Chapter 82 Delilah
DELILAH
I’m bright red as we sit at the large kitchen table while Ruby makes breakfast. Kane lightly taps my foot under the table then laughs when I don’t look up.
I told him to sit far away from me, so it doesn’t trigger Ruby’s memory, but he has to be an asshole by sitting right next to me, draping his arm on the back of my seat.
Seraphim narrows her eyes at us as she asks, “What’s funny?”
“Nothing,” I whisper.
But her mother turns to look at us over her shoulder. I hunch my shoulders forward to hide from her.
“Did my mom tell you off?” My niece innocently leans closer, whispering, “She does it to me all the time too. I think she doesn’t like anyone having fun because her and my dad are boring.”
“Ruby’s not boring,” I argue back while Kane splutters through his laugh. Ruby smiles over her shoulder at me. The smile soon drops when the dumbass puffs his chest out.
I never saw her cook when we were kids, yet it brings her peace. It doesn’t take long for her husband to walk into the kitchen with their son on his hip. He smoothly sets the boy on the table on his way to Ruby’s side, then wraps his arm around her waist.
I can’t help my smile at the joy on her face. She deserves this, her own family our parents can’t touch. Micah isn’t as shy as he crawls over the table to sit himself in my lap. Looking up at me with huge eyes just like his mom’s, he smiles. “Morning.”
“Good morning.” I kiss his cheek. “Did you have good dreams?”
He nods as Scarlet drags herself to the table, yawning. “I hate staying with you. You’re like an army commander, making me wake up on a schedule.”
Seraphim slips out of her seat and walks on her tiptoes to steal her dad’s phone. Without turning from the stove, he warns, “Careful, little demon.”
“I only want to call Amy. He’ll be missing me, and he’ll be worried about me because I’m his favorite.”
Ruby changes her strict schedule as she softly says, “Let him know you’re okay. But you’re eating your breakfast straight after.” She skips away as her mom calls out, “Let Micah talk to him.”
Seraphim turns, opening her arms. “Come on. We’ll bully Amy into buying us things.”
“No bullying, little madam,” Ruby says over her children’s giggles as I place Micah on his feet.
This is what family is supposed to be. I can’t recall a time we ever laughed around the dinner table growing up or had a parent serve our food.
They left it to the staff while they watched our plates to make sure we didn’t eat too much.
Lizbeth’s worst fear was having a fat child.
God forbid, we wanted to break the restrictive mold she made for us.
I look at my smiling sisters like they know where my thoughts have gone.
Ruby hands her husband the plates and this huge man dutifully obeys.
She’s tiny compared to his near seven feet, but he silently sets the plates on the table.
When he takes his seat, he pulls her down to sit on his thigh, making Scarlet grimace.
“You can put her down for five seconds or there’ll be another kid running around. ”
“Scarlet?” He smiles. “Why don’t you play in traffic?”
Kane’s eyes widen as he stares at the table like he’s trying to disappear. Ruby gently scolds her husband. But Scarlet looks at him like they have their own secrets then flips her hair over her shoulder. “I’m hard to kill, so you’re both stuck with me.”
No one says anything when Ruby gives us all a look like we’re children. The sounds of everyone fearfully filling their plates are the only ones in the room before Seraphim cackles further away. Ruby and Daigon share a plate, which is kind of cute and weird when they’re already in the same chair.
Scar tilts her head to hide behind her hair as she whispers, “They do it all the time. Codependent as fuck.”
“I can hear you,” Ruby interrupts. “Remember what I said to you both last night.” She looks at Kane and me. “There are children here. They don’t need to see certain things.”
“Or hear them,” her husband adds.
“Sorry,” I mumble as my cheeks flame.
Why is this so embarrassing? It’s not like my sisters are going to be unaware of what sex is, but I feel like a child. Thankfully, Kane changes the topic before Scarlet can fully wake up to quiz us. “My stitches have healed. Do you know where they are?”
Everyone other than me seems to know what he’s talking about as Daigon nods. “We’ll leave after dinner.”
Seraphim walks out, carrying Micah, whose feet dangle above her knees as she holds her dad’s phone between her teeth. The little boy giggles despite his sister nearly dropping him as she spits the phone on the table. “Amy said he wants to talk to you.”
I look at Daigon, expecting him to take the phone but my teenage niece is staring at Kane. Who says, “I don’t know who that is.”
She shrugs as she sits her brother down then takes the seat next to him. “I don’t know. He asked if you’re here then said give you the phone. Did you mess shit up?”
“Don’t curse,” Ruby says while we all stare at Kane.
“He’s waiting for you.” Seraphim fills her brother’s plate then her own. “Be quick, so he doesn’t get angry.”
I push my seat back at the same time as he takes the phone, walking onto the balcony where I have to lean up on my toes to hear what’s being said.
“Who are you?” Kane asks.
The deep raspy voice isn’t what I was expecting as the man says, “I understand my hard work got you into the auction. While you were there, did you learn any of their names?”
“No,” he answers as I tug on his arm.
“I did.” I try to snatch his phone. “Who are you looking for?”
Please let him save Jasper, Nova, and Sienna.
“What names did you hear?” the man asks.
Kane glares at me as I take the phone from him and walk to the other side to stand on the table so he can’t reach me.
He wraps his arm around my thighs to pull me away from the edge while I try to determine if I can trust a stranger.
Ruby trusts him enough to allow her children to talk to him unsupervised, and she wouldn’t trust just anyone.
But I struggle through the conversation as he gives me barely enough details that match Nova’s description.
My throat constricts at the memory of her hate, how she crumbled on the floor of the glass box after the auction ended. “I met her,” I whisper through my closing throat. “Nova. She went in the Grey category for three years.”
The other side of the phone is silent, like death. I don’t have anything to say other than, “I’m sorry.”
“Why was she in the auction?” he asks with unbridled rage.
“She stopped being taken to the Rooms. I don’t know how it all works or how they decide, but she wasn’t expecting it either.”
The line goes dead, and I slip down Kane’s body to sit cross legged on the table. He cups my cheek, gently gliding his thumb under my eyes to swipe my tears away as he kisses my crown. “Was she your friend?”
“They took them all away from each other,” I cry, leaning my forehead on his chest. “Jasper is the only one who can make Sienna feel better when she’s scared.”
He stills at the names. “You met Jasper?”
“He looked after me.” I look up at the blurry image of his pale green eyes through my tears. “He’s only young but he looked after everyone. But now they’re not together anymore.”
The craving for an escape grows the longer I think about them. How they hated me for betraying them. The way the older two shut down while Sienna cried softly, unable to stop the tears. And how they continued to promise they’d be back together again.
“Did—” He takes a deep breath before restarting. “Did you meet Xanthe?”
“Nova said Xanthe left before she was moved into the dorm, so no one knows where she is. Do you know them? From wherever you were?”
Kane’s shoulders sag as he closes his eyes, resting his forehead on mine. His lips barely move as he whispers, “They’ve all lost each other.” He hugs me like he needs something to keep him upright. “No. I didn’t know them personally. Th-they—”
His tears drip onto my cheeks as I hold him.
“Shh, it’s okay,” I whisper, stroking his back. “You don’t have to say anything.”