“Thank you,” I tell him again, reaching a hand out to his and giving it a squeeze of thanks.
“Dex, why don’t you help me count this money?” Sly asks, gesturing to the bed behind Jagger and me.
Jagger helps turn me so we can watch Dex and Sly count the bills into piles. I see their lips moving as they count.
My mind wanders as I look around the room. I’d love to shower, but I don’t have any clean clothes right now. I look around at the guys and notice they are all wearing similar clothing. T-shirts, sweatpants, and running shoes. And they’re covered in specs of blood. My eyes move back to the money as I whisper to Jagger, “Do you think there will be enough money for some new clothes for all of us?”
He nods, his nose running up and down the side of my head, the action making me smile.
When Pete hangs up the phone, Jagger snaps his fingers and motions for it. When he reaches for it, I use that as my chance for a bathroom break.
I take a few minutes to run my fingers through my hair, wash my face, and hands. Feeling better, I step into the room and instantly feel the tension as four sets of eyes lift to me.
“What’s wrong?” I ask nervously.
“Nothing,” Pete says, beckoning me over. “Nothing’s wrong, angel cake. We were just wondering if you knew how much money you took from your brother?”
“No.” I shake my head as I move to stand between him and Dex. “I never counted it. Why?” I ask, glancing around at each of them, then at the piles of money on the bed. “Is it not enough?”
Pete snorts with laughter and shakes his head. Sly answers for them. “Wren, there’s almost two hundred thousand dollars here.”
He watches me for a response, but I’m not really sure what that means. But by their reaction, I’m starting to think it’s a lot more than I thought it was. “Is that a lot?”
Dex chuckles, wrapping his arm around my shoulder and pulling me into his side. “Yeah, baby, it is.”
“Wren, your brother is going to be really upset when he realizes you’ve taken this money,” Sly says, his tone worried. “He might be more motivated to get you back than we originally anticipated.”
“And we already thought he was pretty motivated,” Pete adds.
I hadn’t really thought about that before, that Robert might be upset that I took the money. I figured all his real money is in the bank, and this was just the cash he was using for the week or something. I really had no idea how his finances worked.
“What do we do with it, then?” I ask nervously.
“You keep it, spend it,” Dex says, giving me another slight squeeze.
Sly presses his lips together in concern but doesn’t say anything. “Sly?” I ask. “What do you think?”
He thinks for a moment before responding. “You were onthe run from him, regardless. This doesn’t change anything. In fact, it helps a lot. Now we don’t have to put ourselves at risk trying to get money.”
“This is Wren’s money, we can’t spend it,” Dex says, like the idea alone offends him.
“Oh no!” I say, shaking my head quickly. “Please, consider it yours too. We can share it, spend it together?—”
I stop myself, the words catching as I realize we haven’t actually talked about what comes next—what happens now that we’ve all escaped our prisons.
“I… do you… I mean…” I trail off, the question burning in my chest but refusing to come out.
“You can ask us anything, Wren,” Sly says as he takes a seat on the edge of the bed facing me.
I swallow nervously as I ask, “I was wondering what your plans are, now that you’re free? Are you all going… home?” The last word comes out high-pitched as a pit forms in my stomach. Not just because I no longer had a home of my own, but because the thought of them leaving to find theirs makes me queasy.
“I can’t speak for the rest of them, but I go where you go,” Pete says easily, taking a seat beside Sly.
“Same here. You’re stuck with me now, whether you want me or not,” Dex says with a grin. I’m not exactly sure what he means by that, but Sly speaks before I can figure it out.
“If you’ll allow me to stay, I’d like to as well,” Sly says. “I need to protect you.” My heart flutters in my chest at that declaration.
Jagger holds out the phone where he’s written his own response.
