Page 24 of Lost In The Dark

“They know, sweetheart, and they’re excited to meet you. Everything will be okay. I promise.” Asher placed his hand over both of mine to still them as he spoke. “I know it will take time for you to believe this, Addy, but we’re here for you. You can trust us. We’ve got you.”

My eyes were glassy as I looked up and met the honesty in his. He meant every word. I knew that. They both did every time they told me they’d take care of me, or keep me safe, or at least I believed they did. At that point in my wild, messed up life I needed to put as much trust into them both as I could because the simple truth was, I had no one and nothing else to return to or rely on. They were all I had. I just hoped like hell my instincts were right, because I couldn’t afford to dig myself any further into the disaster my life had become. I needed someone to help pull me out, not bury me deeper.

I nodded to Asher; my eyes locked on his. It was a pretty pathetic response to his immensely kind words, but it was all I could manage. I knew I must trust them both at least a little, as I had come all of this way with them, but I wasn’t ready to say that yet. It would take time, as Asher had said.

“Let’s get inside. I can’t wait to eat whatever Adam cooked. The food in Vegas sucked!” Eli declared, instantly lightening the tenseness of the moment.

“You hungry, little dot?” Asher asked.

“Little dot?” I looked to him with question.

“It suits you. You’re tiny,” he teased.

“Hardly,” I scoffed. “I’m taller than most women.” At five feet seven I had always towered over the petite girls in high school and college, and I had hated it. I always longed to be short anddelicate - petite like my mom. Instead I’d always been pretty gangly and curvy. Definitely not petite! My mom had loved to point that out in her rages, screaming that I was too fat, or calling me ‘Lurch’ fromThe Addams Family.

Now I guessed my curves were gone. I hadn’t really looked in a mirror past my face, but I had felt my ribs poking out through my skin. My body had become skeletal in the years I had lost.

“You’re tiny to me,” he told me with a gentle smile. “But I won’t call you that if it bothers you.”

“It doesn’t bother me,” I assured him. After years of my mother’s abuse, I would happily take any name given to me affectionately, and I had to admit, I liked it when Eli and Asher had done that over the last couple of days. It felt good. “And I guess I do feel a little hungry,” I added, answering his original question.

Asher nodded and held his hand out to me, offering his help as we all slid from the back seat of the car and out into the cold night air. I shivered and Eli instantly appeared with his jacket, wrapping it tightly around my shoulders.

I looked up and thanked him, grateful for the warmth trapped in the jacket from his body heat.

“We’re going to need to get you some winter clothes. It’ll be snowing here before we know it,” he told me.

“We’re going to need to get her everything, and fast. She can’t walk around in those damned sandals forever,” Asher added with a sigh. I glanced down at the sliders I still wore with thick socks beneath and shrugged.

“They’re fine,” I told him.

“They’re not. You’ll have everything you need soon though.”

“I don’t need anymore things, Asher. You’ve already done so much,” I argued. “I’m unlikely to leave the house for a while anyway.”

“Addy, you’re our sister. We’re going to look after you whether you allow us to or not, including ensuring you have everything you need. It’s useless to argue,” Asher told me firmly, but with an indulgent smile on his face.

“I just don’t want you both thinking I’m h-here for what I can get. I…I’m not. I mean, I know I didn’t have anything to go back to, but I would have managed if I had to. I always have before. I…I came here to get to know you both. That’s all. I don’t need or expect you to buy me things,” I told them as I looked between them.

“We know that, shortcake, and we’re so relieved and happy you agreed to come here so we could know you too,” Eli agreed. “But now that you’re here we’re both determined to take care of you. Just let us, please. We’ve missed out on so many years that we could have been with you, looking out for you. We need to be able to do that now.”

“I’ve always taken care of myself,” I said. “For as long as I can remember.”

“Well now you don’t have to,” Asher argued. “You have us and we’re not going anywhere. Besides, you’re rich yourself now, Addy. We’re going to see to it that you get a third of everything our father left to us.”

“No!” I cried. “I…I don’t want that. He was your father…n-not mine. It wouldn’t be right.”

“He was your father too, sweetheart, and he failed you epically. I’m going to make damned sure he doesn’t fail you now he’s dead,” Asher said a little angrily.

“We can discuss this later. Let’s just get inside for now,” Eli suggested and I nodded eagerly. I was frozen, plus having this conversation with Asher, about money which I had no interest in, was only adding to my brain crushing stress.

CHAPTER 8

ADAM

I felt anxious as my phone alerted me to the fact someone had come through the front gates. It could only be Kane, back with Ash, Eli, and their new half-sister. No one else except the security staff had access, and none of them were due in until tomorrow morning.

“That them?” Jordan asked from where he was working on his laptop at the kitchen counter.

---