Jeremy didn’t give Phoenix the chance to answer. Instead, he put his arm around him tighter and dragged him back to the car, which I could see thanks to the headlights still being on. Barrett had been smart to leave the car on.
I hadn’t been thinking about my legs but Jer was right. It was a problem. Barrett dragged me against him. “Do you want me to carry you?”
I laughed. “I don’t think that would help anything.”
We’d no sooner gotten into the warm car that Phoenix put his head against the window and fell asleep. We all stared at him.
I really didn’t have a clue what was going on. Not any. But we’d just found that place. All those years ago before everything that had happened since, Phoenix had managed to break out of that shed and get home. Thank goodness he had.
My teeth chattered. “Whose house is this?”
“No one we know.” Jeremy and I cuddled together in the backseat. He was warmer than me, but then again, he was actually wearing jeans. “I think they live overseas. It’s always empty. Makes sense they’d use this place.”
Why hadn’t anyone found it? All those years ago? I didn’t know and my guys had been children too. The people to ask weren’t here. And they might not know either.
I shivered. Now that it was over I couldn’t think about anything other than the cold. “Think we should get back in the hot tub?”
Jules laughed. “Well, it isn’t a bad idea.”
In the end,we didn’t go back to the hot tub. Instead, after Barrett pretty much carried Phoenix inside, helped him undress and put him to bed, the rest of us managed to do the same. I was sandwiched between the twins and they were warm enough to unfreeze me pretty quickly.
“There were bound to be setbacks.” I was talking about Phoenix, and I was sure that the three who were awake wouldknow that. I mostly wanted Jeremy to hear me say that since he seemed the most angry about what had happened tonight.
He stared at me in the darkness. “What would you have done if Barrett hadn’t woken up?”
I blinked. That seemed kind of a random response to what I’d said. “I don’t know. He did wake up. Why?”
“Because if you had run out there after him without us you would both be in big trouble. Maybe dead. Or at least at risk for it. So, yeah, I’d like to know what the plan was.”
Julian sighed, loudly. “Jer.”
Oh, I quickly understood. Jeremy was mad. At me. He couldn’t be angry with Phoenix, currently, as he was asleep, but I was wide awake.
“I don’t know if you’ve ever been mad at me before.” I spoke aloud what I was thinking.
Jeremy didn’t move. “I’m… Fuck. I’m not really mad right now. I was scared. And I don’t like anything about tonight.”
“Well, we share that in common. Although I did like how you guys showed up with the car. That was really awesome, actually. To answer your question, if Barrett hadn’t woken, and thank you Barrett for being a light sleeper, I would have run up the stairs and then run down them. I’m pretty sure that is what I would have done.”
“Okay. Then at least I don’t have to obsess anymore about you two dying out there while I slept in here.” He paused, and in the quiet I could hear the wind outside—wind I was very glad not to be out in. “Sorry.”
I was sure we were going to fight sometimes. Didn’t everyone? But I squirmed. “I’m sorry too. I guess I shouldn’t have gone after him? Or found a way to stop him? Or…”
Julian shook his head. “Don’t let Jeremy get in your head. We’re not mad.”
“I’m really glad that I woke up.” Barrett yawned. “But now I’m going back to sleep. And if Phoenix goes wandering because of whatever is happening, I’m going to lock him in a room somewhere for the rest of the night. Yes, I think that probably his relapsing was to be expected. I wish I knew more. I’ll find out more tomorrow.”
Jeremy cuddled down against me. “I don’t do scared very well. Not when it comes to the people I love. Where would he even have gotten any drugs?”
Phoenix was breathing. For now that was all I needed to know. Barrett must have been on the same wavelength because I watched as he reached over on the bed to put his hand on his brother’s back.
Tomorrow we’d figure it out.
I let my finally thawing out eyelids close.
I woketo the pale hush of late morning, sunlight pooling weakly at the edge of the drawn curtains. The room was quiet—too still, a kind of emptiness that pressed in around me as I registered, slowly, that I was alone. That was pretty unusual for me in the morning. I was usually the first up and they were all still with me or I knew where they were. The chill that had clung to me from the blizzard seemed to have settled into my bones, heavy and unwelcome. My throat prickled with the rawness of sleep, and my skin felt clammy, as if I had come through a fever and hadn’t quite escaped its grip.
Shit. I was sick. When was the last time I had been sick? I didn’t even know. It was a good thing I didn’t get sick much because no one would have taken care of me. This was different than the hospital when I had to come off the drugs.
