Page 52 of Fighting Shadows

She nods, turning to the duffel bag on her bed and starting to pull out what she needs. Taking that as our cue to leave, we shuffle out of the room, all of us kissing her goodbye before heading down to the living room.

“Did Noah and Aidan leave?” Sebastian asks from the coffee machine, his arms crossed over his chest as he stares down Dominic.

He hates that they’ve lingered, his anger palpable when Noah is even mentioned.

“They are coming back right now. Aidan has a proposition for us,” I tell them, tapping my phone as I text him back. “They’ve offered to stop for food. Do you guys want anything?”

“I’m making mac and cheese. Autumn has barely had anything, according to Noah, and she barely ate in the hospital. I want to make her something that she loves, not some greasy takeout,” Zander says, already pulling out pots from the cupboard.

“I’ll let them know.”

“I don’t see why they have to come back,” Sebastian says, annoyance clear in his tone, “They don’t even know her.”

“How many times do we have to talk about this?” Dominic sighs. “He’s Charlie's son. He obviously feels bad and wants to help, and he’s also Chloe’s brother. He deserves to know about her.”

“He didn’t fucking know her! He doesn’t know a thing about what he’s missing out on, and he doesn’t need to. He needs to fuck off!” Sebastian explodes, his fist pounding against the counter the more heated he gets.

Tobias and I exchange worried glances. Yeah, I don’t love him being around, but I see where Dominic is coming from. Not forgetting the fact that he rescued her, that if we hadn’t made it in time, he would have been her only way out of there, and I see the way he watches her.

A part of me wants to be mad, but the other part of me can’t even fake it. She could have died if not for him, and not one of us has made him feel welcome.

“Dude! That’s real wood. Mark it, and I’ll mark your face,” Zander warns, a wooden spoon covered in cheese sauce pointed directly at him.

“Why don’t you care?”

“Because Autumn is going to ask questions, and he’s the only person who has the answers. He was there for her when we weren’t, and I can’t be mad about it because it took us fucking fourteen days to find her. I know she has no memory of that time, but that doesn’t mean that her nightmares aren’t going to start again, that she’s not going to wake up screaming for helpas her brain tries to piece together those days and puts Noah in them because she knows it was him there. Not us,” Zander takes a deep breath, his hands shaking, “we didn’t find her for two weeks, man, and in my head, the only person who can help her process it is him. So I do care more than I let on, but I’ll give her anything, and if that’s him, then I won’t stop her.”

We all lapse into silence at Zander's words. What he's saying makes sense, and I agree, but I also understand where Sebastian is coming from.

“What about you two? What’s your opinion?” Sebastian glares at us.

“I just want her to be happy. You’re getting ahead of yourself. She’s only been home a day,” I say.

“And he was at that hospital every fucking day, refusing to leave. He’s acting like a stage five clinger, and I hate it,” Sebastian snarks, his coffee mug fighting for its life in his hands as he squeezes it tightly, “What about you?”

Tobias shrugs, “Do you know what it’s like to go through something like that? Wishing for someone to save you every hour you are trapped and to have no one come?”

“No,” Sebastian sighs, the fight leaving his body at Tobias’s words.

“Then you don’t get an opinion; none of us do. We walked into that hospital room and saw a broken girl who needed us and, on the spot, swore we would protect her. Look at us now. We’d be hypocrites to deny Noah and her a chance to talk, to deny her him if she needs him. As Zander said, he was there. We weren’t,” Tobias finishes the last part in a broken whisper, his eyes sad and haunted.

Slow clapping comes from the front door, Aidan's bulky body taking up the entire frame, “Good talk, boys. Real good. I heard communication is key in relationships like yours, after all, butmy little brother really should have been included while you were talking abouthisbusiness.”

“Autumn is ours. She is our business,” Zander practically snarls at Aidan as he steps into the room.

“And my brother is mine. Watch your tone when you talk to me about family. My brothers lost enough; now, who’s Chlo?” Aidan asks, looking at us all expectantly.

“That’s for Autumn to explain to Noah,” I say firmly.

“Noted. Noah, bring in the stuff!” he calls out to his brother.

Noah appears behind his brother, looking disgruntled, and drops whatever he is carrying to the floor. “I don’t understand why you tell people I’m your little brother. I’m older than you.”

“And yet you are a whole foot shorter, so little brother, why don’t we all get down to what I want to talk about?” Aidan says, picking up what Noah dropped and spreading it across the worktop. “This is my warehouse. I’m assuming Charlie knows about her dad's ones and won’t fall for it if he has suspicions about them, but I thought we could set up a trap at this one here and lure him in with the promise of Autumn.”

“No fucking way! You are not using her as bait!” we all explode; the mere idea of her being in danger again sets my blood boiling.

“God, you are all idiots. Do you always jump to conclusions before the person finishes speaking?” he grumbles, “As I was saying, mylittlebrother here could call his lovely dad and tell him he has Autumn and that he can come to get her. We’ll all be waiting in the warehouse, hidden, and when he appears because the temptation for her is too much, we’ll get him then.”

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