“All of it,” he answers.
“Wren, we were all in Robert’s bad books before we even met you,” Sly tries to clarify.
“And you contribute just as much as anyone else,” Pete’s quick to add. “No, actually, you contribute the most. You’re the one with all the cash.”
“And you’re the one who makes us all smile,” Dex adds with a grin of his own.
“I understand what you’re all saying, but I still want to do this,” I tell them carefully. Nobody says anything as they frown at me, so I continue. “You said I get to choose who I want to be. And I want to be a part of this team, I don’t just want to always sit back and let you protect me. I want to help, to contribute, to be a team player.”
“You’re right,” Sly says, sounding annoyed. “We shouldn’t tell you what you can and can’t do.” He looks at me, and I see a flash of heat there, probably remembering what we got up to just a couple of hours ago in the backyard. “Unless you want us to.”
“So she’s doing this?” Elias asks as he searches the guys’ faces. Everyone defers to me, warming my heart that they listened.
“Yes, I’m doing it,” I say with a nod, feeling strangely proud of myself.
We talk for a few more minutes, making a plan to find Marco at his auto shop tomorrow. Then everyone starts to head to bed. Once I’ve brushed my teeth and have one of Dex’s large T-shirts on, over my panties, I notice that Elias’s bedroom door is open, but he’s not in there.
I’ve noticed he never seems to be in there the few times I’ve woken up at night. Does he have trouble sleeping? Jagger and Dex get comfortable in the bed as my eyes move to Bluey, my stuffed whale, who’s sitting at the end of the bed.
“I’ll be right back,” I tell them as I pick him up and hug him to my chest.
I head down the hall and find Elias sitting in the middle of the couch, his head tipped back.
“Elias?” His head shoots up in surprise when he hears me.
“Wren? What are you doing out here?” His eyes trail down to my bare legs, and I suddenly wish I had thought to put on pants before I came out here.
“I wanted to check on you. Why aren’t you in bed?”
He shrugs. “I’m not tired.”
“You look tired,” I say, noticing the dark circles around his eyes.
“Gee, thanks.”
I try not to smile as I roll my eyes. “You know what I mean. Is there something wrong with the bedroom?”
“No, it’s not that.”
“Then what is it?”
He stares at me silently for a moment before he answers. “I just don’t sleep well in unfamiliar places.”
“Oh.” I guess that makes sense. I nod as I look down at Bluey. Elias is only here because of me. Unlike the others, he wasn’t in any sort of trouble with Robert or the FBI before he got mixed up with me.
With my mind made up, I hold my whale out to him. “Here.” He frowns, but slowly reaches out to take it. “His name is Bluey. Maybe he will help you sleep.”
“Wren…” He trails off as if unsure how to finish that sentence.
When the silence grows heavy, I gesture down the hall as I take a step backward toward it. “I guess I’ll just be going to bed now.”
“Wait—” He stands up, setting Bluey aside as he pulls something from his jeans pocket. “I have something for you.”
He holds it up, and I see it’s a necklace. A thin white gold chain with a small round pink pendant hanging from it. “It’s beautiful, but I can’t accept this, Elias.”
“It’s a gift… for your birthday. Since I missed it. Well, technically, I missed seven of them.”
“Elias…” I say, feeling weird about accepting such a beautiful gift from him.
