No more threats, since I won’t be connected to anyone with any power anymore.
God, that sounds so nice.
I let the duster fall to the floor and walk to the bed, but I don’t sit on the side of it. I sit on the carpet with my back against the mattress, facing the wall, hidden from the doorway.
And I bury my face in my hands and cry.
I must have fallen asleep. Someone is knocking on the door, and when I blink my eyes open, it’s dark.Did I sleep all damn day?
“Lena, are you in there?”
Gideon.
I didn’t dream, which shocks the hell out of me because all I’ve done since this morning is think about that night. It would usually be a living entity in my body, terrorizing me relentlessly.
But I slept hard, and dreamlessly.
“Lena?”
“Sorry,” I call out, and the door opens.
“Where are you?”
The light from the hallway shines in, and Gideon walks around the room, then sees me on the far side of the bed.
His face hardens.
“Why are you hiding?”
Because it’s instinct.
“I’m not. I fell asleep down here.”
“On the floor.”
“I guess so, yeah.”
“Why?”
I take a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Because I had a minor meltdown and sat closest to the wall for a few minutes and accidentally fell asleep. Okay? Is that what you want to hear, Gideon?”
“Lena—”
“It’s not a big deal. But I’m super hungry, and I have no idea what time it is.”
“It’s after nine.” His face is grim. “I just got back.”
“From where?”
“First, I stopped to have another heart-to-heart with Willow.”
I sigh, shaking my head. “You don’t have to do that.”
“Then, I went to town so I could get some groceries and some takeout. I also got you this.”
He passes me an iPad. I blink at it and then up at him.
“It’s connected to my secure Wi-Fi, but any messaging capabilities have been disabled. No texts and no email. I mean it, Lena, I’m trustingyou. However, you can listen to music, or watch movies, or surf the internet all you want.”
