No, they weren’t.
The elevator is tiny, and it smells of lemon Lysol. It’s probably a little too tiny for four people to squeeze themselves into, especially three big alphas, but they don’t seem to mind the cramped quarters. A part of me doesn’t mind it either.
As we approach my apartment door, I realize I have a problem. I was at work when Wilkes kidnapped me, and my bag is still at work, along with the keys to my apartment. I turn to tell Callum, but Archer fishes a set of keys out of his pockets and passes them to me. “Here.”
I bounce my gaze from the familiar set of keys and back to him. “How?”
“When you were getting tests done, I figured you’d left your stuff at work,” Archer explains. “Your friend Ava was nice enough to grab your bag from the staff locker room when I said you’d forgotten it. I dropped your bag inside your apartment already. Hope you don’t mind.”
No wonder he was so tired at the hospital. He was out running my errands for me.
I smile gratefully at him. “No, I don’t mind. Thanks. And thanks for not telling Ava.” She would have worried about me.
“Come on, let's get you into your apartment,” Callum says with a smile, leading the way.
I’m exhausted. Drained. Literally ready to crawl into bed and sleep for a month, but I don’t move.
Callum turns back around. He takes one look at my face, and his shoulders tense. “Something is wrong, isn’t it?”
“She wants us to go.” Torin is the one to voice the thought that had been circling my mind the entire drive back to the apartment, and his expression is so knowing that he must have heard what the doctor told me and expected this was coming. “Don’t you?”
I nod. “I’m grateful that you came after me, and you saved me, but…”
“But?” Archer softly prompts.
The back of my eyelids burn as I fiddle with my keys, struggling to do something so hard, but I know I need to do it. If rebuilding my life after it imploded taught me anything, it’s that I’m so much stronger than I think I am. “I need you to leave. If you don’t, this is how it will stay. We’ll keep drifting in and out of each other's lives, having half a relationship, because I’ll keep hesitating to make the decision I know I have to. That isn’t fair to you, and it isn’t fair to me.”
“How long do you want us to go?” Torin asks quietly.
My vision blurs, his figure hazy with my tears. “I don’t know. Just… give me time to figure out exactly what I want. This isn’t a decision I want to rush.”
“Promise you’ll call us if you need anything, June,” Archer says.
“I will.”
Callum has his hands in his pockets, and his head down. “The work on the building is going on. Speak to Jack if you find more problems. I’ll text you our new address.” His voice is so gravelly and husky that I know exactly why he’s looking down and not at me.
“Youmoved?” I ask, tears in my throat.
“That house was never a home. It was a cage,” Torin says.
Archer steps forward, lifts my wrist and snaps my bracelet onto me.
My eyes widen. “My bracelet.” I didn’t even realize it was missing.
“Ava found it at the hotel when you… when we didn’t do a good enough job of watching out for you,” Archer says.
“That wasn’t your fault.” I look at them all, repeating, “I don’t blame you for that.”
They look at me, and I want to cry. It feels like my heart is breaking—as if I’m doing something wrong, but I have to walk away, even if it’s just for a little bit, otherwise how will I know if I really need them?
“Thanks for bringing me home. Bye.”
Bye feels so inadequate, but I don’t know what else to say. And before they can say anything back, I turn around and quickly walk away, struggling to see well enough to unlock my front door with the tears filling my eyes.
Finally, I get inside and close the door. I lean my back against it, and slide down it until I’m sitting on the floor. For the second time today, I dissolve into a puddle of tears.
Chapter 42
