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Nathan pursed his lips, nodding.
“What will happen to him?” I asked.
Gabriel tugged once more on my arm. “Come on, Trouble,” he said. “We need to go in case he wakes up.”
I glanced at Nathan and Luke, but they turned to Mr. Griffin and started shifting him, turning him over and checking his pulse. Gabriel grabbed me around the waist, lifting until my feet drifted across the titles. If I wasn’t going to follow, he was going to carry me out.
“Gabriel,” I whispered close to his ear as I wriggled to be put down so I could walk.
“Let me take you home,” he whispered back. “Nathan can’t do what he needs to if you tag along.”
I remained quiet, but squirmed more until he put me down. We took the back way to in case Mr. Morris had returned, or was down the road. Gabriel carried a few things and the box of clothes and I helped carry some of the other items they’d wanted to bring over.
All the way to my house, we walked in silence. When we made it to my bedroom, I dropped everything and collapsed onto the bed. Gabriel directed me to wash the makeup off my neck, saying it wouldn’t be okay to sleep in it.
When I came back in new pajamas, he was stretched out in the bed, the light off. I crept in next to him.
At first, we were back to back. I stared off at the wall, worried about Nathan, of what this meant. Part of me wondered if Nathan was at risk with the police now. When his father woke up, he may press charges, or worse, come back after him. What would the Academy do to either of them? If I’d listened to Nathan and stayed in the car, would it have changed anything?
Gabriel’s back shifted slightly as his breathing evened out. At some point, he flopped over, an arm wrapping around my waist.
It was still several hours before I managed to catch any sleep.
PASSED OUT
I woke when it was still dark but was unable to go back to sleep. I thought I’d had a dream, but I couldn’t remember what it was about. Maybe that was better. My dreams weren’t so bad when I was exhausted like this.
I was still staring through half open eyes at the wall when dawn finally arrived. No word from Nathan or Luke.
The air was crisp and the more I shivered, the more Gabriel snuggled into me. He stayed asleep, though. He hummed on occasion, some unknown melody. He must have been sleeping pretty deeply.
But I luxuriated in the quiet moment with his arm around me, his palm at my hip. His legs were resting over my ankle. His chest was against my back and his breath warmed the skin at my neck. He was so comforting. I didn’t dare move. How bad would it be if we moved out and he could sleep nearby? Or just like this.
The house was quiet. I wondered if Marie was even home. Part of me was dreading she was, and that Danielle was with her. I still couldn’t stop wondering if maybe Danielle and Nathan were right when they said I should leave, and last night told me more than ever that perhaps they were.
Now Nathan wasn’t safe. Wouldn’t it be easier if he and I left? I’d eat all the time. I’d sleep when I was supposed to. I’d happily work endless hours at the diner to never see Nathan look the way he had last night. Defeated. Lost.
An hour later, there were footsteps in the hall. From the tread and the sound of the shoes squeaking against the hardwood, I knew it was one of the boys.
The door opened. The air shifted. I wanted to get up, but I was as tired as I had been the night before and couldn’t find the energy to get up.
Black slacks and the start of a crisp white shirt came into view. A moment later, Victor crouched beside the bed, staring at me. Locks of his wavy brown hair shifted in front of his dark fire eyes. His head tilted, checking my face. I moved a tiny bit, blinking up at him.
“Hey, Princess,” he said quietly. “You okay?”
I nodded stiffly. I hadn’t been crying, but my eyes were cold and my throat was thick as if I had. My body felt like a rock. I didn’t want to move and wasn’t so sure I could.
He sat down on the edge of the bed. The sleeves on his shirt had been rolled back and showed off some of the lean muscle. His fingers reached toward me and he shifted a few locks of hair aside from my cheek. “Heard you had a rough night last night.”
I swallowed to clear my throat. Nathan was more important. “How’s Nathan?”
Victor pursed his lips, breathing in heavily through is nose and letting it out slowly. “He’s okay. Still at the hospital with Dr. Green.”
“His dad?”
“He’s alive. He hasn’t woken up yet though.”
