“What? Ryse is my best friend but you’re his sister,” he reminds me.
“There must be a way out of here,” I say.
“Yeah, if you’re willing to leave out my window, walk across the back roof, and slide down a downspout,” he says sarcastically.
“Which window?” I ask, since he has two in this room.
“That one,” he points. “But you can’t seriously be considering this.”
“My brother is going to lose his shit if he finds me here,” I whisper, and I head for the window. There is no screen on it and it’s large enough. I put my running shoes back on and climb out the window.
“I’m seriously not comfortable with you being out there. If you get hurt. . .”
“I’ll be fine,” I assure him. “I did gymnastics for like a year and I was always practicing on climbing things at our local park.”
“How will you get back to your dorm though?” he asks and I like his concern, it’s sweet and endearing but time is running out.
A knock comes on his bedroom door and we both flinch and stare at each other wide eyed. I give him a peck and climb out the window. This part of the roof has a thick surface that’s wide so it really isn’t scary. I hear the window close. And I take slow breaths, trying to look over the edge so I can find the downspout. I see it, I’m just not sure how I am going to lower myself on it. I’m not afraid of heights per se but. . .
I lower myself to a seated position and dangle my legs off the edge. I hope none of the neighbors spot me because this doesn’t look good. I twist my body and hoist myself up so I am dangling off the edge and then I slowly lower myself toward the downspout. I go slow because I don’t know how strong the hollow piece of metal actually is. I hang on tight but there isn’t much to go on as I slowly lower myself down. This is insane but seeing my brother right now would be much worse, I’m sure of it.
I make it to the ground and take a few slow breaths. I made it. I duck low walking out to the street. I walk past their house but they don’t have a front window so it’s not like they can see me. When I reach the edge of the street, I call an Uber.
“Poppy?” a female voice startles me from behind. It’s Holland pushing a stroller with her cute baby daughter inside.
Still she scared the living shit out of me and so I palm my chest and try to calm my racing heart. “You scared me.”
“Sorry.” She smiles and then she takes me in. “Are you okay?” Her brows furrow suddenly, realizing that it’s weird she is seeing me in this neck of the woods in the dark on my own.
“Yeah, no, totally fine.” I start to run my fingers through my unruly hair but they get all tangled.
“Ah huh, sure. Doesn’t Declan live just down the way?” she asks mischievously.
“Maybe.” I wince. “We almost got caught. The guys were out and we fell asleep,” I explain.
“How adorable, but risky too. I’ve seen how overprotective Ryse is,” she says.
“Tell me about it.”
“Do you want to come back to my place? I can give you a ride to your dorm. I just wanted to get some fresh air with CC. I’ve been working so hard with school,” she says.
“Thanks for offering, but I called an Uber. It should be here any minute.”
“I was meaning to call you back. You know about that discussion we had,” she says. “Well, I spoke to Mr. Davis behind Cole’s back, just so you know.”
“Sorry about that,” I say.
“It’s fine. Cole would understand,” she says.
“Thanks so much. I don’t want to be the cause of any trouble.”
“You aren’t,” Holland says. “Veronica said that if Logan can come out here, she can run some tests on him in her clinic. She has all the pulmonary function machines and she can bring him in at the end of the day. She can also prescribe meds that will keep Logan stabilized and Mr. Davis will cover the medical fees.”
“That’s amazing,” I say filling with excitement, but then I deflate. “There’s no way Declan will accept a handout and how can I get Logan here?” It means I would have to tell Declan I broke his trust.”
“I hope Declan understands that you’re trying to help his brother. If we can get Logan stabilized, we are really giving him his best shot at a good future. Asthma can be controlled in most situations is what Veronica said. Logan must not be taking meds consistently.”
“He isn’t. I don’t think.” The Uber pulls up. “Thanks so much for doing this.”
“Of course. Let’s talk more soon and see what we can do to bring Logan here,” she says.
“Yeah, I don’t even think they have enough to cover the bus ride.”
Holland winces.
I get into the Uber. I melt against the seat. I don’t know if it’s my adrenaline crashing from that crazy escape or my nerves working overtime trying to figure out how to get Logan to Westfall. What I do know is that I want to help Declan and Logan, but will Declan see it that way?
TWENTY-THREE
Declan
“McAvoy’s been holding out on us,” Bozeman calls out as I make it down the stairs. I run my fingers through my hair but I’m pretty sure I got a nice case of I just got fucked hair.
I walk toward the kitchen where Liam, Ryse, Wyatt, Leo, and Rowan all have shit-eating grins plastered on their annoying faces. I enter. “So this is the type of work you had to do.” Ryse smiles. You wouldn’t be smiling like that, buddy, if you knew the truth.
“It’s not what you’re thinking, assholes,” I say. But I look at the unfinished plates of pasta and the two empty wine glasses and yeah this looks. . .not great at all.
“Oh! I definitely think it’s what we’re thinking.” Wyatt waggles his brows.
“Do we know who it is?” Ryse asks. “It’s not Carly, is it?”
“No, it’s not Carly. You know I don’t go for the bunnies,” I retort. He shrugs and walks over to the pasta pot where there are leftovers. He digs the stirring fork inside and starts to eat.
“How can you still be hungry?” Liam asks him. Then he turns to me. “We went to this sick burger place in town. Each of us ate a half pounder.”
“I can always eat and this is seriously good. When did you learn to cook?” Ryse asks me.
“I didn’t.” I shrug.
“Man, this chick must be special if he’s pulling out all the stops. Is that where you’ve been running off to lately?” Rowan asks.
“No, I really have a tutor at school. I need to keep my grades up,” I say.
“What’s her name?” Wyatt asks.
“What’s with the inquisition, you fuckwads?”
“See, there is no tutor,” Leo says.
“No, there is a tutor, her name is Wendy. Now don’t go embarrassing her and asking her questions about me. She is actually helping me and I don’t need you idiots screwing that up,” I say.
“Wendy,” Liam repeats. “It has a nice ring to it.”
“I seriously worry about you sometimes.” I shake my head at him and he laughs. I start to clean up the dishes Poppy and I left behind while Ryse eats whatever is left in the pot.