His brows furrowed as he stared at me before he said something to Elio. I couldn’t hear what it was from up here, but Elio was nodding. And then he was walking toward the stairs.
I swallowed and cleared my throat as phantom hands gripped my neck, gradually applying more and more pressure with each passing second. Had Jude’s claws punctured me yet?
“Moon,” Elio whispered. “Moon, it’s okay.”
I shook my head. “I don’t know about that.”
He put a hand on my shoulder, pulling me closer. “It’s scary for me too, you know. To see something from that night.”
I nodded, but I was having a hard time really following him. “Uh huh.”
“But they’re gone, and it’s just an RV. Mom and Dad’s RV.”
“Mhm.”
“Moon, look at me.”
I turned my head, looking him right in the eyes, the fear in me undoubtedly reaching out to him.
“It’s okay. Come look at it, and you’ll see that everything is perfectly fine. Nothing bad is going to happen, okay?”
He said that, but I was seeing his face from that night. The way his eyes were already halfway closed when I’d walked in on Jude hitting him. How scared he’d looked and how furiously fucking terrified I’d felt.
“Let’s go down.” He was pushing on my back, leading me, despite the fact I couldn’t feel my legs as they moved. We made it down the stairs, even closer to the RV. He pointed at it. “It’s Mom and Dad’s RV, and everything is okay. See?”
I shook my head because, no, I couldn’t see that. My brain wasn’t getting the same memo as him. My brain was telling me Ihad toprotect, protect, protect,even though there was nothing to protect anyone from.
I could hear someone talking around me, but I didn’t pay them any mind, watching the RV and recounting the fight between Jude and I. Remembering how it felt to literally fight for my and my brother’s life.
“Baby, you’re safe. Elio is safe. Everyone is safe, okay?” Emerson wrapped his arms around me just as someone took the stained glass from my arms. “You’re safe.”
I didn’t say anything. I wasn’t sure I was capable of it.
“Come on.” He moved both my arms until I had them wrapped around his neck, and he wrapped his own around my waist. “Just move with me, okay?”
I looked up at him, staring into the seas I knew and loved. They were a comfort. Something my heart knew and understood as safe. We started to sway together as Daddy began to hum a song. I wasn’t familiar with it.
We danced. We danced until it felt like it was just me and him, and we weren’t in a parking lot. We were in the living room with music playing in the background, and the sun was shining through the windows. Nobody was in danger, because we were just dancing.
He leaned down, pressing a kiss to the tip of my nose. “You’re safe, baby.”
I didn’t break my gaze. “Promise?”
“I promise.”
I believed him. He hadn’t broken a promise yet. It soothed me, knowing he believed it so strongly. “Okay.” I nodded. “Okay, I’m ready, but I won’t get in it.”
He caressed my cheek, smiling. “You don’t have to get in it, baby. I’ll go with them to make sure they’re safe, and you can drive my car if that makes you feel better.”
“Yeah, that sounds good.”
“Alright, then we’ll get the couch loaded up, and we can go home.”
Home. Our home.
Noneof my furniture or random decor matched with anything Emerson already had. Even the couch we’d set up in the living room clashed with the other couch that was already there, and honestly, it was a lot of couch for one room. Emerson claimed to love it, though, and combined, they seated everyone who’d ever sit in there.
There weren’t enough chairs for all six of us to sit at the table, so we were eating pizza on the mismatched couches, pulling slices from the boxes we’d laid out on the coffee table. A cooking show was playing on the TV per Elio’s request, though it was serving more as background noise than anything.
