“We will take care of her,” Jovian says simply.
“Ari,” Elijah says. “I want to apologize.”
“You don’t have…”
“I do. I’ve been nothing but an asshole to you in the last day, and that’s not fair to you,” he says.
“I’m sorry, too,” Jovian adds. “Although he was way shittier than me.”
“It’s okay,” I say. “Just… Stop calling me a puck bunny.”
“But we like bunnies,” Kip says with a grin.
“Mhmm,” I say with a smirk.
“So, we will train hard, and when we get to Toledo, keep your shit together so we can keep an eye on Ari,” Dom says. “Go shower.”
“You heard the man. Come shower with us, Ari,” Connor says.
“I’m going to the house.” I laugh.
“Drive safe, kiddo,” Ray says as he hugs me.
I carefully get off the ice and gather my laptop and bag before leaving. I feel a lot better having talked about what happened. I hate to admit that Ray was right. He told me for weeks leading up to this that the team needed to know because there was always the chance that I’d need them to make sure I was okay. I never would have done that on my own, so I do appreciate it. Even though it was pushy.
When I get back to the house, there is a small padded envelope sitting in front of the door. I see that it is addressed to me, which is odd. I have only lived here for a day. There isn’t a returnaddress on it either. I pick it up and walk inside. I will deal with it when I get my stuff sat down, and that damn toy put away.
I go up to my room and store the toy back in its hiding spot in a box before going down to the basement to get my blanket out of the combo washer and dryer. I need to feed the guys dinner, so I get chicken out of the fridge and lay it out before turning the oven on to preheat. Once that is done, I go back up to my room and make my bed up. Now that all of that is taken care of, I grab the package.
I tear it open before turning it over to dump the contents into my hand. When a bone lands in my palm, I scream and drop everything before throwing myself into a corner with my knees to my chest and my head down. I am sobbing at the possibility of what that might be, but I can’t pull myself out of my sudden panic.
“Whoa. What’s wrong? Ari?” Jovian says, grabbing my face and making me look at him. He is kneeling in front of me, and everyone is here.
When did they get here? How long have I been sitting here?
I sob, mumbling incoherently, but point at the small bone lying next to the torn envelope. “What the fuck?! Is that…” Kip starts to ask.
“Call Ray,” Elijah says, kneeling with Jovian.
“It was them,” I cry.
“Who? Why did they send you a bone?” Jovian asks.
“Look at her hands,” Connor says. “They bit her finger off, remember?”
Jovian pulls my hands out where he can see them, and it connects. He stands, scoops me into his arms, and sits on the bed to hold me tightly against his chest. I feel—dare I say—safe.
“Hey,” Kip says into his phone. “We got home and heard Ari screaming. Someone sent her a goddamn finger bone… No, she was in her room… She hasn’t said much, but Hunter is pulling up the cameras now… She’s sitting with Jovi… She’s okay… I don’t know… Okay.”
“Is he coming?” I ask quietly.
“Yeah. He said he was going to call the detective and for us to leave it alone so they can take it,” Kip says.
“I don’t want to be in here with it,” I say tearfully. Jovian stands without hesitation and walks me out of the room. We go into the room next to mine and sit on the bed.
“Can the lights be off?” I ask almost timidly. Mateo flips the lights off before coming over to lift my chin. “I’m...”
“Don’t even say it. Are you in pain?” he asks. “You said you needed it dark when you had a migraine.”
