“Hey, hey…” Maeve’s voice, low and calm, filters through the fog. “It’s me. You’re safe.”
The lamp on the nightstand is on, casting a soft pool of golden light over us. My gaze shifts automatically, searching the room, and that’s when I see them.
The couch cushions are covered with blankets and pillows. Luca is curled on one, an arm thrown over his eyes. Noah’s on his back on another, earbuds still in. And right against the wall next to the foot of my bed, Jace is half-lying on a thin mattress like he’d tried to get comfortable but never actually had any intentions of letting himself fall asleep. They’re all here. That melts some of the ice in my chest. Until I notice the one piece that’s missing.
Tex. The pain returns, emanating from the void.
“You were dreaming,” Maeve murmurs, rubbing her eyes. “You were thrashing a little. Want to tell me what it was about?”
I swallow hard, “Just…Tex. Daniel. And—” My voice catches, the words splintering.
Maeve doesn’t push. She moves, so we’re face-to-face, her knees bent under the blanket. “You don’t have to say it,” she says softly. “I already know.”
I breathe in, shaky and uneven, my eyes darting again to the guys. “They’ve been here every night?”
She nods. “Lucian told me before I came. One of them is always with you. Guess they decided tonight all of them were staying.”
Something like a laugh bubbles up, but it dies in my throat. “I’m falling apart, Maeve. I don’t know how to operate anymore.”
Her expression softens in that way that makes me feel like she’s seeing everything I’m too scared to say out loud. “Maybe you are,” she says quietly. “But you’ve been through hell, Iz. You lost someone you cared about, and the man who hurt both of you is still out there. It’s okay to not be okay.”
The tears come faster now. I cover my face with my hands, and Maeve pulls me in, tucking me against her like she used to. When the world felt entirely too big and out of reach. I thought I’d be stuck there forever. Somehow, it seems like a simpler time.
“Let these big, strong guys carry you for a while,” she whispers. “You don’t have to fight it all on yourown anymore.”
Her words echo in the quiet, over the faint sound of Noah’s breathing, the scattered noises from the TV the guys must’ve fallen asleep to, and the soft rustle of Jace on his makeshift bed.
I let my head rest on her shoulder, my eyes tracing the lines of the room in the lamplight. The walls are the same. The furniture’s the same. But it feels different now—crowded, messy, alive with the quiet promise that I’m not alone.
“I’m so happy you’re here.” My voice cracks, thick with the tears I’ve already shed and the ones still threatening. I sniffle, rubbing at my eyes. “I’ve missed you so much.”
Maeve’s hand is still smoothing over my hair, her touch as familiar as breathing. “I missed you too, Iz.” Her voice is comforting. “I hated not being here. Not knowing if you were okay.”
I swallow hard, eyes stinging again. “It just hurts. Everything does.”
I blink, more tears slipping free. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
“Good thing you won’t have to find out. I’m not going anywhere, Iz. Not now. Not ever, ok?” Maeve promises.
I pull back just enough to search her face, my brows furrowing. “I know you’re always there for me, but eventually you’ll have to go home. Back home, back to your mom.”
Maeve’s lips curve into a knowing smile, the kind she gets when she’s holding onto a good secret. “Nope.” She pops thepof the wordwith a mischievous grin.
“What do you mean,nope?”
“I mean,” she says, drawing out the words, “our parents talked. For areallylong time. And…let’s just say, some strings were pulled.”
I blink at her, trying to catch up. “Maeve?—”
“I’m transferring here,” she says finally, grinning like she’s been dying to tell me all night. “Lucian’s making it happen. Papers, housing, everything. I’ll be enrolled here by next week.”
My breath catches. “You’re serious?”
“As a… very serious thing. Right now doesn’t seem like the time to joke about?—.”
Something warm blooms in my chest, cutting through the numbness and I cut her off with excitement. “You’re actually…staying. I can’t believe it.”
“Believe it,” she says, squeezing my hands. “I’ll be right here, every day, walking these halls with you. Annoying you, making sure you eat, and sleep, and don’t disappear into your own head when shit gets hard.” She winks. “You’re stuck with me now, whether you like it or not.”
