Chapter 29 #2
Shutting the light off, I made my way out the door, juggling the glass in one arm as I shut the door behind me.
When I turned around, peering over the balcony, I saw it.
Crescent and Elio had brought Mom and Dad’s RV to haul my furniture into.
For a second, I was frozen, remembering the night I’d brought it to their apartment, only to not even use it.
Crescent looked up at the balcony from below and started to wave at me. “Moon! Come here!”
I wasn’t sure if I could.
His brows furrowed as he stared at me before he said something to Elio. I couldn’t hear what it was from up here, but Elio was nodding. And then he was walking toward the stairs.
I swallowed and cleared my throat as phantom hands gripped my neck, gradually applying more and more pressure with each passing second. Had Jude’s claws punctured me yet?
“Moon,” Elio whispered. “Moon, it’s okay.”
I shook my head. “I don’t know about that.”
He put a hand on my shoulder, pulling me closer. “It’s scary for me too, you know. To see something from that night.”
I nodded, but I was having a hard time really following him. “Uh huh.”
“But they’re gone, and it’s just an RV. Mom and Dad’s RV.”
“Mhm.”
“Moon, look at me.”
I turned my head, looking him right in the eyes, the fear in me undoubtedly reaching out to him.
“It’s okay. Come look at it, and you’ll see that everything is perfectly fine. Nothing bad is going to happen, okay?”
He said that, but I was seeing his face from that night. The way his eyes were already halfway closed when I’d walked in on Jude hitting him. How scared he’d looked and how furiously fucking terrified I’d felt.
“Let’s go down.” He was pushing on my back, leading me, despite the fact I couldn’t feel my legs as they moved. We made it down the stairs, even closer to the RV. He pointed at it. “It’s Mom and Dad’s RV, and everything is okay. See?”
I shook my head because, no, I couldn’t see that. My brain wasn’t getting the same memo as him. My brain was telling me I had to protect, protect, protect, even though there was nothing to protect anyone from.
I could hear someone talking around me, but I didn’t pay them any mind, watching the RV and recounting the fight between Jude and I. Remembering how it felt to literally fight for my and my brother’s life.
“Baby, you’re safe. Elio is safe. Everyone is safe, okay?” Emerson wrapped his arms around me just as someone took the stained glass from my arms. “You’re safe.”
I didn’t say anything. I wasn’t sure I was capable of it.
“Come on.” He moved both my arms until I had them wrapped around his neck, and he wrapped his own around my waist. “Just move with me, okay?”
I looked up at him, staring into the seas I knew and loved. They were a comfort. Something my heart knew and understood as safe. We started to sway together as Daddy began to hum a song. I wasn’t familiar with it.
We danced. We danced until it felt like it was just me and him, and we weren’t in a parking lot. We were in the living room with music playing in the background, and the sun was shining through the windows. Nobody was in danger, because we were just dancing.
He leaned down, pressing a kiss to the tip of my nose. “You’re safe, baby.”
I didn’t break my gaze. “Promise?”
“I promise.”
I believed him. He hadn’t broken a promise yet. It soothed me, knowing he believed it so strongly. “Okay.” I nodded. “Okay, I’m ready, but I won’t get in it.”
He caressed my cheek, smiling. “You don’t have to get in it, baby. I’ll go with them to make sure they’re safe, and you can drive my car if that makes you feel better.”
“Yeah, that sounds good.”
“Alright, then we’ll get the couch loaded up, and we can go home.”
Home. Our home.
None of my furniture or random decor matched with anything Emerson already had.
Even the couch we’d set up in the living room clashed with the other couch that was already there, and honestly, it was a lot of couch for one room.
Emerson claimed to love it, though, and combined, they seated everyone who’d ever sit in there.
There weren’t enough chairs for all six of us to sit at the table, so we were eating pizza on the mismatched couches, pulling slices from the boxes we’d laid out on the coffee table.
