“I just got a text from Vikson.” He holds up his phone. “He’s in town and sent me a location for a meetup. I don’t know if you should go.”
I should want to go. A part of me does. Another part of me, however, is exhausted. My eyelids feel heavier than they ever have. My back hurts and my head still has the low throb of pain likely from whatever drugs my kidnappers had shot into my system.
I’m tired and… it’s been the longest night of my fucking life, it feels. I just want to shut my eyes and drift into one of those rare dreamless sleeps. Where there are no nightmares, no good dreams, just the light floaty feeling that comes with true deep sleep.
Would it be so wrong of me to not want to deal with the rest of this shit tonight? Do we have to meet this Vikson man so soon? Would I be weak for asking them to deal with it and leave me behind?
Minutes have ticked past and the quiet has stretched in the room by the time I finally have an answer. All eyes are on me.
“I don’t think anything more is going to happen tonight,” I say. “I know it’s important that we figure this out, and I will, I swear, but?—”
“You’ve been through enough.” Nolan’s features soften as he finishes my sentence with words of his own. My shoulders slump.
Exhaustion clings to my every nerve ending. The game. The kidnapping. The killing. Lex’s secret reveal. From where I sit on the couch, I can see the time on the microwave sitting in Lex’s kitchen. It displays a number of early morning. I’m thankful we don’t have school again until Monday because if I tried to get up in the next three hours, I’m pretty sure my body would revolt.
The cushions of the couch at my back and under my butt cup me, and the softness was a mistake. I didn’t even realize howtired I was until I sat down, but now that I have, I don’t think I can get up.
“Do you trust me to handle him, Princess?” Nolan’s question is soft.
Trust. It’s such a simple word for such a big concept. If someone had asked me three months ago if I trusted the Scorpion Kings, my answer would have been a fist to the face of the asker. Now, though… I can’t imagine trusting three people more than I do them.
This time, trust isn’t an assumption. It’s not a given. It’s a choice and I give it freely to them.
“Yes.”
Nolan stares at me for a moment more before nodding and getting up. “All right then.” Lex shuffles to the side but continues to watch as Nolan moves towards me.
He bends down. I inhale sharply as he cups the side of my jaw and tips my head back, pressing a kiss to my forehead before he pulls away. The action is so gentle and sweet and at odds with what I’m now used to that it leaves me stunned for a moment longer as he releases me and turns to the others.
“Lex—”
“Yes.” Lex bites out the word, anger in his tone as he gets to his feet. “I know.”
“Should I stay then?” Gio pulls away the wad of paper towel that he has stuffed to his face. There’s a bruise forming in the inner corners of his eyes, but he wrinkles his nose and shakes his head. It’s not broken.
“I can stay by myself,” I say. That only earns frowns from all three of them and I raise my hands. “I’m not going to go anywhere!”
“That’s not what we’re worried about,” Nolan says.
They’re not? Does that mean they trust me too?
“Go on,” G says, motioning to Nolan and Lex as he cracks a yawn. “I need some sleep too.”
“We all do,” Nolan says, “but we should only be a few hours.”
“Don’t care.” Gio stretches onto his tiptoes, groaning. My eyes lock on to the strip of skin revealed by his t-shirt riding up. The tan, sun-kissed skin is stretched taut over his stomach and the edge of his abs only shows for a brief second before he drops back down. “I’m sure Prep Girl and I will be dead to the world before you get back.”
“Lock up behind us,” Lex barks. “I want the entire security system up and running.”
Though I doubt anything more will happen tonight, I appreciate the sentiment. I can always take care of myself if I need to, but knowing I won’t be alone when I shut my eyes tonight eases a fear inside of me I didn’t even realize I had.
“Will do.” Gio waves them off as he goes to the kitchen and comes back a moment later sans bloody paper towels. Lex and Nolan file out the door, shutting it firmly behind them. G goes to a small box anchored to the wall and types in a code. I hadn’t even noticed it there the last time I’d been here.
Gio looks back as the box beeps. My eyelids are already drooping. The bedroom isn’t far, but with how comfortable I am on the couch, I can’t really imagine what would be the difference at this point between sleeping here versus there.
I lean back as G disappears down the hallway and let my eyes slide shut. All the muscles in my body go lax. Distantly, I listen to the sound of a door opening and the reverberation of rushing water creaking through pipes. Soft footfalls and then— My eyes pop wide open and I release a startled yelp.
My hands latch on to wide, broad shoulders as Gio’s face appears in front of me. His shirt is gone now, revealing all of that golden skin of his and the full expanse of his ab-lined stomach. Blinking, confused, and more than a little disoriented, I frown athim as he hefts me into his arms, lifting me up from the couch as easily as if I weigh nothing at all.
