Page 104 of Resurgent

“Did you help my dad poison me?”

Matt steps back, assaulted by my question.

“Of course not! How could—”

My hand shoots in the air, cutting him off. “And would you have just let me disappear without looking for me if he had succeeded?”

“You already know I would search until the end of time if he’d gotten away.”

“Exactly. So, stop trying to take the blame for something you had no control over. I’m willing to bet that the second you saw Theo without me by his side, you started playing twenty questions to figure out where I was.”

“That cocky asshole thought it was the time to be funny until…”

My eyebrows raise in expectation as his voice trails off. “Until…?”

“I shmamed hmminthewall,” he rushes out so unintelligibly I can’t quite piece together what he said.

“What was that?"

“I slammed him into the wall, okay? But I don’t regret it, and I won’t apologize. I could have lost you again!”

Neither of us speaks until Hunter’s house comes into view through the trees, warm light glowing through the windows.

Matt finally exhales beside me. “Are you okay?”

The question nearly undoes me.

“I will be.”

His gaze lingers on me for a moment before he nods, accepting the half-truth for what it is—a promise to myself.

My butt barely hits the couch before the sound of Hunter’s dress shoes walking down the hall hits my ears.

“You look like shit,” he tells Matt.

Matt snorts tiredly. “Thanks.”

“I could use a drink. Anyone else?”

Matt’s call for whatever Hunter's having comes at the same time I politely decline, too exhausted to do more than curl up under a blanket.

“Not so fast, Lee,” Matt tells me softly. “Go change into some pajamas so you’re comfortable while you walk us through what happened after I walked away.”

I don’t argue. By the time I’m walking back into the room in a sleep tank and oversized pajama pants, since I can’t find Mattey’s old shirt anywhere, both boys are sprawled out in the living room—Korr in the armchair, Matt still taking up one end of the couch with two glasses waiting on the table in front of him.

Curling into his side automatically, my head settles against his arm while his shoulder presses warm and solid against mine.

Slowly blinking awake, my body warm and heavy with sleep, I blissfully don’t remember where I am, only that I know I’m safe with Matt.

Matt…whose voice I hear but is no longer holding me.

Sliding my hand around the couch, I expect to feel him close by, but there’s nothing.

The spot where Matt had been is empty, his body replaced by a haphazard barricade of pillows tucked beneath an extra blanket, like he'd tried to trick me into thinking he was still there.

Voices drift in from the kitchen, immediately drawing my attention and chasing any lingering thoughts of sleep away.

"...you can stay here tonight."