Page 135 of Need You To Choose Me

“You should go and get some rest. I’ll stay here with him.”

Daniel shakes his head. “No, it’s… I want to stay here. Do you mind if I turn on the TV?”

I look down at sleeping Levi. He’s out, and I don’t think he’ll be waking up anytime soon. “It’s fine.”

Daniel grabs the remote and turns on the TV, lowering the volume. “You watching Criminal Minds?”

“You know it?” Daniel asks as he sits down on the other side of the bed, propping the pillow against the headboard.

“Know it?” I scoff. Curling my hand under the pillow, I turn my attention to the screen. “I grew up watching it.”

From the corner of my eye, I can see Daniel roll his eyes. “You know you’re not that much older than me, right?”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m still older.”

A companionable silence settles over us as we watch the show. One episode turns into two, and before long, sleep claims me too.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

BLAKE

Killing the engine, I pick up my phone to check for any messages, although I knew there weren’t any. After Savannah hadn’t responded to my texts last night, I tried calling her, but she hadn’t picked up her phone. And neither did Daniel. The latter didn’t surprise me, although I did specifically tell him to keep his phone on him at all times.

How was it that teenagers spend all their time glued to their phones, but thatonetime you call them because you need them, they don’t pick up, I’ll never understand.

I glance toward Savannah’s house but don’t see any movement there.

The need to go over and see her is almost overwhelming, but I have to check in on my kids first.

At least the house is standing, so I guess there is that.

Eerie silence greets me as I step inside. I close the door behind me and listen intently, but nothing.

“Daniel?” I look down the hallway. “Levi?”

They didn’t go out, did they?

I walk toward the back of the house, checking the rooms, but the whole first floor is empty, just like the backyard. An uneasy feeling rises inside of me, but I push it back as I turn around and climb the stairs, taking two steps at a time.

I start to open Daniel’s door when I see that the door to my bedroom is cracked open.

The door I know I left shut.

Weird.

With one final look at Daniel’s bedroom, I go toward the end of the hallway. Even before I push open the door, I can see the bedsheets on the floor in the corner of the room.

What the?—

I enter the room and stop in my tracks at the scene in front of me. My heart does a little flip inside my chest at the sight of Savannah sleeping in my bed next to my sons.

Levi is curled against her, his fingers gripping Savannah’s as if, even in his sleep, he’s afraid that she’ll leave him if he doesn’t hold onto her. His lips are slightly parted as he breathes soundly. Daniel, on the other hand, is on the other side of the bed, sleeping in an upright position against the headboard, his head is tilted to the side, and my own neck prickles in solidarity with his at the pain he’ll be in once he wakes up.

What the hell happened here?

I move closer, other little details catching my attention—the thermometer sitting on my nightstand next to the bottle of kid’s Tylenol—the new bedsheets. An almost stale smell fills the room—and things finally start to make sense.

Levi must have gotten sick. That’s why she was here taking care of my boys.

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