AllFreeNovel
Share Us
FIVE
PIPER
My lungs burnedas I fought to take shallow breaths, and my eyes stung as smoke billowed under my bedroom door, snaking up the wall until my ceiling was covered in a rolling black cloud. I grabbed the doorknob, but it was too hot, and I snatched my hand back. Blisters immediately formed on my palms. A sob broke from my mouth, and tears filled my eyes as fear lanced through my chest. I cried out for my mom, my voice breaking until it was barely above a whisper.
I screamed for her over and over, but she didn’t come. No one did. The smoke was thicker now, moving down until I had to lie on the floor, but it closed in too fast. Sweat covered my skin, and my pink nightgown with purple hearts stuck to my neck. With each breath, I felt it curl down my lungs, choking me and cutting off my air. My body trembled, the room too dark to see. I hated the dark. It’s where monsters lived. I didn’t understand why my mom didn’t come get me. I needed her. I screamed, but no sound came out. I gasped, but no air came in, and my vision turned black. Panic took over, and I tried to get up, but my limbs wouldn’t move. There was a roar coming from the other side of the door, growing louder. The door flew open, and flames burst through, the noise so loud it deafened me. I screamed as they licked my skin, burning my arm, but I was stuck to the ground like a weight was pressing on me. A cry pierced the inside, and fear took over my body as I shook against the flames. It hurt so bad.
“I’ve got you. You’re safe now.” A low voice rasped into my ear, and I jerked awake, my heart pounding in my chest before meeting a soft, familiar brown gaze. If the room had been lit by more than the moon through the open window, I knew I would have seen warm caramel in their center. Lucas’s weight pushed me into the bed, but unlike my dream, it calmed me—grounded me in reality. His warm fingers cupped my cheeks, and he wiped away my tears. “You’re okay. It was a nightmare.”
I did feel safe, cocooned in his arms, and I let out a shaky breath and took another one in before nodding. “I’m okay,” I said, still feeling a bit shaken.
Lucas rolled off me, taking his warmth with him, and it took everything in me not to pull him back. My white comforter was pushed off me from thrashing in my sleep, leaving me in only an oversized T-shirt I’d stolen from him. If he recognized it, he never said anything. I had been seven when my house burned down, and this wasn’t the first time he had crawled through my window in the last eleven years. It wasn’t long after we had moved next door that I had woken up wrapped in warm, comforting arms, soothing words telling me I was safe pressed into my neck. It got to the point where I needed him, and the one time he had gone away, I hadn’t been able to sleep. I had walked around like a zombie, and I’d had to avoid my place before my parents started to worry.
“You’re good?” Lucas said, watching me with a concerned look. His eyes searched mine until my breaths calmed, and I was able to sit up. He dropped his legs over the side of the bed and turned his back to me. I hated this part almost as much as I hated the dreams. He never stayed. Even when I asked before.
All I wanted was for Lucas to care. But I’d be forever relegated to his friend’s little sister. Taking a chance, I reached out, catching his wrist with my much smaller fingers. I tightened my grip, knowing he could pull away if he wanted to. “Stay,” I said, pleading with him.
He inhaled sharply, his breath coming out in a whoosh, and his words were low and strained like he was forcing them out. “Marcus is my best friend. You know I can’t.”
My eyes burned with the sting of his rejection, but I wouldn’t stop. This time, I couldn’t let him go. “Please.”
He rubbed his hand over his face, and his back rose and fell with each of his deep breaths. I thought he would leave then. That I had asked for too much. Fear trickled in that I had pushed him too far, and maybe next time, he wouldn’t come.
“Just until you fall asleep,” Lucas said as he guided me onto my side so I faced the window and he was between me and the door. He had noticed how I would look at it, like that was where all my demons lived. His body enveloped mine as he tucked me into his chest and wrapped his arm around me. The pale moonlight made my skin almost see-through against his deep, warm brown.
My eyes grew heavy as the adrenaline from my nightmare wore off in the safety of his arms.
“Thank you.” My eyes drifted closed.
I swore I felt a soft kiss to the back of my head, and his deep voice rumbled through my back. “Always.”
* * *
Muffled voices from downstairs drew me out of my deep sleep. As I expected, the side of the bed Lucas had lain on was cold. I wasn’t sure what time he’d left, but I could almost guarantee it was as soon as my breathing evened out. Last night was different though. He had never held me like that, never stayed after my nightmare had broken. He had only ever touched me long enough for me to calm down before pulling away. A warm sensation grew in my chest, and I fought against it. Begging someone to stay wasn’t exactly proof of feelings.
He felt some weird obligation to look after me for Marcus, and that was as far as it went. No matter how many times I had wished it was different. Wished that he saw me the way I saw him.
I dragged myself out of bed, pulled on a pair of calf-length pants, and stripped out of my T-shirt, replacing it with a baggy one. Girls my age had switched to formfitting clothes that showed off their curves, but whenever I tried it, insecurity settled in.
Jax and Lucas had been eating breakfast in my kitchen every morning since they had early morning practices.
I released my hair from its scrunchy, letting the long blond waves tumble around my shoulders, landing a few inches above my waistband.
I took the stairs two at a time, entering our main living room. Our house was large, at least three thousand square feet, and we were situated in an upper-middle-class neighborhood. My parents weren’t gated-community rich, but we weren’t hurting for money. After the fire, I was worried about moving, but that didn’t last long. Within days of moving in, Marcus had already met both Jax and Lucas, and I had followed them wherever they went. Sure, I missed my friends, but not as much as I liked Marcus’s new ones.
I entered the kitchen and blinked away the light pouring in from the large window overlooking our pool directly into Lucas’s backyard. I hummed as the aroma of freshly brewed coffee filled my nose.
As expected, the three friends sat on the island stools, eating heaping bowls of cereal. I swore they ate a box in one sitting. Lucas sat with his back toward me, deep-cut muscles visible beneath his shirt. He wore a black baseball cap pulled low and fitted track pants. I swallowed hard, ignoring the heat flushing my skin before someone caught me staring.
“Morning, boys.”
“You look rough today, Pipsqueak. Late night?” Jax’s smirk told me he was just messing around, but that didn’t stop me from straightening my shirt and tucking my hair behind my ears. If by late night he meant terrible nightmares, then sure.
“Don’t call me that,” I complained, knowing that it was useless. The second Marcus had said it the first time, I knew it would stick. At least they predominantly called me Pips instead.
“Oh, come on, it’s perfect,” Marcus chimed in between spoonfuls of what looked like Lucky Charms.
I rolled my eyes and sat down at the empty spot next to Lucas. He didn’t bother to glance my way, instead completely focused on his cereal, some form of disgustingly healthy multigrain. I grabbed the box of Froot Loops from the middle of the counter and frowned at the empty weight. “Hey, who finished my cereal?”
