Chapter 37
I wake the next morning surrounded by warmth.
Nick. I sigh happily, burying my nose in his throat and breathe in.
I’ve missed him so much, and I doze a little longer in his arms since he’s still asleep.
Slowing blinking my eyes open later, there’s faint light filtering in around the curtains. “Shortie,” Nick’s gravely voice calls.
Pulling back, I look up into his eyes. “I missed you so much, Grumpy,” I whisper, not wanting to wake the others.
Nodding, he pulls me into a quick, heated kiss. “Gotta go back to the station today.”
“Want me to come with you?” I offer.
“No.”
“Okay. I’ll be with Jake or at the house. Call me when you’re done?”
“Jake?” he questions, both eyebrows raised.
“You’ve missed a lot,” I smile. “Jake went into an experimental trial after you left that Zander found. He woke up and lives about 10 minutes from here with his dad. He’s still in rehab but is doing good.
I can’t wait for you to meet him. He has some short-term memory issues, but is otherwise okay. ”
“You’re back with him?”
“Yup, but he knows I’m with you, Seb, and E too. You’re not getting rid of me.”
Nodding, he kisses my forehead. “We should get up before Z and Troy.”
“Good idea,” I mumble from his chest. He rolls over and gets out of bed, going into the bathroom.
Stretching, I relish the warmth under the covers for a minute before pushing them aside and sitting up.
E and Seb are sound asleep across the room.
When Nick comes out of the bathroom, I grab my bag and take my turn inside.
Alex and Nick are sitting at the table with coffees when I leave the bedroom. Waving at Alex, I make myself a cup of tea before joining them.
“What time are you going to visit Jake and Ray?” Alex asks.
“I’m not sure. We still need to fix our house, which will be a lot of work,” I reply, thinking of all the destruction we couldn’t see on camera.
“What?” Nick asks, confused.
“The men who came to kidnap me kinda went nuts when they couldn’t find me and tossed the place,” I shrug, implying, what can ya do?
“Fuckers,” Nick mutters.
“Everyone is welcome here as long as needed,” Alex adds as Troy and Zander enter the apartment, freshly showered. Alex gets up to get coffee for them as they join us.
“Morning darling. Thanks, Alex,” Zander says as he’s handed a coffee. “We need a plan for the day. Can we get the others out here?”
“Sure, I’ll wake Seb and E,” I volunteer as Alex offers to get Bay and Gabby.
It takes about 20 minutes before we’re all up, dressed, and coherent.
Troy is going with Nick to the police station, where Mr. MacLeod is meeting them.
Gabby, E, and Alex will join Zander at the house.
Seb and I will go see my home and then visit Jake and Ray.
E offers to cook breakfast, but we don’t have time, so we pack up and get into separate vehicles for the day.
You wouldn’t know anything happened at our house when you drive up. It looks exactly as it always has. It’s surreal that Zander and I were locked inside a few nights ago with strangers tramping through here.
“Brace yourself, darling,” Zander says, meeting my eyes before unlocking the front door.
We step inside, and the first thing I see is the office desk on its side. The door on the front closet is hanging off the hinges, its contents strewn across the floor. Moving into the living room, the couch is upside down and the coffee table smashed.
The pantry items are all over the floor, along with the contents of several cupboards in the kitchen, and you can see damage to the corner cupboard where the camera was.
The dining chair Mr. Fitzgerald was sitting on is broken, and there is a water stain on the wall where he threw the vase.
The patio door is broken, with plywood covering the right side.
Moving towards Zander’s room, the powder room and laundry room are mostly intact, just with extra bedding on the floor and the deep freezer slightly ajar.
The mattress and box spring are overturned in the bedroom, clothes moved around in the closet, and dresser doors left open.
Plywood covers the patio door in here, too.
At the other end of the house, Nick’s room is trashed similarly to Zander’s room.
In my bathroom, the glass door on the shower is shattered.
My bedroom, though, is the worst. You can’t step into the room without walking on something.
A sob breaks through as tears well, and I cover my mouth with my hand.
“This is insane,” Seb whispers, pulling me into his side.
The mattress and box spring are standing on end near the headboard, and it looks like someone took a knife to them.
Nightstands are on their sides with the desk leaning on the bedframe, tilted forward.
The dresser and bookshelves are toppled over, covering the floor with clothes, books, pillows, and plant stuff.
