Barron chuckled again and started assembling the ingredients for breakfast. “I didn’t want her to get spooked. Thinking she had a way out that I wasn’t going to fight, gave her a sense of control. And you know she’s all about the control. And I’m hoping she already kinda loves me.”
“I think she does.”
Barron flashed a quick smile. “You gonna stay and eat with us?”
“I already had one breakfast, but I could eat again. Should I stay?” Brandt asked.
“Sure, why not? You can leave right after and we’ll get back to learning how to be together.”
“I’m shocked you’ve come as far as you already have. The two of you are the most stubborn people I’ve ever known.”
“She is.”
“And so are you.”
Barron grinned. “It’s not really my fault, Delilah is my mother.”
Brandt laughed. “So what are we having for breakfast?”
“Some kind of eggs, bacon, toast, and whatever else I can find.”
“Want some help?” Brandt asked.
“Naw, I got it. Drink your coffee and let me work my magic.”
~~~
Emmalyn practically bit through her lips in an effort to keep her mouth closed and not go off on Barron or Brandt. She’d heard them, every word they’d said, until she’d decided she didn’t need to hear anymore and high-tailed it back to Barron’s bedroom. She grabbed her clothes as quickly and quietly as she could, shoving them into her bag, only this time she only took what she needed. She didn’t have the ability to carry all of her bags and jump out of the window and make a quick getaway, but three was doable. Her backpack, and a duffel and the overnight.
She eyed her backpack, still holding her laptop, and thought of her makeup bag, and all the clothes she’d put away the night before, when she’d believed that Barron really wanted her there. She filled her overnight bag and her duffel to the point of breaking, and put on a pair of jeans and a teeshirt, then put two pairs of leggings another teeshirt and a sweatshirt on top since they wouldn’t fit in her bags, then put her hiking boots on. She tiptoed to the bathroom to grab her makeup bag, then went back to the bedroom and packed it in her backpack. She wasn’t willing to chance the shampoo and other hair products she’d brought with her because if they broke open they could spill on her laptop. She wasn’t sure the cushioned slot it was stored in was enough to keep it dry if her shampoo spilled, so leaving them behind was the only option. Standing in the bedroom, she very slowly eased the window up, dropped her bags one at a time out of the window, then put her backpack on, and jumped.
Landing on the ground, in the steady rain, she hesitated for a moment to make sure no one was aware of her making her getaway, and did a couple of fist pumps as she realized she was completely undetected. She picked up her two bags and keeping to the wooded parts of the property, took the long way around to the only place she could think of to go. The only place with no male to let Barron know where she was. The only place with no male that might make her want to remove his head from hisshoulders, because that was about how she was beginning to feel about all of them. She was going to Hellen’s house, despite the fact that Hellen wasn’t there and hadn’t been for more than a few days at a time for the last month or so. It was the only quiet, safe place she could think of at the moment, and it was just a few minutes hike away.
Fifteen minutes later she stood in the backyard of Hellen’s home. It was located at the end of the road it sat on, a fair distance from Havoc and Analise’s, and while not visible to the other houses, it was still close enough to not be isolated. Deciding that diplomacy was best with Hellen, since she’d been really distant and acting strange lately, she took a moment to reach out telepathically.
Having some issues, don’t want to go home. Barron and Brandt are dicks. Havoc and Analise are too in love to stomach at the moment. Mind if I crash at your place for a while?
Almost immediately she received an answer from Hellen — well, almost an answer. Hellen sent her a mental image of the hanging plants in her backyard.
Dropping her bags behind the house, she started taking down the dead potted plants and examining them. Not finding anything at all to have made Hellen send her mental images of them, she started lifting them out of their baskets one at a time before plopping them back in. “Aha!” she shouted when she’d located the spare key to the back door and held it up triumphantly.
Thank you,she thought to Hellen.
Hellen sent her a warm, loving feeling, then shut her right out.
“Alrighty, then. Leave you alone I shall,” Emmalyn said aloud, taking the hint and shutting down her own telepathy so no one else from the clan could get a read on her without her wanting them to. She’d know if any of her clan mates were tryingto reach her, and only Hellen or Analise would get a reply. Theirs were the only two lines of communication she left open.
She unlocked the back door, carried her bags inside and locked the door behind herself. She made herself at home in one of Hellen’s spare bedrooms, stripped off all three of the now wet changes of clothes she’d worn so she could take more of her clothes with her when she left Barron’s and wandered from one door to the next looking for a bathroom. On finding one, she took the time to dry off, then wrapped her hair in a towel before changing into a pair of Hellen’s pajamas. Finally dry and warm, she went to the kitchen to see what Hellen might happen to have to eat. Hopefully there would be something that hadn’t expired. Wasn’t long at all before she was relaxing, watching TV, munching on a pack of warmed cherry-flavored frosted toaster pastries with butter slathered on them, and an over-sized mug of hot chocolate on the coffee table in front of her. Luckily, Hellen had a well stocked fridge and pantry, so she wouldn’t even have to venture out to eat. The fact that she chose junk food as her food of choice, spoke to her attitude at the moment. Sugar always made her feel better, and junk food was her favorite guilty pleasure. As she finished her last bite of cherry toaster pastry, she felt an urgent nudge at her consciousness, and knew Barron and Brandt had figured out she was gone. “Fuck you both,” she whispered. She gulped down the rest of her hot chocolate and snuggled deeper into the blankets on Hellen’s sofa, refusing to acknowledge either of them.
~~~
“Don’t eat it all. Let me go see if Emmalyn wants to get up and eat while it’s hot,” Barron said.
“Like I wouldn’t save her any. You, now, I wouldn’t, but Emmalyn, I’ll save some food,” Brandt teased.
Barron went back across the living room then down the hallway to his bedroom and gently pushed open the door. He moved quietly around the bed and only realized she wasn’t lying there just before he tried to touch her to wake her. “Emmalyn?” he asked, looking around the bedroom.
“Em? You in the bathroom?” he asked, walking over to the closed door. He knocked on the door and waited, but there was no answer. “Emmalyn?” Barron called a little louder. There was still no answer.
