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“That’s fine. It’ll give her some time to recover, too.”
“See you then.”
I took the water to Lena and left it on the bedside table. She was fast asleep again, and I wasn’t going to wake her up to tell her this. If I had to be the one to tell her something bad had happened, again, I wanted her to feel a little better first.
It was a good decision. Her phone was buzzing constantly. Voice mails from the school principal and plenty of parents. I deleted most of them—Lena didn’t need to hear the kind of hate people were hurling at her. I understood it. These were parents afraid for their kids, and that kind of love made you lash out. But she would suffer enough without their words.
It was midafternoon before I heard any movement. I had a knot in my gut the size of a baseball as I went upstairs to find Lena finally awake and sitting up. She had a little color back, but she still looked sick. Her phone was in the pocket of my sweatpants, and I could still feel it vibrating against my leg.
I sat down on the edge of the bed. “How do you feel?”
“Better. I don’t think I’m going to hurl up my guts again, so that’s good. But I’m shaky.”
Lucas had dropped off some electrolyte drinks. I would get one of those for her now in case her stomach wasn’t able to handle real food yet. “Good.”
She turned a cute shade of pink. “Thank you for what you did. It can’t have been fun.”
“The last thing I was thinking about was whether it was fun.”
“Still.”
I took her hand and wove our fingers together. “I just want you to feel better.” Although I knew the conversation we were about to have was going to tear her apart.
“I do. Hopefully I’ll be back on my feet tomorrow. Have you seen my phone? I’d like to check on Evie.”
Squeezing her hand, I nodded. “I have seen it. But I have to tell you something first.”
Her face fell, and I saw fear enter her eyes. Every part of me hated that look on her face. I wanted to pin her to the bed and tell her she was safe and love her until she knew she didn’t have to be afraid of anything. But I also had to tell her the truth.
“When I called Evie, Lucas answered. She’s sick too.”
“What?” She blinked, and I saw her go through the same thought process I had about the takeout. “No. Please don’t say it.” Her eyes filled with tears. “Please.”
I pulled her to me and into my lap, holding her tightly against me. “I got a call from Charlie. There are a lot of sick kids right now. Some the same as you, some worse.” Her sob broke through my words, and fuck if my eyes didn’t start to water at the sound. “He needs to talk to you, and he’ll be here in a few hours.”
“Are they going to be okay?”
“I think so. A few are in the hospital, but it didn’t sound life-threatening.”
She sagged in my arms, giving in to the tears she couldn’t hold back anymore. “I hurt kids.” The small words were broken. “I poisoned them.”
“No, you didn’t.”
“What else is there?” She pulled away from me, crawling back to the center of the bed. She wasn’t strong enough to do anything but lie there, but her shoulders shook. “No one will ever come back to Deja Brew. My reputation is gone, and now I poisoned children. What am I going to do?”
I wiped the mist from my eyes. She sounded devastated, and I wanted to cry for her. But this was exactly the kind of situation where my control reached beyond sex. Lena needed someone to give her a safe place in this storm, and that was me.
Lying down beside her, I tugged her against my chest. “You didn’t do this, Lena.”
She tucked her face down into the pillow away from me, and I couldn’t have that. I needed her to know she wasn’t alone in this. “Look at me, sweetheart.” Lena shook her head. “It wasn’t a suggestion.” The words were gentle, but they held the command she needed.
Slowly, she turned over, but she didn’t meet my eyes. Better than nothing. “I don’t believe for one second this was your fault. I ate the cupcake you brought me, and I’m not sick. Not all the kids are sick, so there could be another explanation. And I’m still not convinced this isn’t targeted harassment.”
She still didn’t look at me, and it was clear she didn’t believe me. Gently, I slid my hand up her spine until it was buried in her hair, guiding her face to look at mine. Immediately, she closed her eyes.
I tightened my fingers a fraction. “Look at me.”
When she did, I recognized what I saw there. Desolation. It was the same look I’d had when I came back from those caves. Nothing was right and nothing was the same, and everything I’d thought I’d had was gone. This was Lena losing everything.
