Page 124 of Losing the Rhythm

Laura looked between Justin and Toby before sighing. “Fine. I have an early morning anyway.”

“Me too,” Paxon said.

“I wasn’t even going to ask,” George said. “I’d have smacked you if you wanted to go home. She needs her people, and while I don’t fully get what’s going on, you guys are her people. Keep her safe tonight. Seth, I need to speak to you.”

Seth got up and the two of them went out the front door to talk. Laura made sure we had everything before finally leaving too, promising to stop by tomorrow.

It took a few minutes until Seth came in.

“Everything okay?” I asked.

“Just the normal warning about having a girl alone in the house and what we can expect tonight.”

“Expect?” Justin asked.

Seth looked at me. “Signs of trauma, PTSD, nightmares, panic attacks.”

“So the usual,” I said, feeling a little bitter.

At least I got to have everyone around me tonight. It was more than I could ever hope for at the moment. Tonight, we’d hang out. Tomorrow and the day after, we’d deal with everything.

But one day at a time. I needed a day at a time right now.

Toby went over and dug through the movies.

“Then tonight, we extend spooky horror movie night and squeeze in more before Halloween.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Seth said. “We have apple pie too, thanks to Cadence and Bryan.”

“Candy pie made apple pie?” Toby looked excited.

“I did too,” Bryan said.

“I don’t care about your pie. I want hers.” Toby jumped to his feet and went into the kitchen.

Everyone did their best to keep it light as we got snacks, set up the living room, and turned on the first movie of the night. It wasn’t a horror horror movie, but more like a comedic horror. They were keeping to the theme of Halloween, but making sure to give me plenty to laugh at.

I didn’t feel like laughing, but I was more than happy to appreciate their attempts.

I settled deeper into the couch, wrapped up in a blanket, and let the movie and the guys keep me distracted. It was everything I needed at the moment.

Tomorrow, I’d face everything. Tomorrow was future Cadence’s problem. For now, I was going to let my mind get away from all the events and pray that the nightmares stayed at bay.

And by the looks of it, the guys were more than happy to fight them off with me too.

I smiled at them, my heart feeling like it was ready to burst at all the support they were giving me. If I wasn’t careful, I could get used to this, though that didn’t sound like a bad idea at all.