“Oh, hey,” I said, feigning surprise. I didn’t have to fake the way the bright kitchen light hurt my eyes. “I just wanted some water,” I said, giving each of them a tight-lipped smile as I tried not to shrink under their gazes.
Sully went to the fridge for a bottle, handing it to me.
“Sleeping alright down there?”
“It’s too quiet,” I admitted. I was a TV-on sleeper thanks to years of living in an apartment with noisy neighbors.
“Noted,” Sully said. “I’ll make sure we put the TV or music on before we leave.”
“Thanks,” I said, giving them another nod. “Well, goodnight,” I said.
It took every bit of self-control I had not to run away.
I just made it back to my bunk when I heard footsteps on the ladder.
God, that was good timing.
I quickly yanked the robe and pillows out of the blanket and climbed in myself.
“Can’t sleep?” Nave asked.
“Just went to grab some water,” I told him, waving at the bottle.
“We’re changing shifts, so someone is probably heading down this way in a few.”
“Okay. Thanks for the warning,” I said, offering him a smile.
“‘Night.”
“‘Night.”
Alone, I pressed my face into the pillow, letting out a little whimper.
I hated lying.
I was terrible at it.
But I could only pray that no one had a reason to suspect anything untoward.
Not long after, there were more voices upstairs followed by heavy footfalls on the steps.
Not many people walked like that.
Perish.
Malc.
And, of course, Uncle Wolf.
Sure enough, there was my uncle. And he immediately walked over to me like I thought he would.
“You good?” he asked, as charmingly monosyllabic as ever.
“Yeah. The club was kind of too tired to sleep,” I admitted. “But they finally put some noise on.”
“No,” he said, shaking his head. “You good?”
“Oh! Yeah. I’m fine. Nothing happened.” At his raised brow, I rolled my eyes a little. These men. “Nothingmuchhappened. And I wasn’t hurt.”
