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I still read them in their eyes.
‘Where were you?’
‘What have they done to you?’
‘Are you okay? Are you broken?’
I’ve been broken since a young age. Nine years old, to be precise. Viktor Volkov might have been heartless, but he’s not the devil that was Mateo Bianco.
Instead of sulking in my dark thoughts, I enjoy my time with the people I love. The guys can’t seem to keep further than a step away from me. Luke is sitting on the end of my bed, while Jake pushes me so he can lie down next to me, and Chris is standing right by my side, one hand constantly touching me.
Jamie and Jake are the same as they used to be; exact opposites. They disagree on everything, with love shining bright in their eyes.
Luke Baker is the same fuckboy he’s always been. He runs his hands through his pale blond hair as he talks about his conquests like a nice menu in a luxurious restaurant. He tells me how he dropped out of college and is working for his dad. He was never good with his studies, but I’m sure he’s an amazing businessman. The Bakers have a multi-national chain of coffee shops that can’t seem to stop growing.
Jamie talks about her studies. About the subjects she’s dropping and the major she wants to keep next year. She repeats in a stressed voice how hard it’ll be to get into medical school.
“It’s two years away, Angel. Can you chill for me? Just for one minute?” Jake says in a tone that indicates he repeats this around ten times a day.
My brother mentions an app he’s developing for caseworkers to be able to communicate safely with foster kids, and my heart pinches.
“You’ve made a big softie out of him, Jamie…thank you. I couldn’t stand the fucker anymore,” I laugh.
It earns me a dark look from him, and had I not been in a hospital bed, probably a punch to the arm.
Chris barely mentions Harvard, and I know why. Had I not disappeared, I would have done the same subjects as him at Duke. We both want to become attorneys. We both want to defend the people that can’t defend themselves and put the real bad guys away. Except he got to work on his dream, and mine was taken away from me.
It’s Jake that notices my heavy eyelids first. “You need to sleep,” he says softly. “You look exhausted.”
“You mean like I’ve been in a car accident?” I smile.
“Like you’ve got a twin who will choke you if you don’t get some rest,” he retorts.
“Oh, Jakey. Look at how much you missed me.”
He rolls his eyes, but it’s Luke who replies. “We missed you like a part of us was missing, Rose. You’re never leaving us again. I hope you know that.”
I smile like I agree with him. He needs to believe it because who knows what they’d do to protect me? I know them, they’d put their lives in danger. They’d risk everything.
Chris stays back once everyone has left. He looks at me with those sad eyes he never realizes he gives.
“Chris…” It pains me to see him like this. He thinks he failed me. He thinks he didn’t protect me. “You couldn’t have done anything.”
He shakes his head, words stuck in his throat. “I love you,” he finally says.
“I love you too.”
He grabs my right hand, the one that isn’t covered with a splint, and holds tight. His eyes stay stuck where our fingers interlock.
“Those two years must have been real hard on your hero complex,” I chuckle. There’s no humor in it, no matter how hard I try to lighten the mood. I missed him, and he missed me. We might not be blood-related, but our hearts have always been connected through everything.
He ignores my stupid joke, his brow furrowing gradually.
“What’s that?” His thumb rubs the circled scar that goes around my wrist. He moves my hand to check if it does a full circle and observes how it fades on the inner side.
“If I told you, you’d only get to ask me one question about what happened while I was missing…is that what you choose?”
His hand tightens around mine. “Don’t do this to me, Rose. Don’t be secretive, don’t close in on yourself.”
