“Of course you can stay,” Bel assures her, “These two can snuggle in Charlie’s room, and we ca-”
“Listen,” Isla holds up a palm, “If it’s all the same to you, I’d rather we share the spare room. I’m not sleeping on a bed you two fucked in less than an hour ago.”
I burst into laughter at that, “Of course Caspian and I can crash on the sex stained sheets. We love to snuggle, don’t we, Cas?”
He rolls his eyes at me but relents, “Yes, fine.”
“Okay, great. Then I’d like approximately seven thousand more of those drinks,” Isla grins. I feel some of the tension bleed out of Bel at her friend’s determination to stay here. None of us want to be far from her right now, nor do we have any desire to be sober after everything we’ve seen.
With a groan, Bel comments, “My parents, I bet they’re pissed.”
“Nah,” Isla wipes a hand through the air, waving away Bel’s worry, “I texted them from your phone, explaining that you’ve been too caught up with work to respond and you’ll call them tonight before bed.”
Taking a sip, she sighs, “I’ll have to go do that, like, right now before I get too drunk. What about Charlie?”
“He was less willing to take that excuse, so I had to call him and tell him you’re busy getting plowed by your boyfriends,” she mock cringes, “Sorry.”
Looking to the sky as if praying for patience, Bel groans out, “Isla.”
Tipping her drink in salute, Isla chuckles, “He’s very happy for the three of you.”
Despite her mortification, Bel laughs, grasping my arm in her humor, unable to keep it inside. I know she has a long road of healing ahead of her, but in this moment, I see the future. She’s got a whole slew of people willing to commit terrible atrocities to protect and help her. She’ll be alright eventually. I’ll make sure of it.
???
A few hours and two pitchers of margaritas later, we carry the two drunk girls to their bed and tuck them in like children, cackling all the way. The two of them cling to each other in laughter, free for the moment from the torment of the day. Tomorrow will be harder, when Isla has to leave and get back to her real life.
We haven’t discussed what comes next yet, either. But Bel can’t stay here; it’s no longer safe. I wanted to give her the time to move in with me on her own, but that’s impossible now.
Caspian throws my small suitcase at me from the bottom of the stairs. I barely manage to catch it, carrying it into Bel’s room. I dig through and find a pair of sweats and a tee shirt to sleep in, changing as Caspian walks in with his own things.
We both know we won’t be getting any sleep tonight; instead, we’ll sit here awake, listening for the next threat to our girl’s life. While we let the girls drink to their hearts’ content, we need to remain alert should anything else go wrong. The room smells like Bel and her fear and sex. It’s overwhelming, to say the least.
“Jeez, Cas. You couldn’t give the girl a few hours?” I launch a pillow at his head.
With a timid shrug, he confesses, “She begged me to. I tried to resist, truly. But she said sheneededthe proof that she was really here. How could I deny her anything?”
“Makes perfect sense,” I agree before changing the subject, “How ’bout Eamon and Isla, huh?”
He gives me a confused look, “What about them?”
“Oh, come on,” I roll my eyes, sitting on one side of the bed, “Those two are gonna fuck eventually.”
“Right. You had mentioned that,” Cas tells me, arms folded in thought, “Though I think you’re mistaken. They’re far more likely to kill each other first.”
Truthfully, I think it could go either way, but I like to believe lust will prevail. I tell Caspian as much, to which he only sighs and mentions that she will not even take the demon’s phone number to ask more about the hunter bloodline and what it could possibly mean for her.
From the girls’ room, I hear them both fall into snoring breaths, so I decide it’s safe to discuss what I’ve been thinking all night, “We have to move Bel to the hotel.”
“She will not enjoy having that choice taken from her,” he tells me, though I already figured as much. “I agree completely, do not misunderstand. But this is her home. Her entire life for the last couple years has been these walls. I fear stripping away everything familiar from her will cause what’s left of her psyche to crumble.”
I consider his words and possible solutions for a moment, “What if we invite Isla to come stay with us for a few weeks? Thanksgiving is coming up, so it would be perfect timing. She could help Bel adjust, see the sights for a while.”
“It’s certainly not a terrible idea,” he admits, “You would only have to ask and work around her upcoming obligations. I am not entirely sure of her career, but I think it can be quite flexible, much like Bel’s.”
Without any further consideration, I state, “Great, we’ll ask her tomorrow, now tell me everything that happened today. Don’t skip a fucking detail.”
As he recounts the hunters outside and the high-security measures of the compound, I ask another question, hoping for details, “Who is Mavis? She kept saying that name.”
