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 for them.
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.”
Wrecker nodded slowly. “They didn’t—”
She cut him off immediately, shaking her head. “No. No, they didn’t do anything more than shove me around and hit me a couple times.”
Thank the fucking Lord.
I didn’t realize how tightly my jaw was clenched until it loosened.
Around the table, shoulders dropped. Breaths released. Carnie exhaled shakily behind the counter. Freak closed his eyes for just a second.
It had been bad enough with her being kidnapped. I wasn’t sure any of us would’ve survived hearing worse.
Carnie started bringing food over then. Plates and bowls appearing like she was feeding an army. Scrambled eggs, hashbrowns loaded with peppers and onions, thick slices of French toast dusted with powdered sugar, bacon, sausage, a bowl of cut fruit.
It was a damn feast.
Alice blinked. “Is this breakfast or a holiday?”
Carnie wiped her hands on her apron, smiling sheepishly. “I cook when I’m worried.” She gestured to the spread. “And when I’m happy.”
Slayer patted his stomach and reached for the serving spoon. “I’m good with that.”
Freak came up behind Carnie, wrapping his arms around her waist and pressing a kiss to her neck. He murmured something I couldn’t hear.
Everyone dug in.
Clove took a few bites, slower than the rest, like her appetite hadn’t fully caught up to her yet.
“Oh,” she said suddenly. “I forgot to mention something.”
Every head lifted.
“They thought I was Star.”
Slayer scoffed. “Bunch of fucking idiots. Don’t even know who they’re trying to kidnap.”
Wrecker frowned. “How’d you find that out?”
“They were yelling at each other,” she said. “One of them said they talked to… Yoga?”
Pipe choked on his coffee, coughing as he laughed. “Yogi,” he corrected. “Prez of their club.”
“Well,” Clove said dryly, “it sounded like once they realized I wasn’t Star, they were going to get rid of me.” Her gaze slid to me. “That’s when I decided to run.”
“Thank God you did,” I said, my voice rougher than I meant it to be.
Around the table, heads nodded in agreement.
The conversation softened after that. Plates emptied. Coffee was poured. Clove relaxed a little more with each passing minute, leaning back in her chair, her knee brushing mine once by accident.
Neither of us moved away.
Carnie glanced at Clove. “What do you want to do today, honey?”
“I want to run by the house,” Clove said. “Get some things since I need to stay here.”
“I can take you,” Freak said immediately.
Clove hesitated, then glanced at me.
“I can take her,” I offered.
Freak’s jaw tightened. “You did enough. You don’t need to be a babysitter.”
“It’s hardly babysitting,” I said evenly.
Wrecker leaned forward. “Clove’s going to need someone with her twenty-four-seven until we get these guys.”
He looked around the table.
“They were after Star, but now that Clove got away from them, she could be a target again.”
My stomach twisted.
“Ender can be with her.”
Carnie and Freak exchanged a look.
“Basil could be assigned to Clove,” Freak said.
“Yeah, I don’t think so,” Clove shot back immediately. “I do not want to spend days with Basil. We’ll end up killing each other.”
“She ain’t wrong,” Alice muttered.
Laughter broke out again, easier this time.
“I really don’t mind staying with Clove,” I said. And it was the truth. “At all.”
It wasn’t a burden. It wasn’t an obligation. Something had shifted between us, and I needed to understand it.
Wrecker nodded. “Ender is with Clove.” He looked at Freak. “You good with that?”
“I’m twenty-one years old,” Clove said flatly. “Shouldn’t you be asking me if that’s okay?”
Wrecker raised his hands in surrender. “You’re right, sunshine. Forgot how grown you kids are now.” He looked at her. “You good with Ender protecting you?”
Clove glanced at me. Really looked at me and nodded. “I’m more than okay with that.”