this mean you’re finally going to make an honest man of our Gabe?” Chandler asks with a smile.
    “Oh, you Americans and your provincial views on love,” JoJo says with a wave of her hand, in Chandler’s direction. “We will marry when the time is right. I refuse to rush into such a thing just to satisfy other people’s expectations. Our hearts are one. That is all that matters. I do not need a little piece of paper to tell me he is the love of my life. God already knows we belong to one another.”
    “I couldn’t agree more,” Gabe replies, looking