Page 62 of Die for You
Damien glowers. “She’ll be spending the night in each of our beds. We all get a night with her.”
I roll my eyes. “Are you going to make a sleeping schedule tomorrow?”
The Devils nod at each other like they’re all in agreement to establish a nightly rotation. Of me.
I step out of Knox’s embrace. “Actually, I want to sleep alone.”
All three of them look at me like I just kicked their puppy.
“Why are you trying to break our hearts, beautiful?” Knox thumps his chest with his fist like I’m stabbing him in the heart.
I clutch my arms to my chest. “I have...nightmares. I don’t want to wake any of you up.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Damien huffs.
“You know the benefit of having three boyfriends is that at least one of us will be awake to comfort you when you have a bad dream, right?” Knox smiles at me, and my heart flutters.
Three boyfriends. Is that what they are to me? I decide not to bring it up. We don’t need to try to nail down the status of our relationship tonight. I’m beyond exhausted, and I’m sure the three of them are ready to crash too.
“This is a non-negotiable,” I tell them.
Damien is pissed, Knox disappointed, but Finn’s expression seems strangely understanding.
“We’ll discuss it tomorrow,” Damien relents.
Finn takes me by the hand, opens a door to a dark bedroom, and points inside. I shake my head and step back. “I told you, I’m sleeping alone.”
He points to himself, then to the living room. “Couch.”
“No, I’ll sleep on the couch. I’m not kicking you out of your own bed.”
It’s his turn to roll his eyes as he nudges me by the ass into his room and shuts the door behind me. His footsteps fade, and I smile at the door. He’s sweet in his own weird way.
I flick the lock and dig through Finn’s dresser for a t-shirt to sleep in. Even if the others are accepting of me staying here, they probably won’t be on board anymore if I wake them all up screaming. Hopefully, I’ll be too tired tonight to dream at all.
But I’m actually worried they’ll be worse.
Jeremiah broke into my apartment. Who knows what his intentions were. To find me and...then what? What was he planning to do to me?
He’s not going to stop coming after me. He made that clear tonight.
He’s more dangerous to me now than ever.
“Please, Ms. Archer. Present your case.”The judge, a woman with brown hair streaked with silver and spectacles perched on the end of her long nose, nods to me.
The courtroom is stuffy, air stale and thick with tension. At my back, the Devils sit on the benches in suits, even though they’re not the ones on trial today.
I am.
Presenting the evidence of my ex-boyfriend’s harassment and criminal activity. Of my need for legal protection from him.
I should’ve worn something other than the collared, long-sleeved A-line dress. The collar is too stiff, suffocating me in the room that is in desperate need of air conditioning.
On Jeremiah’s side of the courtroom, his parents sit silently on a bench together, his father likely giving only a quarter of his attention to the courtroom proceedings and the rest to his phone. Barb’s attention, I’m sure, doesn’t stray from us for a second. All of their gazes weigh on me.
Except for Jeremiah’s. To my absolute shock, he hasn’t glanced at me once since I marched into the room.
He’s been lying low since the break-in. We didn’t catch a single glimpse of him on campus or near the restaurant. Days passed in a blur of classes, rehearsals, games, and shifts at therestaurant. Leah’s been promoted to manager, so my days are numbered. But now that I’m living with the Devils, I’m not paying rent, so maybe I’ll get by without another job until I leave for Juilliard.