My tired mind took a moment to process this. That didn’t sound right. Was he in a coma? “Is Nathan in trouble?”
“It was self-defense,” he said. He nudged me a little. I slid back as far as Gabriel would let me. Victor lowered himself until he was on his side next to me, and propped his head up on his arm. “Luke was there to testify for him, and Gabriel can vouch, but Luke’s and Nathan’s word was enough.”
“What’s going to happen now?”
Victor traced a finger across my cheek. His eyes followed his finger. “The first step is to get Mr. Griffin to wake up. We’ll have to deal with the results after.”
I breathed in deeply, stretching and shifting. “Nathan was worried this would happen. He’d hit him and kill him.”
“If he doesn’t defend himself, his dad could kill him.”
“What are we going to do?”
The fire eyes simmered. “We stick together,” he said.
Gabriel sniffed heavily, stretched. The arm around me tightened and he pulled me into him. “Dude, I love you and all, but shut the fuck up.”
Victor smirked and then tugged at my shoulder. “Let’s go talk downstairs,” he said. He started to sit up and then focused on the soft pajama top I was wearing. “Oh you found these? You like them?”
“This shirt?” I asked quietly, trying to be mindful of Gabriel.
“Yeah. I saw it and I thought you’d like it.”
“You mean from that one time we went shopping? You remember this shirt?” I didn’t remember him saying anything in particular about it. I didn’t even remember the shirt.
“No,” he said. “I brought them over the other week.”
Gabriel snapped upright. He rotated toward Victor, his crystal eyes alive and sparkling. “You’ve been buying her shit?”
Victor’s eyes widened and his head rocked back. “Just a few things.”
“What?” Gabriel said louder. He shoved the blanket aside and got up, looking a little wobbly on the carpet. He had on a T-shirt and a pair of pajama bottoms I thought were Nathan’s. His hair was messy from the pillow. He turned, and found the pile of clothes we’d carried from Nathan’s house sitting on top of the bookshelf. He fingered through them. “They’re all from Victoria’s Secret. You went back?”
Victor shook his head. “No. I’ve been getting the catalogs. They send a ton to your house when you shop there, I guess. And then I checked the website and...”
G
abriel smashed a palm at his cheek and rubbed. “Christ. Okay. No more buying her clothes.”
Victor’s eyebrows twitched together. “She likes them. She’s been wearing them. It’s what she picks out for herself. I just got her a few more things. You know, because it’s getting colder.”
“No, I mean, some of the things she’s been wearing don’t fit.”
Victor turned his eyes to me, the fire lit to a playful flicker. He smirked. “Looks good to me.”
Heat rose through my face. He’d been buying clothing from catalogs just for me and bringing them quietly over to Nathan’s house. No wonder a lot of it looked new and I didn’t remember them. From what I could remember, those clothes were really expensive. “Victor...” I said, wanting to suggest he didn’t have to.
“She’s too skinny,” Gabriel said. “They’re falling off her. Her ribs stick out.”
“They’ve always stuck out.”
“Not this bad. She needs to eat.” Gabriel shoved his hand over his face, sliding his thumbs across his eyes to rub out the sleep. “And we didn’t eat last night. Shit.”
“She can eat now.” Victor stood up, reaching for my hand and tugging me to stand up.
I did, but too quickly. Blood rushed from my head and I leaned into Victor as I swayed. The room spun for a moment and a blackness washed over my eyes, threatening to take me down again.
Victor caught me around the waist. “Whoa. You okay?”
I was going to answer, but Gabriel was on me in a flash, grabbing around my stomach and helping Victor hold me up. I was squished between their chests. “Don’t you faint on me again,” Gabriel said.
“I’m okay,” I said. The lightheadedness was fading quickly. “I just got up too fast. It happens.”
“Because you didn’t eat,” Gabriel said. He backed up a step but pushed fingers to my neck, checking my pulse. “And the stress.”
“Let’s go eat breakfast,” Victor said.
I followed the boys down the stairs. Marie’s room was quiet as we passed.
In the kitchen, Gabriel opened the fridge door, peering into the shelves. Victor scoped out the pantry and some of the cabinets.
