Watching a man get dressed was intimate in a way I hadn’t expected.It was strange.He was covering himself up, not revealing anything, but it made me feel closer to him than being half-naked ever could.
He stood and moved to the door, holding it open for me.
He didn’t touch me as I passed.
But I felt him there.Solid.Close.
We stepped into the hallway together.
And for the first time since I’d been taken, I let myself believe that maybe, just maybe, the worst part was behind me.
Chapter Fourteen
Ender
We stepped out of the hallway together, not touching, but close enough that I could feel her presence like a pull at my side.Nikki was perched on the arm of a chair, Karmen leaned against the counter with Adley beside her, Eden sat tucked into the corner of the couch, and Pipe was standing near the back with his arms crossed.Slayer and Wrecker were already at the table.Carnie hovered near the kitchen with an apron on like armor.
Freak stood close to her, watchful.Protective.Dad-mode fully engaged.
Carnie spotted us immediately.Her face softened the second her eyes landed on Clove.“You two hungry?”she asked, already moving.
Clove nodded.“Yeah.”
“Sit,” Carnie said, pointing at the table like she’d been waiting for this exact moment.“I’ll bring food.”
We took seats side by side.Not touching.Still aware.
It wasn’t lost on anyone that I’d stayed the night.
Before Clove had been taken, that never would’ve happened.Not without comments.Not without teasing.Not without questions.
Now?
Everyone just quietly clocked it and moved on, like the rules had shifted when she’d been dragged into a trunk and chased through the woods.
Alice slid into a chair across from Clove, her expression gentler than usual.“How’d you sleep?”
Clove huffed a breath that might’ve been a laugh.“Better than sleeping on the floor of a camper.”
A few chuckles went around the table, but they were tight.Forced.Everyone knew she was trying to lighten it, trying to make it easier forthem.
I didn’t miss the way Carnie’s hands stilled for half a second in the kitchen.
Wrecker leaned back in his chair, folding his arms.“Why don’t you give us a rundown of what happened.”
Clove stiffened.
I felt it immediately.
Her eyes flicked to me, uncertain, like she was bracing herself for something she didn’t want to say out loud.
“You don’t have to go into detail,” I said quietly.“Just what you’re comfortable with.”
Her shoulders eased a fraction.She took a breath.“They grabbed me outside by my car.I was putting on my costume, and they shoved me into a trunk.Drove for a while.When I woke up, I was in a camper.”
The room went dead quiet.
“They tied me up,” she continued.“They didn’t really come inside much.Mostly yelled.Argued.Gave me food.”