Page 84 of Stay With Me
“Okay. Are you ready for Sam to get here? Do you have your homework for the day?” I ask her, and immediately, a smile takes over her face.
“Yup. I put my bag by the door.”
As I lift my head to check for her bag, Noah walks in, his eyes full of concern. He knows how hard the days leading up to this have been for me. Once he sees us at the couch, he plasters on a smile and walks toward us.
“Sam just told me he pulled onto the street with Am and Pam behind him.”
Jess nods and wraps her arms around me. “It’ll be okay.”
She lets go as Sam’s car pulls into the driveway, and she walks to the door to grab her bag.
“I’m going to walk her out, okay?” Noah says to me.
“Okay. Tell Sam I said hi.”
“Will do, baby.”
A few minutes later, I hear Noah talking to Am and Pam as they walk in.
I feel them sit on either side of me, and together, we just sit there in silence.
“If you don’t want to do this, it’s not too late. We can get in Am’s Jeep and leave,” Pam says matter-of-factly.
“She’s right. I’m sure Noah would call these people in a heartbeat to tell them we have to cancel,” Am adds.
That’s the thing. Even without him voicing it, I know he would.
I lift my head. “No. It’s time. I’ve been running for so long, and for the first time in my life, I don’t want to run anymore. It’s time to face this, and if I know something that can help them bring The Family down, then this needs to happen. I want to see if we can get Aspen out of there. It’s been months since I’ve heard from her. I don’t even know if she’s safe.”
Pam rests her head on my shoulder. “You’re really brave, you know that? If I were you, I would have taken that hot piece of man who looks at you like you’re the center of his world, packed Jess up, and gone somewhere else for a while.”
“I thought about it. To be honest, I almost left the night you guys threw me a surprise birthday party. But it was there where I realized I was tired of running, and for the first time, I had a reason to stay.”
“Damn right, you did. If you thought we wouldn’t have hunted this earth to find you, you don’t know us very well,” Am declares.
“I’m better at finding most people than the FBI. So it wouldn’t be worth leaving because we would have found you and dragged your ass back,” Pam adds.
For the first time all week, I laugh.
“Please tell me you’ll have snacks during this shindig.” Am brings her palms together in front of her, pleading. “I was nervous and haven’t eaten.”
“We have a ton of food that Luna stress cooked. Maybe you can get her to eat some before they get here,” Noah says as he walks back into the living room.
“I’m afraid I’ll throw up if I eat,” I tell him again for the hundredth time today.
He doesn’t fight me on it. “They just texted and will be here in the next thirty minutes.”
He walks back over to us and stops in front of me, sticking his hand out. Without thinking twice, I put my hand in his and let him pull me up. His strong arms pull me close, and I take a deepbreath, letting the scent of his cedarwood body wash calm me down.
He kisses the top of my head and whispers, “Today is going to be a good day, my Lunabella.”
I shrug and just stand there.
“Well, I’m going to raid the fridge and shovel food in my face until they get here,” Pam says as she stands.
“I tried a crab rangoon dip that we can heat up and eat with crackers,” I tell them.
Pam wrinkles her nose. “Seafood is gross. I’ll pass.”
