Well… there was a proverbial price on my head. Two hundred fifty million dollars. What if I promised to give it to them? Would they leave me alone? I mean it made me sort of sick to think of them having that much money if they were doing bad things with it, yet I would happily turn it over and let the authorities get them. I could ask about that tomorrow.
Why hadn’t my mother done that?
I wished I could ask her. The door opened again and this time it was Jeremy. He walked over, squeezed my foot, and then got in the other bed. Phoenix must still be doing whatever he was doing. He had jumped in to help as though it was the most perfectly normal thing to do. Was he okay?
“Go to sleep, Princess,” Jeremy said loud enough for me to hear it but hopefully not so loud it woke his brothers. “Everything will either be the same in the morning or better.”
I hoped that was true. I really did.
I let myself listen as he fell asleep, too. His own deep snores, different than Jules’, sounded, and it helped. I wasn’t alone. There was an alarm on. One Lent was actually awake, and three of them were piled in here with me. No one was getting through the door tonight. No one was going to lock me away where they would abuse me and eventually kill me.
Not only that, but they loved me. They had come for me. They kept showing it. I was safe. It was okay to sleep deeply. It was okay.
My own lids finally shut.
I hadn’t been out very long when I woke back up, knowing I was hungry. I stared at the clock. It was two in the morning. Funny, Rosalind had completely predicted what time I would wake up hungry if I didn’t eat. Well, I had eaten; I just hadn’t gotten to digest my food.
Phoenix was in the room now. On his stomach, next to Jer with no covers on top of him. He was face down on the pillow while Jer was rolled to his side, facing us. They were all there. It was beautiful.
And I either needed to get up quietly and sneak downstairs to discover if we even had food, or I was going to have to wake one of them. I chewed on my lip. I hadn’t seen the kitchen, but I wasn’t stupid, I could find it. Still, it nagged in my brain that they had all made a big point of helping me and I didn’t want to negate that by not asking for help when I could probably use it since I was a little bit dizzy.
Okay. Which one to wake? Jules snored, his eyes were moving beneath his lids. He was out, and he needed to stay that way. Phoenix needed to sleep. He’d conked out in the atrium lounge when we’d been looking at the lake and stayed that way after Barrett had come in. What he was going through probably required a lot of rest. Jeremy would want to be woken, but waking him might mean waking Phoenix since they were in thesame bed. That left Barrett, who absolutely would help me and was right next to me. He was obviously deeply asleep, but I was either willing to wake one of them or I wasn’t.
I smoothed his hair off his face. It was soft and familiar, like all of him was. Comforting. Barrett would always—right or wrong—shoulder my troubles if he could and never think anything of it. He needed care even though he would never ask for it.
“Barrett,” I whispered in his ear. “Sorry to wake you.”
His eyes fluttered open, and before they cleared, he smiled at me. It was adoring. Then he blinked awake. “What’s up, Sweetheart?” He had the sense to whisper. “You okay?”
“I’m so sorry.” I whispered back. “But I’m hungry. And a little bit dizzy because of it. I don’t want to wander the house alone. Can you help me?”
His nod was fast. “Absolutely.”
In an easy, swift move, he got off the bed and had me in his arms. I managed not to squeak. I hadn’t meant he had to carry me. That was okay. I also didn’t mind it. Like it was nothing, he quietly carried me from the room and down the stairs to the kitchen. He flipped on the light, all of it with me still in his arms.
Now that we were downstairs, I spoke at full volume. “I’m sorry.”
“Are you kidding? Of course you should have woken me. You always should wake me.” He set me on the counter. “I could try to make some eggs.”
They didn’t cook. I shook my head. “No, how about something just like some cereal?”
“Oatmeal. That’ll be better. That I can microwave.”
Sounded perfect. A thought dawned on me. Maybe it had been his carrying me right now that had made me remember what I’d forgotten. “You carried me out of the school.”
He stuck the oatmeal in the bowl and filled it a little bit with water before he walked to the microwave. “Better to call it what you did on the YouTube comments. A prison. You were in an abusive prison. That was not a school.”
“But it was you. You came in and got me. Thank you.”
He met my gaze. “We were all there but, yeah, no one was carrying you out of there but me. I lost you. I was getting you back.” The microwave dinged and he pulled the bowl out and then hissed, setting it down. “Sorry, a little hot.”
“Don’t hurt yourself.”
He grinned at me sheepishly. “I should have gotten a potholder or something.”
Or just given it a second. I wasn’t going to argue with him. This time he grabbed a towel to hold it and brought it over to me. “Careful. It’s hot. Oh. ” He rushed to the drawer and came back with a spoon. “Here.”
I kissed him on the lips, breathing him in, and he closed his eyes to sigh against me. “Thank you, Barrett.”
