“Should we try to convince her to call it a night?” Sloane asked cautiously. “I don’t know that the haunted house is the best idea right now. It’s pretty intense in there.”
When none of us responded right away, “I think she needs the distraction.” Cade said, his piercing blue eyes swirling with some memory of his own. “She probably wants to feel some sort of normalcy.” I stared up at Cade for a long moment, wondering what exactly he meant by that.
In line for the haunted house, Sloane promptly paired us all off. “Carter, you can go with Sara.” She pushed us together with a smirk. “Liam, you go with Jules?” She asked, but it wasn’t really a question as she dragged them to the front of the line, pushing them together.
I knew Liam would have Jules laughing and distracted in no time. He was always good at that—lightening the mood, smoothing things over, taking care of people. Over the years he’d been a big brother toallmy friends in one way or another. Finding too much entertainment in making our lives miserable of course, but he wasalwaysthere if any of us needed him. Protectively stepping in when a boyfriend needed an ass-kicking, picking someone up if they were too drunk to drive, offering sage advice, it didn’t matter—if anyone in his life ever needed help, he was there. I knew she’d be in good hands with Liam, and so did Sloane.
Liam nodded, understanding his task—he was on Jules duty for the rest of the night. “Don’t you worry, kiddo,” Liam said, throwing an arm around Jules shoulder. “No zombies will be getting by me tonight.”
Jules laughed softly, her nose still stuffy. “Thanks.”
“And what about me?” Cade practically purred at Sloane.
“Ican hold my own in there.” Sloane tossed her hair over her shoulder flippantly.
“I don’t think it’s the monsters inside we have to worry about.” Cade hummed, and slid his hand over Sloane’s shoulder and around her throat, growling playfully. Her eyes flared. Only for a split second, but both Cade and I caught it, and Cade smoothed his smirk as quickly as it formed.
“You are insufferable.” Sloane rolled her eyes and smacked him. “I’m not scared of monsters inside or outside.”
“We’ll see about that.” Cade tugged her closer, and I watched as Sloanelethim.Fascinating.
At the front of the line, Jules and Liam signed a waiver before their tickets were collected. And then they disappeared through the gauzy curtains, into the city’s most fucked-up haunted house, as Sloane had put it earlier.
As soon as Liam and Jules were out of earshot, Sloane turned on heel. “What the actual hell?”
“What do you think happened?” I asked before Cade added with a shake of his head. “What an ass.” Carter’s jaw flexed, but he said nothing as he listened with crossed arms, buffering against the chill. “Carter yanked Douglass off a random girl at the club.” Sloane announced.
“What?” I whirled to Carter. “Why didn’t you tell me?” Before Carter could answer, Cade added, “And Doug-ass was definitely doing snow in the bathroom earlier.”
“What?!” Sloane and I both yipped in unison, whirling to look up at Cade with our mouths agape.
Cade grimaced. “I don’t think it washis first hit, either.”
Sloane narrowed her eyes. “And you would know that how exactly?”
“Don’t you start with me, Blondie,” Cade said lowly, his eyes flashing with something surprisingly sharp.
Carter’s jaw fanned, and he shook his head, not paying attention to whatever sparks were igniting right in front of us. “I don’t know what she sees in him.”
“Do you think it was just tonight?” I asked, and we all looked at each other, nobody answering, because how could any of us really know? Carter gave me a sympathetic look, and I knewexactlywhat he thought.
“Well, nobody say anything until we know for sure.” Sloane pursed her lips contemplatively. “There’s no use making things worse, not until we know, and definitely not until she’s gotten a good night’s sleep.” Except Sloane sounded anything but sure about that decision.
“Maybe,” Carter said, a protective tone lacing his voice, and a tingle ran through me, watching him. “I’m interested to know what Liam overheard in there. There might be more going on that we don’t know about.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, trying to stay focused, but damn, he was sexy when he was being protective, and it was really sweet that he cared about my friends that much.
“If she’s getting steamrolled like that all the time, she might not even realize the relationship is dysfunctional.”
Was she getting steamrolled all the time?
A pang of guilt hit me, realizing I’d been off in my own little world this year. Everyone had been so focused on me while I was busy falling apart, and I hadn’t even bothered to notice if my friends were okay. Hadn’t even considered that they might not be.
Douglass wasn’t my favorite, but Jules loved Douglassunconditionally. Why, I couldn’t say exactly, but I knew one thing for sure, she deserved someone as kind and caring as she was, and there was only one way she was going to find it. She probably had to let go of a man that nobody could understand why she waswith in the first place. She’dalwaysbeen a giver, and Douglass had always been ataker. Someone could only do that for so long when things weren’t being reciprocated. But the more I stewed on it, I wondered if maybe Carter was right.
“Sloane and I will talk to her in the morning. We could all use a good night’s sleep first.” I sighed tightly, and everyone nodded in agreement.
I cast a long look at Carter and hopedwehad a fighting chance. I’d heard what he’d said to Cade earlier at the club. He was going to have to deploy soon. The thought made me want to puke. Not just because he would be gone for months on end again, but because there was a very real possibility he might never come back.
