AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I could withhold, but my dad pulled out all the stops. He even had pizza delivered and had the boxes set outside my room. I could smell that all day long. Then it was Chinese, then donuts, then the worst—coffee. I peeked out into the hallway once and was shocked. It resembled a school’s cafeteria. Tables had been set up with buffet-style containers on top. Then I realized my dad had created a buffet line, but it was for everyone else to eat and for me to smell, and suffer over.
Bastard.
That was smart.
My stomach groaned and protested each morning, all day long. I thought I’d go numb from the hunger, that it might go away, but it never did. I just got hungrier and hungrier. And, seriously, the coffee aroma almost had me climaxing each morning.
I held firm, but it sucked.
Finally, after almost three weeks of this, the tables were taken away. I didn’t know what that meant, but I just went back to bed. That was all I could do at this point. I was drained.
A soft knock woke me up that evening.
I rolled over, but didn’t get up. It would be Neil or Beth. She had started pleading with me to eat too, but instead I heard my dad say, “You won.”
I sat up, but I couldn’t talk. My throat hurt too much.
He sighed from the other side of the door. “They’re coming.”
My heart began to accelerate. I rasped out, “Are you lying to me?”
“No.” He sounded defeated. “You won. Your boys are coming.”
A rush of exhaustion overwhelmed me, and I lay back down. Finally.
*
I was sitting on the back terrace when the gates buzzed. I knew who it was. I’d been waiting all day. My body was riddled with knots, and when I heard the tires on the gravel, I couldn’t sit still anymore. I stood, knocking the orange juice over. As it spilled across the table, Beth gasped. She dove forward with her napkin. “Sheldon!”
Two guards stood at the entrance. I paused for a moment. My father had said they were for my protection, but I wasn’t sure. As I started for them, their hands went to their guns. I stopped. They stopped. My eyes narrowed, and my chin moved down. I asked, “Why can’t I go out there?”
They glanced at each other, but didn’t say a word.
She said from behind me, “Because they have to make sure it’s them.”
“I know it’s them.”
Beth came around with her hands full of wet napkins now. She was thin and frail looking, but I wasn’t an idiot. My father’s girlfriend had her own agenda. Disapproval was heavy in her gaze now as she raised her chin toward me. “You’re here for your own safety—”
I shot her a dark look. I had waited for another week after my Gandhi protests were victorious and Neil kept reassuring me they were coming. He explained they needed to take precautions, to make sure they weren’t followed, and to cover everything on their end, so they could stay awhile and not raise suspicion.
I didn’t know if I could hold back anymore.
Beth started again, “You’re not invincible—”
Fuck it. I started forward. I didn’t hear the car doors open, but I didn’t care. If they didn’t come to me, I was going to them. They were only a few yards away now.
“Sheldon!”
The two guards moved together. They were a six-foot wall of muscle and machine guns. I rolled my eyes. It wasn’t just my mother that tended to exaggerate. The amount of weaponry my father had was unnecessary. We weren’t in a drug cartel.
“Move,” I barked at them.
They waited for Beth’s command. A disgusted sound came from her, and she muttered, “Yes, move. Let her go.”
They parted, and I surged through them. Rounding the corner of the mansion, the doors on a black SUV opened. Even before the foot stepped onto the ground, I knew who it was. None of us had parted on good terms, but I didn’t care. I felt them both in there. Then his black hair cleared the door, and I saw Bryce’s startling blue eyes turn to me, and I launched myself. He took one step forward and caught me. His arms went around me, and my legs went around him. Shit. He was family. He was here.
It felt right. No matter the crap that happened, it was right.
