“You said it, baby,” Mom snickers, and I shake my head even as they both wrap their arms around me, almost like they’re making sure I’m still earthbound and huggable.
And while I stand there, soaking in the mingling of all the people I care most about, a thought floats through my mind that I can’t ignore. Toby almost took this away from me, and it makes me realize that every day I spend with these people is one I should cherish for the rest of my life. So, if there’s one thing from my relationship with Toby that I can appreciate, it’s that he had an effective way of reminding me just how deeply I’m loved and how much I love in return. It was a fucked-up way of reminding me, but effective nonetheless.
So with that, I sink into Dad’s side and reach for Mom’s hand with the hand attached to my defective arm, thanking the universe for allowing me to live another day with the family I’ve formed with my guys, the bonds I’ve built with my besties, and the love I feel every day from my parents.
Chapter Fifty-Three
Maddie
Hours later, after everything has settled, food has finally been eaten, my parents have reluctantly left after giving their approval, and my girls have insisted on staying over, I don’t have the heart to turn them away after scaring them into rushing over. Which means all four of us have crammed into my bed like a tin of emotionally exhausted sardines with no room to spare.
The starfish named AJ takes up most of the bed, while Zelda becomes a comforter criminal, hogging the damned thing as though she’s the only one lying in my bed. Henley sleeps peacefully through it all, because she’s apparently God’s favorite, while I can do nothing but stare up at the ceiling, unable to succumb to slumber.
Every single time my eyes shut, I hear it. The sound of the gunshot. Rayne shouting my name. The screams of the people watching nearby. It all echoes in my mind the moment I close my eyelids, and by the time two in the morning crawls around, I decide enough is enough.
Slipping out of bed, as graceful as a trash panda falling out of a garbage can, I climb over my friends. I’m grateful for my best friends’ abilities to sleep through a war zone, because there’s every chance I army-crawl over AJ when she spreads out a little more. I know for certain I jab Zelda in the ribs with my foot when AJ accidentally takes one of my legs out from underneath me with one of hers. And Henley, the little dove, sleeps blissfully through it all.
Lucky bitch.
Finally finding my footing on the wooden flooring in my room after a damn near barrel roll off the end of the bed, Itiptoe to my dresser and retrieve my phone that someone has thoughtfully placed on the charger.
Swiping the unlock button, I leave my room before giving up on the notion of being quiet, walking down the hallway and to the living room before stopping and pulling up the group chat with my girls. I type out a quick message and press send before I talk myself out of it.
MADDIE:Can’t sleep so I’m sneaking off to greener pastures. They don’t hog the sheets or kick me in their sleep. Love your faces xoxo
As though only the ping of a text message wakes them from the dead, I receive three messages in quick succession, and I wonder if those bunch of hairy assholes were only pretending to sleep. It wouldn’t surprise me in the least.
ASHTON:If you die again, I’ll haunt you forever.
ZELDA:Do you, queen. Mwah.
HENLEY:Love you. Text us in the morning <3
Shaking my head at the audacity, I slide my feet into my Vans before ditching my apartment for the one below. It’s dark when I let myself in quietly, hissing under my breath when I bump my arm against the doorframe as I enter.
That hiss brings the attention of the four bodies taking up space in the living room, only a dimly lit lamp highlighting my guys as they sit in various positions around the room. I’m pretty impressed by the synchronicity, even if it’s creepy as shit, four sets of eyes watching as I shuffle into the living room.
“That lasted a total of four hours. I win. Pay up,” Caiden declares quietly, holding his hand out to Ryan first, who slaps a ten-dollar bill into his hand. Bax does the same, followed quickly by Rayne, and I frown at all four of them.
“What the hell?” I blurt. “What was the bet?”
“How long it would take before you came here,” Baxter answers, smirking over at me. “My bet was three hours.”
“I had ten on two,” Ryan declares, sending me a sheepish grin.
Frowning, I stare at Rayne questioningly. He looks over at me before looking away quickly, only then muttering, “I was pretty sure you’d be here an hour after we left.”
“Wow. Unbelievable,” I grumble, crossing my arms and then dropping them with a groan, the pain doing a fine number on my memory. I will remember I have a bullet wound in my arm, of that I am determined, damn it.
Feeling petty, I turn to leave, reaching for the door handle with my good arm. My hand only just wraps around it before I’m airborne, my Vans slipping off my feet the moment they end up in the air. I squeak in surprise as my good hand drops to Caid’s muscled forearm while the other hangs limply at my side.
“I don’t think so, Blue,” he declares in my ear, and I hear that cheeky grin of his in his words more than I see it with my own eyes. “You stepped into the lion’s den, and so we’re keeping you.”
Bax snorts, right before I watch him drag several pillows to the makeshift bed that has been created on the floor. Made of two mattresses pushed together and covered in a whole bunch of blankets and comforters, it appears the guys have created a comfortable nest in the middle of the living room. They’ve gone so far as to push the couches and TV stand away from their original spaces, creating a large opening for the two queen-sized mattresses.
Eyeing it with confusion, I open my mouth to ask the obvious question, only for it to be answered a second later by Ryan.
“The bet wasn’t necessarily dependent on when you came down here, but more so when one of us would cave and sneak into your apartment to bring you to us,” Ryan explains, biting his lip to stop himself from smiling at the puzzled expression I can feel plastered over my face.
