“What the fuck, Rachel? Where is she?” I rush to the bathroom, nothing. Closet, empty. “Rachel! Where is she?”
“Gone, shit for brains.” She tosses up an M&M from Eliana’s nightstand and catches it in her mouth, grinning. “Took me all afternoon to learn how to do that.”
Taking a deep breath, I attempt to calm down as I step in close. “Where, Rachel?”
“That I don’t know. Seems Aurora finally woke up and rescued herself. Didn’t need you all after all… just a forgetful godmother. Anyways, I’m out. Just wanted to see how long it took you all to figure it out.” She looks down at her phone, shaking her head. “Sixteen hours just in case you’re wondering.”
“Can you just fucking answer me?” I bellow as the door flings open, Jaxx and Abel storming in.
“Why are you two yelling in here? You’re going to upset her.” Jaxx moves over to Eliana’s bed. “Where is she?”
“I’m bored with this. Let’s skip to the next part.” Rachel flops down on the lounge. “Now that she’s realized she doesn’t need you all to save her, what will you do?”
“Rachel, I swear if you don’t start talking, I will-“
“What, Jaxxson, torture me? Fuck me? Kill me? You can try.” She stands, grinning darkly. “But we both know I’ve lasted this long for a reason. I let her go. I watched that girl lay in that bed for a month, waiting on you all to do the right thing. Thought you had a fucking plan. Pathetic shits left her. One evening, your party ran late, and so did I. Guess those couple of hours gave her just enough clarity. And then, just like her daddy, she waited for the perfect moment to make her move.” Rachel shrugs. “I really thought you all broke her, but hearing your conversation yesterday really brought back that fire.” She grins.
“Just tell us where she is, Rachel,” Abel sighs. “We’re garbage. We know. At least, I do.”
“Out. She’ll be back, but right now, she is making a point, and I suggest you all listen really closely.” She steps up to us, lip curled. “You fucked up. You abandoned the only person in this house who ever gave a shit about any of us. And after all these years, she has finally realized that she doesn’t need us. We need her. You can look if you want, but I’ll bet fifty blowjobs that you won’t find her until she is ready to be found.” She walks to the door, looking back over her shoulder. “I love that girl. She deserves a chance, and I can’t wait to see what she does with it.”
The door closes, and Abel sinks to the lounge. “Fuck.”
“What were you doing in here, Costin?” Jaxx studies me.
“Not that it matters now, but I came to get her out of here.” I walk to the window, noticing the garage door ajar, shaking my head with a grin, and whisper, “Fucking, Always.”
“What?” Abel stands to see.
“Her bike.” I nod. “She took the bike. Rachel was right; she’s back.”
“I’ve tracked her. Let’s go.” Jaxx leads us out the door and down to the porch.
“Where?” I ask, climbing on my bike.
“The field. She’s with the cow.” He shakes his head.
“Figures. We’ll follow you, Jaxx,” I yell as the three of us leave in hopes that groveling will be enough to bring the Princess back to us.
Forty-five minutes later, we’re stomping through what I hope is mud and realizing that this might have been intentional on her part.
“Son of a bitch! She didn’t,” Jaxx barks, jogging ahead. Leaning over, he yells, “She did!”
I laugh out when I see what he’s holding up. “Is that her pendant? Tell me it was on Joey Ramone!”
“Yeah.” He brushes back his hair, looking up to the sky. “Now what? She isn’t safe alone.”
“Well, seems she wasn’t always safe with us, either. I told you all this would happen. None of you listened because you were all too busy fighting over who was right to actually do anything. It’s no surprise that she doesn’t trust us enough to reach out,” Abel says, defeated.
“We were keeping her safe,” I argue, knowing it’s weak.
“We were letting Andrew keep her compliant and out of his hair, Costin. We all know it,” Jaxx bites out, pushing back his hair as we make our way back to the bikes.
“I’m done keeping my mouth shut. Twice, I’ve seen things all of you refused to acknowledge, and both times, I stood down, outnumbered. My self-doubt and your bullheadedness left her to fight alone.” Abel stops, picking up his helmet.
“She was a mess. She couldn’t even sleep without-“
“Without what, Jaxx? Screaming for us? Begging for our help? Sobbing out our names because she trusted us to protect her? To stand by her?” Abel fumes then lowers his head. “A lot of good that did her. We left her to rot instead of helping her. That changes now, and if I have to do it alone, then fine.” He pulls away without a second glance, leaving us in a cloud of dust.
“Fuck.”
“He’s right, Cos. We can make all the excuses we want, but the truth is we left her because none of us was man enough to admit that we could have prevented it. She said she knew I would never let her down, and when she needed me the most, I stood back and watched her fall.”
“Look, Jaxx.” I pick up my helmet, pulling it on. “We fucked up. I do that. A lot.”
“That’s the damn truth.” He shakes his head.
“Blow me.” I flip him off. “Anyways, here’s the thing – E forgives me. Every. Single. Time. Not because I deserve it, not because she has to. She does it because that’s who she is. She loves hard and fights for the people she loves. So put on your big boy pants, stop with the boohoo bullshit, and let’s finish this with her just like she asked in that hospital bed. In her heart, she knows we tried to keep her safe. She just needs to be mad first.” I grin, climbing onto my bike.
“Last time you just let her be mad, she started dating Laporte.” Jaxx grimaces. “Who knows what she’s up to now.”
Well, that hadn’t even crossed my mind. Fuck.
“Let’s go,” I growl, speeding home. We need to fucking find her.
Eliana
“No!” I yell, scrambling to stand. Where am I? It’s so dark.
“Shh, beautiful, you’re okay. It was just a dream.”
“Jonah?” I feel him reach out, pulling me back to him.
“Yeah, it’s okay. You’re safe.” He presses his lips to my forehead, rubbing a palm up and down my arm soothingly. “Do you want to talk about it?” he whispers.
“No. No, I just want it to go away.” I hurriedly wipe at my eyes, cursing the tears.
“I have them sometimes, too.” He shrugs.
“You do?”
“Yeah, some things just stick with you. It gets easier, though, Eliana. Every day, you’ll get a bit stronger. You just need to keep moving, surround yourself with people you love, and do things that make you happy. Bring enough joy into your life that the sadness can’t reach you.”
“You’ve found that, Jonah? Chased out your shadows?” I whisper.