Zander steps up beside us. “It looks to me like they tossed any place someone could hide. You were the target, and when they didn’t find you, they took their anger out on your belongings. I’m so sorry,” Zander sighs, running a hand down his face wearily.
“Not your fault, Dad,” I reply, giving him a side hug. Tears are still slowly dripping onto my cheeks at the destruction. As unsettling as this is, I need to remember I’ve been through much worse, and we are finally safe. Taking a deep breath, I turn to my family. “What’s first?”
“We have two options. Have a cleaning crew followed by a construction company to fix all this, which will take time, or we can do the work ourselves.”
“If you guys are willing, I say we get to work.” The sooner we settle, the better it will be.
“Let’s go,” Seb responds.
Zander and I pull out cleaning supplies, garbage bags, and gloves and put them on the dining table for everyone to use.
We need to take pictures of anything broken we find, but otherwise we are free to do what we want.
Gabby and Seb offer to join me in my bedroom, so we start there.
I pick items off the floor, handing salvageable items to Gabby and broken items to Seb to snap a pic of and put in garbage bags.
I make it through the bookshelves before Seb and I have to leave. Gabby promises to keep going and to text if she has questions, and I check in with Zander before we head out.
Ray and Jake are on the patio when we arrive at their condo. We take a seat as I tell them the full story of what happened, and Ray grills some burgers and veggies for lunch. They’re both completely shocked.
“Are you finally safe now? No bullies, other family members, or mean girls around?” Jake asks, worry etching his tone.
I lean over and grab his hand, squeezing gently. “I think so, handsome. I’d like you to meet Nick when things settle down. He’s the last of our friend group, but he doesn’t say much.”
Seb chuckles. “Yeah, he’ll probably just stare at you, grumpy bastard, or grunt.”
We visit for a few hours before leaving. Jake still seems unsettled, but I promise to call him later. Seb drives us back to my house, where everyone is still working hard. I see a few Finn employees moving around, and there’s a pile of broken stuff in the open garage door.
Entering the house, I see the living room looks put back together. Alex is sorting through the pantry items, and I can hear the washer and dryer going. Walking right, I check on Zander’s room. The bed frame and dresser are together and the closet cleaned up, but there’s no box spring or mattress.
Nick’s room is tidied up, and someone cleaned the glass from my shower door. The furniture in my room is in place, with Gabby sitting on the floor going through my clothes. “Hey Gabs.”
“Hi Summer. Your mattress and box spring were slashed. Zander left to buy new ones and a tv. A lot of your clothes were damaged, too. I’m just checking to see if I can salvage them,” she tells me, holding up a sweater before dropping it in a pile to her left.
“So, which is the keep pile?” Grabbing the desk chair, I pull it near her and take a seat.
“The smallest one, but I think I can repair a few of these. Mind if I take the clothes home?”
“No, go ahead and thanks, Gabby.” I sort through the small pile, finding t-shirts, a few tank tops, and shorts.
“Your underwear is in the washer, but most of the rest of the items from your dresser are damaged. What you see on your bookshelves is all that’s left.”
I get up to check the shelves. One bookshelf’s top edge has a crack, and several shelves are missing.
The other bookshelf looks okay. Photos of Mara and Philip, Jake and Mal, and the guys are sitting without their frames.
Also, one corner of my photo album is crushed.
Several bags of dried herbs are okay along with jars and oils, but not all of what I had.
All my books are on another shelf, some damaged or ripped.
Looking around, my dresser seems in good shape except for the gouge in the top, probably where the tv hit. The desk and chair look okay, too. The nightstands are gone, and there are several pillows sitting on the desk that were on my bed.
The closet is mostly empty except for a few jackets and dresses hanging up.
My smaller suitcase is in the corner with my backpack, and my shoes are neatly lined along the right wall, most looking scuffed or pretty banged up.
Unzipping the backpack, I check inside. Seems it wasn’t opened.
My school things are still inside along with my laptop. Padded bags for the win.
Seb is helping Gabby bag up my clothes, so I grab the small pile and set it on top of the dresser. “Where’s the damaged lists?” I ask.
“Alex has them in the kitchen,” Gabby replies. “Seb, put that bag in the Jeep for me? I’m going to fix those for Summer.”
“You got it, Gabs,” he replies, kissing my cheek before walking out.