Page 18 of Lost in the Light

“Is everyone else good?” I asked him as I ran my hand over his arm where it leant on the bed between us. I loved the feel of the hairs against my fingers, and the lines of veins and muscle rippling beneath.

“They’re fine. Asher’s arranged some security, so everyone’s safe too.”

“The explosion.” I paused as more coughs burst from me.

“Here honey. Try a little water,” Adam fussed as he reached to the table beside the bed and grabbed a bottle, opening it and handing it to me. I took a few small sips, my throat greatly relieved by the coolness.

“Better,” I gasped. “Thanks.”

“The doc said your throat might be a little raw for a few days.”

“I’m okay,” I assured him as I got back to what I wanted to know before. “Who set the explosion? Do we know?”

“Not who, no. But we do know why,” he answered. “When local PD came rushing to our place because of the explosion, they left just one guy watching your father’s house. The forensics people were supposed to go back to finish up in the basement today. That cop was knocked unconscious and the entire house was torched. By the time the fire department showed up, there was hardly anything left of the house.”

“The explosion was a distraction?”

“Yep, and maybe a threat too. Two birds with one stone.”

“A threat? To me, you mean? They want to scare me into keeping my mouth shut?” I realized.

“We think so, but Asher has a ton of security in the building and outside the door of this room. You’re safe, Addy.”

“I’m not keeping my mouth shut,” I declared resolutely. I was scared. I was definitely scared. If blowing up a building on our property was just a threat, I didn’t even want to imagine what other lengths the monsters would go to – or pay others to go to - to keep me quiet. But I wouldn’t be cowed by them or their threats. No matter how afraid and messed up I was, I was also damned grateful and lucky to have escaped and survived. I knew others would not have been that lucky. I knew as I lived the safe, secure life I had found with my brothers, that elsewhere others were suffering just as I had and maybe even more so, with no hope of rescue. I’d do everything I could to end that for as many as I possibly could. Even if it saved just one person it would be worth it.

“I didn’t think so,” Adam sighed. “But this could get dangerous, baby. The two men you saw atLyle- Williams and Dartford - they’ve been arrested, but they had hours before they were taken in, to make calls and warn others that you’re alive and that you recognized them both. The two of them, and the many other monsters you could potentially expose, will do everything they can to silence you and stop you from testifying when it comes to it.”

“I know,” I nodded. “I understand that, and I won’t lie and say it doesn’t terrify me. It really does, but I have to do this. I have to stand up for every one of the people I saw being held and abusedjust like I was. I have to do everything I can to help save those….” I paused as my voice broke at just the thought of what I was about to say. “…those kids. They were at the auction I was sold at. Kids…in a cage, Adam! I can’t give up or roll over. I h-have to fight,” I whimpered.

I was glad when Adam didn’t say anything. Nothing he could say would make what I had said feel any less painful. Instead he just pulled me into his chest and held me there tightly. I clung to him, breathing in his scent, and praying I could be just a fraction as strong as I knew he was.

“We’ll fight together, Addy, all of us. We’ll be right at your side the whole way,” he told me eventually.

“I’m just scared you’ll all get hurt. Kane…he could have died today. I want to fight, but I don’t want to lose any of you in the process.”

“None of us are going to let that happen. Asher has security covered for all of us, and we’re on high alert now. We’ll be safe, and so will you.”

I rested my head against his chest again and just tried to breathe. All of the talking had my throat feeling like it was filled with glass shards, and I was exhausted, despite the fact I just woke up. As I found peace against Adam, lulled by the steady rhythm of his heart, my eyes became heavy and my mind quietened until eventually sleep claimed me.

***

I had been discharged from the hospital a few hours later. My oxygen levels were back to normal, and apart from a sore throat and a hacking cough, I was doing okay. My hands and knees were pretty cut up from crawling over all of the rubble and glassin the office, but it was nothing I couldn’t handle. The cuts were only small and hadn’t even needed dressing, though that hadn’t stopped Eli from worrying himself into a frenzy when he saw my knees.

I’d checked in on Kane before we left the hospital, but he’d been asleep when I walked into his private room. He was being kept under observation for the night because of his concussion, but Asher had reassured me that Kane would be fine after a few days’ rest. I’d sat with him for a few minutes, so relieved to see his chest moving up and down beneath the white sheet, that I’d actually cried. He had a few cuts on his face and he was paler than usual, but otherwise he’d looked just like the Kane I knew, only more peaceful in sleep.

Now we were in the penthouse apartment on the top floor of theLylebuilding in the city. Asher wasn’t happy for us to return home until the wall surrounding the property and all of the security systems were restored.

The apartment was spacious, and luxurious, with huge panoramic windows around a corner, looking down over the hectic city below. It had an open plan feeling that made it feel more like home, but it just wasn’t the same as the house I had become so comfortable in. It wasn’t as homey and no matter how high Eli cranked the heating, I just couldn’t seem to get warm.

Asher had explained there was a full security team in the building, two of whom were right outside the door of the apartment, but still I just didn’t feel safe the way I had at the house. I couldn’t even explain why. I guess it just wasn’t home.

Adam had cooked for us that evening, and I had felt better sat at the small table between Eli and Jordan, Adam, and Asher right opposite me. We’d tried to joke around like we usually did atdinner, but it was difficult when I was so on edge and all the others were so obviously tense with worry.

Asher and Eli had brushed off the fact that their entire childhood home had been burned down, but I knew it had to have impacted them in some way. Surely they had to have some good memories in that place, and now the whole thing was gone. Asher told me he was just mad that the evidence in the basement had been destroyed, and Eli assured me he was glad to see the back of the whole place, but still, I worried about them.

In fact, I think I was worrying about all of them, almost as much as they seemed to be worrying about me. Adam and Eli had both been fussing over me nonstop, since the moment I awoke in that hospital room. Jordan was trying way too hard to entertain me and make me laugh, when it was so obvious he wasn’t feeling even one iota of the happiness he was masking his feelings with. And Asher – well, he was worrying me the most. He had been so quiet and he seemed to be watching over all of us almost obsessively, like he was terrified we’d be torn from him at any moment.

I had tried hard to put a brave face on for them all, and be as normal as I could be, but I was scared too, and being in that strange new place only made it all worse.

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