A cooking show was playing on the TV per Elio’s request, though it was serving more as background noise than anything.
“Oh, Moon.” Kelly set her slice of pizza on her paper plate. “I was wondering if I could pay you to make a stained glass piece for me. I really like the ones you’ve made so far.”
I raised an eyebrow at her. “Me? Really?”
“Uh, yeah, who else?”
“I mean, yeah, sure. Definitely. But you don’t have to pay me or anything, it’s just a hobby.”
“I’ll pay you, anyway.”
Crescent made a noise before chewing through the rest of his bite. “Hey, I saw a couple of them. They’re really fucking cool. Remind me of home.”
I smiled because, yeah, they reminded me of home, too. “I know. I really like doing it. It was expensive to start, but now that I have all the equipment, it isn’t too bad. I’m glad Em made me go to the intro class.”
“Oh, doesn’t Elio paint?” Em asked.
Elio nodded. “Sure do. I do commissions, usually for large pieces. I do it full-time.”
“I’ll have to show you a painting he did for Mom.” I set my plate on the coffee table and leaned into his side. “He’s really fucking good at it.”
“Speaking of, Mom and Dad want us to come over for a family dinner. Cres and I were supposed to pass the message along.”
“Oh, why didn’t they just text me?”
Crescent huffed. “Because you’ve been MIA for so long, they didn’t think you’d answer if they did. They want you to bring your new boyfriend.”
I glared at him. “You told them about Em?”
“Why wouldn’t I? You literally just moved in with the dude. It’s obviously serious.”
“Mm,” Elio tilted his head. “You told them way before we knew they were this serious, to be fair.”
Crescent gasped. “Why are you calling me out like that? I thought we were sworn by boyfriend secrecy now.”
Shaking my head, I sighed. “I am your big brother. I would’ve found out, eventually. But even if I hadn’t, Elio loves me enough not to keep secrets.”
“Moon is right. I do love him enough.”
“See? I always knew you were my favorite brother, El.”
Crescent’s jaw hung open, staring at me in shock. “Oh, but if I even slightly disagree with you, you argue that I don’t love you anymore?”
“You make me sound so dramatic. I don’t make the rules, I just abide by them.”
Emerson kissed the top of my head, whispering. “You are a bit dramatic, brat.”
I rolled my eyes. “Whatever. So, when do they want us to have this dinner?”
Crescent picked a piece of pepperoni off his pizza. “This Saturday, if you guys are off work.”
It was literally Thursday. Our parents were so free-spirited, they apparently didn’t care about giving us time to prepare. I looked up at Emerson, who was already smiling and nodding. I guess Emerson was meeting my parents on Saturday. “Is Star coming?”
“What part of family dinner didn’t you understand, bro?”
“Don’t be an asshole, Cres. I can still tell our mother on you. I was just curious because I need to know what Em and I are getting into. Our family isn’t the most normal bunch, you know.”
Elio shoved Crescent’s shoulder, scolding him with his eyes. “Yes, Star will be there. We could all stay over for the weekend or something like last time if you guys have the availability.”
Emerson squeezed me close. “Staying the weekend sounds great. I’m excited to finally meet your parents.”
“Don’t get too excited. They’re definitely different.”
Crescent leaned forward on the couch. “You think he couldn’t tell just from our names? Come on, Moon. Be smarter than that.”
“I think your names are fucking awesome.” Olivia chimed in. She’d been quietly observing for a while, grinning the whole time. “I mean, come on, I wish my name was that cool.”
Crescent and Olivia took off from there, going back and forth on the woes of our names. Elio chimed in at some point, describing the meanings and origin of everyone’s name in the room, because he was cool like that.
It’d been a long day. A very long day, and we still had what felt like a hundred boxes left to unpack at some point. But I was happy. Happier than I ever could’ve imagined possible only a year ago. I’d just had to wait—and oh, how fucking worth it that wait was.