AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The world just felt different.
Sleep was completely off the table, so I paced for a while, then read everything people had written on the group chat while I’d beenbusy. When I realized there wasn’t any new information that I didn’t already know, I tossed my phone onto a side table and rubbed the back of my neck as I paced some more.
That’s it.
I was pretty sure she’d probably be at her parents’ place. They would’ve insisted that she go with them until she gave in and agreed.
To be safe, I drove past her house on the way. It was dark, so I continued on to Pick and Eva’s.
Lights were on everywhere there, so I found a place to park and started up the front walk.
The door opened before I even stepped onto the front porch. Trick sighed regretfully as he looked out at me. Then he shook his head and said, “Okay, so maybe I overreacted a touch at the hospital.”
“Yeah, you think?” I muttered, rolling my eyes.
Trick hissed out his apology. “I’m sorry. I was still wigging out over what had happened.”
“Well, it was weird,” I said. “So don’t do it again. Usually,I’mthe idiotic dipshit who says thewrongthing in any given situation.”
Trick smiled and shook his head. “Shut up,” he said affectionately and opened the door to let me in. I stepped inside to find that the front room was crowded. Chloe’s two older siblings were pacing and talking quietly on the phone with different people, while Gray and Bella’s parents were curled up on the couch, napping against each other.
But there was no Chloe.
“Where is she?”
“In her old room with Mom and Dad,” Trick answered. “We’re hanging out here, trying to give themspace.” He made air quotes and rolled his eyes as he said that.
I nodded and glanced toward the opening of the hall that I knew led to her childhood room. “Mind if I peek in, just to reassure myself?”
Trick splayed out his hand. “Hey, if you want to risk the wrath of my parents, knock yourself out.”
I guess I didn’t care about the risk because I started for the opening of the hall without any more invitation than that. It was quiet as I approached the doorway to Chloe’s old room, so I slowed my steps to be as silent as possible, too. When I reached the open entrance and peered in, the light was off, but a muted lamp on the nightstand had been turned on.
Chloe lay cosseted on the bed with both her parents wrapped around her, her head resting on her dad’s shoulder and her mom spooned up behind her with an arm around her waist. All three of them were awake and staring sightlessly at the wall in front of them, Pick occasionally running his fingers over Chloe’s hair.
I watched them for a moment, my nerves settling a bit from seeing them together and knowing she was okay.
But once I returned to the front room and found a chair to camp out on, I just wanted to get right back up again so I could go look in on her one more time. The need was insistent and irritating, and I didn’t like it. What’s worse, I could only ignore it for about fifteen minutes at a time before it got the better of me, and I was pushing my way to my feet to head back there and peer into her room, only to see that absolutely nothing had changed. They were still awake, still staring, still cuddled together as one.
On my third trip back, when I saw that she was okay and I immediately started to turn away again, Chloe’s voice finally mumbled from the bed, stopping me in my tracks.
“Would you please stop creeping and gawking at us like that?” she croaked in a hoarse voice. “We’re not animals at a zoo.”
I turned back to find that her eyes had shifted my way, so I stepped just inside the room. “You’re not sleeping,” I said, frowning about that. “Why aren’t you sleeping?” Addressing her parents, I asked, “Shouldn’t she be sleeping?”
“She refused the sleeping pills we offered her,” Eva answered, her voice about as foggy and tired as Chloe’s. Her eyes looked bruised and swollen from all her worrying.
Allof us were exhausted.
“What the hell for?” I demanded, turning my scowl back to Chloe herself. “Take a damn pill already.”
“I don’t want to,” she muttered back, returning the glare.
“Yeah, well, no one else in this house is going to get any rest untilyoudo. Just look at your fucking parents. They’re dead on their feet worried about you.”
“Luke…” Pick scolded with a tired sigh.
But my worry about Chloe being unable to rest and get past this horror of a night pushed me to keep flapping my jaws and grumbling, “Just take something, so we canallget some sleep.”
