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“Who are we keeping safe now?” Nick asked as he strode into the room, tossing his jacket on the table as he walked past.
“Evie and her family,” Harris replied.
“Where is she? Is she okay?” Nick asked as he reached into the cabinet for an unopened bottle of scotch. It was always the first thing he did when he got home from work now. Had been for a while. We were worried about him, but he refused to listen if we tried to bring the topic up with him, and we were too scared of pushing him away to try too hard. We were all coping in our own ways. I just wished Nick’s wasn’t so self-destructive.
“She’s asleep. She had a tough day,” Kailan answered.
Nick poured himself a tumbler almost full of scotch, then threw it back in one huge shot. He filled the glass again, then closed the bottle and set it aside – which was something, I supposed.
“I’ll cook something. She’ll be hungry when she wakes up,” Nick suggested and we all nodded, but looked to each other with surprise. It was a long time since Nick did anything other than grab the bottle of scotch and a glass and storm off up to his room. “What does she like?”
“Most things,” Harris shrugged. “She’s not picky, or at least she wasn’t. She loves Mexican food because one of her brothers, Matt, is Mexican and an amazing cook.”
“I can work with that,” Nick declared. He took another small drink, then turned to the refrigerator and started pulling out ingredients, the whole time the three of us just looking on in astonishment and confusion. This was a version of Nick I wasn’t sure we had ever seen.
We knew he was a good guy. He was our brother and when we had all been suffering at the hands of those bastards, he had cared for us, just as we had cared for him. We had gotten each other through those dark weeks long enough to escape.
But since we got out, Nick had been in an even darker place than the rest of us. He rarely laughed or smiled. He didn’t join in when we joked, and barely even sat with us for more than a few minutes at a time. He had become completely introverted, focusing on work, and only coming home for that bottle of scotch to get him through. We had gradually been losing him, bottle by bottle of liquor he drank, and we all knew it, but didn’t know how to stop it. Maybe having Evie there would be what broke through to the stubborn asshole and pulled him back from that darkness. I really fucking hoped so.
EVIE
Waking from a restful sleep was a complete novelty. I opened my eyes and waited for the shaking and sweating to make itself known, for the crippling terror to make my heart pound hard, but none of that happened. No nightmares. I sat up, shocked and even a little alarmed by that realization. How long had it been since I woke without a nightmare making me quake? Too long.
I picked up the cell Nick had bought for me to check the time and was surprised again to find I had slept for almost four hours. The sheets on the other side of the bed were rumpled and I remembered Harris sat beside me as I fell asleep, holding my hand and talking away to me quietly. That had to be why I had slept so well. Having him at my side as I drifted off to sleep must have made me feel safe.
I slid from the bed and went straight to the bathroom. I had to pee, and then I wanted to take a shower. I still didn’t feel clean, despite the amazing shower I’d taken earlier. I never felt clean. I hadn’t since the day I woke in that dank, damp cell. No matter how much I cleaned and scrubbed, I could always smell that mold ridden place on my skin, feel the filth still in my hair.
I sighed, then smiled slightly as I leaned into the shower to turn it on and saw all of the products Harris had picked up for me at the department store, lined up on the shelf inside. They were all expensive and way more than I needed, but he had insisted I have them when he helped me unpack the insane number of bags he had brought to my room earlier.
After Kailan and I left the store he had asked the sales assistant to help him, going off of the sizes I had already picked out. He had her pick up even more clothes, pajamas, underwear, and a selection of shoes, sneakers, and boots. He’d even thought to get me a thick coat, hat, and gloves. The closets were now almost entirely full, and the bathroom was crammed with hair products, fancy creams, moisturizers, make up, and everything else I could ever need. The sales lady had obviously gone crazy when Harris gave her free rein to get what she felt a woman may use.
I had protested a lot when I saw it all, but it was pointless. Harris was determined I needed all of it and refused to take a thing back. In the end I had given up and resolved to make sure I paid him back for everything, when I could.
The shower felt just as good as it did earlier that morning. I washed all over, twice, with the heavenly smelling citrus bodywash, then washed my hair and conditioned it twice, desperate to just feel more like myself when I stepped out of there.
By the time I had moisturized all over, towel dried my hair and pulled on new underwear, a pair of jeans and a hooded sweater – all of which actually fit – I definitely felt more human. Maybe not like me exactly, but human was a start.
Before heading downstairs I grabbed my favorite item that Harris had bought for me – a pair of sheepskin slipper boots. They were pure luxury, and I knew they would have cost way too much. I’d told Harris as much, but I couldn’t deny putting them on was like walking on clouds. They were so soft and warm. I was in love.
During the weeks I was held by Soloman I’d been in only my underwear. I’d been so cold all of the time, and there were times I feared I would lose fingers and toes, they were that numb. During my time in Boston I had always felt that chill, even when I was wrapped up in the blanket I had bought. It was like it had gotten to my core and would never leave me. I still felt it, despite the guys constantly turning the heat in the house up for me, so those slippers, they were so much more than just slippers.
I started down the stairs, stopping halfway as the smell of food reached me. I froze and inhaled, closing my eyes as the smell of Matt’s cooking took me right back home. A smile filled my face as I imagined walking into the kitchen and finding him stood behind the stove, telling me to try his sauce, or scolding me for stealing one of his famous empanadas.
“Evie?” I opened my eyes and looked down to where Aleks was at the foot of the stairs watching me curiously. “You okay up there?” he asked.
He had changed since I saw him that morning, now in jeans and a green t-shirt that complimented his coloring perfectly. Over it he wore an open checked black and green shirt. His hair was styled neatly in place, and he pushed those sexy glasses up his nose as he stood waiting for me to respond.
“I…the food. It smells delicious,” I babbled.
“Enchiladas. Nick cooked,” he explained with a cute smile. “Are you coming down?”
“Yes,” I laughed as I snapped out of it and started moving again. “Sorry. It was just the smell. It took me right back home for a minute there,” I explained further as he stood waiting for me.
“Right. Harris told us. Your brother cooks Mexican. Matt, right?”
“Yeah. He’s such a fantastic cook, and not just Mexican. I think he can cook just about anything and make it taste good. He should have been a chef, but he wanted to be a lawyer like our dad. Turnes out he’s just as good at that as he is cooking,” I explained with a smile. I missed him. I missed all of them, but it was good to talk about them.
“I’m a useless cook. My mom was too, so I never really learned. Her food was terrible, then add in the Polish thing and you get a whole lot of bad pierogi and overcooked cabbage,” he laughed.
