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She’d eventually passed out, curled up on the rug in front of the fire with her hands tucked up under the side of her face in the prayer position. I covered her up with a blanket I found on the back of a love seat in a different living room.
I didn’t want to move her because she looked so peaceful where she was. I was also too afraid to leave her alone. I thought maybe that fear would fade in time but it only got worse and when I wasn’t around her there was a constant itch under my skin that was a craving where I wanted to immediately hunt her down so I could get back to her side.
Tonight I was worried about her for different reasons and, like all things with Isobel, they were heavy reasons.
I lived with Romero, yes. But I spent all my nights at Rain’s at Isobel’s side. My relationship with Romero wasn’t ever going to change my need to be by Isobel’s side. Just like I knew his relationship with myself or Rain wasn’t going to change his need or desire to be with Isobel as often as he possibly could.
And don’t even get me started on Rain. Every time I thought I had that man figured out he went and did something that had me scratching the side of my head in confusion all over again.
All three of them were fucking crazy in their own ways, but that’s why I fit in so well with them. I was a little fucked up myself, there was no denying that.
Isobel had been putting on a good show since she’d gotten back from her ordeal with that monster of a man. She hid it really well and I almost missed it. I doubted Rain missed it because the man missed nothing. And I had no fucking clue what was going on in Romero’s head because as much as I cared about the man there was no denying the fact that he was an absolute head case most of the time.
Isobel wasn’t either crazy or a head case. She was damaged on a soul deep level and that’s why I connected so well with her. It took me a while to figure it out but that was it. She put up barriers to protect herself and that’s why most people thought she could be a bitch and always seemed so unapproachable. People thought I was unapproachable too. We put those barriers up to protect ourselves.
But tonight, here in this house and with me, she’d allowed herself to be vulnerable and open in front of me. It had been beautiful and tragic all at the same time to witness because it felt like I was seeing who Isobel would have been if her family hadn’t been taken from her and she hadn't been forced to go through hell all alone afterwards.
The girl always broke my goddamn heart. Even seeing her happy did it to me, it was fucked up.
I sat on the sofa and sipped from my glass of whiskey while I watched her sleep peacefully.
She loved it here and leaving this place was going to hurt her, that much was obvious to me. If it were just the two of us I’d pack up my shit and move in here with her tomorrow.
But it wasn’t just about the two of us. We had other people with families, homes, and a business to run. They couldn’t just up and leave all of that behind to move in here tomorrow. And there was no way that either Isobel or myself would ever leave them behind.
The lights above flickered several times before they stayed back on. I drained my drink dry and cocked my head to the side, listening closely.
If there was one thing I had learned since we’d gotten here it was the house very much had it’s own magic and it seemed somehow alive. Isobel hadn’t seemed bothered by it. In fact, she acted like it was completely normal. So I pretended like I hadn’t noticed all the weird shit going on around us, even though it kind of freaked me right the fuck out.
So I knew the lights weren’t flickering for no reason. The house was trying to tell me something and I’d be stupid not to listen to it.
Since Isobel looked to be sleeping peacefully I felt it was okay to leave her in here by herself. After our walkthrough earlier I felt confident that it was just the two of us in here all by ourselves. So it felt okay to leave her alone. And if she woke up without me being here at least she’d know where she was and hopefully it wouldn’t freak her out.
I sat my glass on a side table and stood. I thought I heard a car so I headed in the direction of the front door.
It was probably just Rain and Romero but I didn’t want to take any chances. We were in the middle of nowhere and this place had been empty for a good long while now. There was no telling who knew about this place. The magic appeared to be strong but we’d need to add some protection spells of our own to it before I felt comfortable leaving it empty for any given amount of time.
I opened the front door in time to watch Rain park the Range Rover behind Isobel’s SUV. They parked and got out.
“Finn,” Rain called out to me as they rounded the back of the vehicle and opened the hatch. “Help us carry in the bags, would ya.”
This time I would let the bossy slide because I was so happy to see the two of them. I could usually handle Isobel on my own but this was a different kind of situation I wasn’t so sure I was equipped to deal with and them being here to back me up was all I needed to finally relax a little bit.
Romero handed me several plastic grocery bags. Rain pulled out two backpacks and a duffle bag. And Romero grabbed the rest of the plastic bags out of the back and the hatch was closed.
“Where’s Baxter at?” I asked. I couldn’t believe he wouldn’t be here for Isobel. He’d want to see this place if he knew it was where Isobel had grown up with her family.
“We weren’t sure if this was the right time to bring him.” Rain told me as he walked toward the front door I'd left wide open. “I dropped him off at Ariel’s without telling him what’s going on. The kid is going to be pissed when he finds out we did this without him. Especially if our girl isn’t okay. He loves her like crazy and everything she’s going through has him all fucked up right now.”
I could imagine. Everything she was going through had everyone in her life all fucked up, myself included.
“She got drunk and she passed out,” I told them both as they watched the door close shut behind us all on its own. “But she was okay before that. We gotta talk though.”
“Where is she?” Rain demanded to know.
I showed them to the living room where she was still curled up in front of the fire and sleeping. They both stood over her and stared down at her like they were completely obsessed with her. I imagined I looked at her exactly the same way.
Rain dropped the bags he was carrying down onto the sofa I had been sitting on earlier and he motioned for us to follow him out of the room.
