Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 88736 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 444(@200wpm)___ 355(@250wpm)___ 296(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88736 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 444(@200wpm)___ 355(@250wpm)___ 296(@300wpm)
“So we’re staying,” Jesse said, watching me and Curtis.
“Yeah,” I said, swallowing. “We are.”
“Good.”
“Jess,” I called as they rose from their seat, one hand braced on the table. “I’m sorry. That was a shitty move. I shouldn’t have—”
“No, you shouldn’t have,” they cut me off.
I watched as they followed Finn, taking the stairs a lot slower than he had.
“They’ll get over it,” Dylan said.
I turned to look at him.
“We went to the bonus room first, but we could still hear you, so we brought Finn downstairs.” His fingers tapped in a rhythm on the table. “It wasn’t your fault—”
“Dylan,” Curtis called in warning. He’d turned from the counter to face us.
“It’s okay,” I told him, keeping my eyes on Dylan.
“Those guys,” he said thickly. “When they were searchin’ for Finn, they were talkin’.”
Curtis moved toward us.
“They said that the guy who’d sent them—Finn’s grandpa?”
I nodded.
“They said he told them he didn’t want any collateral damage. They said they were fucked.”
It felt as if I were being slowly suffocated.
“The way I figure it,” Dylan said, clearing his throat. He started again. “The way I figure it, those guys were actin’ on their own. The way I figure it, there’s no way you could’ve known. You didn’t think that guy would hurt us, and you were right, and you were right when you thought he’d try to take Finn. So it’s not on you.”
“I appreciate that, Dyl,” I replied softly.
“And I think,” he said, swallowing, his voice reed thin as he looked down at the table. “I think if we woulda just let them take him, they wouldn’t have hurt us.”
My lip started to quiver as Curtis’s hand wrapped around the back of my neck.
“Jesse and I weren’t gonna let that happen,” he said, looking up at me again.
“Buddy,” I whispered.
“So it’s not on you,” he repeated, his voice thick with tears.
“Come here, son,” Curtis said, moving toward him.
“I’d do it again,” Dylan said firmly. “I-I wasn’t gonna let them take Finn. If those guys got him? He’s just a little boy. If they got him—”
Dylan’s chair screeched as Curtis pulled it away from the table. He pulled Dylan to his feet and wrapped him in his arms as Dylan began to sob.
“Worth it,” Jesse said from behind me.
I turned to find them with tears dripping down their cheeks.
“Come here, kid,” I said, carefully pulling them against my chest.
“We’re better together,” Jesse murmured in my ear. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“You’re right,” I replied, rubbing their back. “We’re not going anywhere.”
“I’d do it again,” Jesse whispered. “A hundred times.”
“You won’t have to.”
“What the hell is going on?” Finn asked from halfway down the stairs.
“Language,” Dylan said, his tone sounding just like Jesse’s when they corrected Finn.
I met Curtis’s eyes as he chuckled. I smiled back as Jesse pulled away.
“Don’t say hell,” they ordered, pointing at Finn.
“You do!”
“I’m fifteen.”
“So!”
As they bickered and Dylan joined in, I let the noise wash over me, still held in place by Curtis’s gaze.
I’d made a lot of bad decisions. Too many to name.
But standing in that kitchen, I finally made a good one.
Chapter 21
Curtis
“She’s a cunt,” Jesse snapped, tossing a towel at Dylan. “Fuck her.”
“Stop,” he ordered. “She’s not.”
“She broke up with you after you almost died.”
“Keep your voice down,” he hissed, glancing over his shoulder to make sure Finn wasn’t in the room. “She’s pissed. I get it. I didn’t even call her after it happened.”
“Oh, poor fucking Isla,” Jesse argued. “You didn’t let her know you were in the ICU. You didn’t call her because your phone was taken as evidence because it was covered in your blood.”
“Can we stop talking about this?” Dylan asked miserably.
Jesse paused to look at him. “Fine,” they said. “But I reserve the right to rant about it when you’re not so emotional about it.”
“I’m not emotional,” Dylan protested.
“Okay, bud,” Jesse said.
“You two ready for school tomorrow?” I asked, making Jesse jerk in surprise.
“Where’d you come from?” they asked.
“Been standin’ here for five minutes,” I replied. “You got everythin’ ready for school?”
“All set,” Dylan replied with a nod.
“Good.” I looked back and forth between them. Dylan’s hair was trimmed out of his eyes, and Jesse’s was in fresh new braids. Neither of them had any bruising left, but Jess still had about a week before the wires were removed from their mouth. They’d lost about five pounds that they couldn’t really afford to lose, but Teddy assured me that they’d gain it back once they started eating real food again. “Uncle Will is gonna stay here tonight, yeah? He’ll crash down on the couch.”
“We know,” Jesse replied easily.
“I’ll be back tomorrow night at the latest.”
“Got it,” Dylan said.
“Don’t give Teddy a bunch of shit,” I warned. “She’s stressed enough about her new job startin’ and sendin’ you guys off to school on the same day.”