Page 21 of Survive the Night
“Understandable.” Folding her long legs beneath her, Grace sat on the floor in front of the puppies. “You should’ve seen me my first week or so here. I was scared to leave the house.”
As she prepped more milk replacer, Sarah gave Grace a curious glance, not able to imagine the other woman living in fear. She seemed too confident, too self-assured, to be anything other than majorly kick-ass. “Really?”
“Oh, yeah.” Grabbing an old but clean towel from the pile Sarah had put on top of the dog crate, Grace spread it over her lap. “It took a pep talk from Sam before I managed to go into the yard.”
“From Sam?” Sarah laughed, incredulous. The teen was so guarded and quiet that she couldn’t imagine him giving a pep talk.
Grace looked up from the pile of puppies she’d pulled into her lap, where they squirmed and crawled, still searching for their food. “I know, right? I think it shocked the fear right out of me.”
As Sarah laughed softly, Jules walked into the kitchen, a huge yawn taking up her entire face. “Hey, Sarah. Oh, hi, Grace. Didn’t see you down there.”
“Good morning, sunshine,” Grace said.
“Sorry, Jules.” Four bottles in hand, Sarah sat down next to Grace. She’d found it easier to prep four separate bottles. That way, she didn’t have to worry about how much each puppy got. They could suck down the whole thing and, as long as she didn’t double up and give one puppy two bottles, it worked pretty smoothly. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”
“You didn’t.” Jules took a seat on the other side of Grace. “A very annoying alarm clock did. I’m opening today.”
“Does it bother you? Opening?” Grace accepted a bottle and started feeding one of the puppies.
“A little, but it helps that my stalker hangs out in the parking lot until Vicki or Megan arrives.” Jules also grabbed a bottle and a puppy, and Sarah gave an internal sigh of relief. With three of them feeding, this would go faster. She might even manage to get an hour and a half of sleep before she was woken up again. Picking up the largest of the puppies—whom she’d mentally been calling Bruce—Sarah popped the nipple in his mouth.
Belatedly, Jules’s words registered in her sleep-deprived brain. “Wait. Your stalker?” Her voice shot up in alarm, and the puppy startled. Sarah rubbed his head in silent apology, and he concentrated on sucking down as much milk replacer as possible in the shortest amount of time.
“I’m kidding.” Jules gave her a smile. “I’m just talking about Theo.”
“Oh.” Sarah felt a little silly for not immediately getting the joke, but she knew that everyone living at the house had been sent there by Mr. Espina. That meant that Sarah wasn’t the only one who’d had something bad happen to her, something that forced her to run away from everything she knew. Still, she asked, “Why would opening bother you?”
Jules grimaced. “Some really bad things happened when I opened for the first time.”
“Oh.” That answer just made Sarah more curious, but she didn’t want to push if Jules didn’t want to share. After all, it wasn’t really her business.
With a dry laugh, Grace said, “Bad? Yeah, I’d call getting locked in the walk-in cooler and almost getting blown up pretty bad.”
“Wait. What?” Forget any of that not-her-business nonsense; this sounded too interesting not to hear.
Jules waved a hand in dismissal. “I’ll tell you the whole story sometime. Right now, though, I want to talk about Otto.”
“Oh yes! We do want to talk about Otto,” Grace echoed as Sarah felt her face heat.
“I saw some interesting looks going back and forth between the two of you yesterday.” Jules looked like she was holding back a smile. “What’s the story there?”
“No story.” Sarah pretended to concentrate on Bruce, although he didn’t need any help eating. After a second of silence, though, she couldn’t stand it and peeked at Jules. “What looks?”
Jules’s grin broke free. “I’m pretty darn sure the big guy is smitten.”
“He’s not.” Now Sarah couldn’t hold back her own smile. “Is he?”
“Hugh thinks so, too.” Grace leaned forward until her puppy squeaked in protest. “Sorry, sweetie. It’s just a very interesting bit of gossip.” Once the dog was eating happily again, she looked at Sarah, her eyes alight. “Do you and Otto have a thing?”
“Oh no.” Her face was so hot she could’ve warmed the puppies’ formula on it. “We’re not… I mean, it’s not a thing, really.”
“Do you want it to be a thing?” Jules asked.
“Yes.” The truth was out before she thought, and she blushed even hotter. “No. I don’t know. I was pretty sheltered in my old life. There wasn’t really any opportunity to meet…well, anyone. This is all new to me. I don’t really know how I feel. Plus, I’ll be leaving eventually—or sooner than eventually—so I shouldn’t get involved, right?”
Jules met Grace’s gaze and both women made the same rueful face. “You’re asking the wrong people,” Jules said. “I knew I shouldn’t get involved with Theo, but I didn’t have any choice. It just…happened.”
“Same. Only with Hugh, of course.” Grace looked at Sarah. “If you were planning to stick around, would you be interested?”
