"What?"
"Maybe you should go see a doctor." Amelia said.
"And tell them what, my super natural boyfriend and I got locked up and tortured for three weeks? I"d rather not get thrown in a padded room. I"ll be fine. It"s just the pain meds I"m on. I think they are making my stomach act up."
"So now the psycho who tried to kill you is your boyfriend again?"
I could feel Jennica"s judgmental eyes staring into my soul.
"Yes... No... Maybe, I don"t know! It would be a lot easier to answer that if he would actually let me see him or even just talk to him. He won"t even return my text messages!"
"You"re texting the creep?"
"He"s not a creep!" Amelia and I snapped in unison.
Great, the whole surround sound thing was contagious. Jennica rolled her eyes at the both of us. Clearly she thought Amelia and I were delusional.
"You don"t even know him Jen; you haven"t even given him a chance."
"I know enough! I met him for ten minutes and he tried to kill my sister, which kind of ruined any chance I could have ever given him, Lo."
"I love him."
The words seemed to hang in the air forever. No one said anything and I felt like I could barely breathe. The way I felt about Tobias wasn"t a secret, but this is the first time the words had ever come out of my mouth.
"Awesome! I"m going to have a homicidal psychopath for a brother in law." Jennica said as she walked away and threw her hands up in defeat.
"Don"t hold your breath. I"m pretty sure he hates me, and even if he doesn"t, he doesn"t believe in love."
"Wow, you were right sis, he"s a total catch."
I rolled my eyes at her sarcasm and climbed into bed. I really wasn"t feeling up to defending Tobias at the moment.
"He doesn"t hate you; he"s just having a hard time dealing with everything that happened." Amelia said and climbed into the bed beside me.
"And I"m not? It wasn"t exactly a picnic for me either."
"I know, but it"s different for him. Just give it some time and he"ll come around."
I didn"t want to give it time; I was very impatient when it came to Tobias. I didn"t want to argue though, so I just kept quiet and laid back in my bed. My stomach hurt from being completely empty and from the b.u.t.terflies that still seemed to be floating around since I confessed my love for Tobias out loud; and both the girls looked at me as my stomach made a growling noise.
"Ugh, don"t you two give me that look. I don"t even want to think about food; but, I could totally go for a fruity Popsicle."
They both laughed, and then Jennica headed down stairs to see if she could find something to appease my picky stomach, while Amelia called Tristan on her cell phone to send him on an errand in to town to pick up a new TV and a blue-ray player for my room. We were going to have a "girls only weekend" to forget about our boy troubles. Well, to forget my boy troubles anyways.
Jennica returned with a box of Popsicles in her hand and her face completely flushed with irritation. It didn"t take a genius to figure out Colton must have been in the kitchen when she went down.
"Every time I look at his stupid face I can"t help but think "really? That"s the sperm that won?" and it drives me f.u.c.king crazy!"
Amelia and I couldn"t stop laughing. I"ve never known anyone to get under Jennica"s skin the way Colton does. It was rather amusing.
"In his defense, four other sperm won before he did." I said and the look she gave me made me laugh even harder.
"Don"t worry; he"s not always that bad. I think he likes you."
"Ha! That boy doesn"t like anyone but himself."
I finally sobered as Jennica handed me the box of Popsicles. I opened one that looked like a rainbow all twisted in to one and the second I put it in my mouth fruity flavor exploded all over my tongue. It was just a Popsicle, but in that moment it was the best tasting thing I had ever eaten.
"I think Tobias is going to town with the guys."
Amelia and I both looked at Jennica staring out the window.
"Why do you say that?"
"Because a very beat up clone of Tristan just climbed into the back of a truck with the a.s.s hat from h.e.l.l and their brothers."
I jumped off the bed so fast I was surprised I didn"t fall on my face. I reached the window in time to watch the truck drive off and, sure enough, there he was sitting with three of his brothers and one of the guys they brought home with them.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.
TOBIAS.
I"ve been driving myself crazy for the past few days staying cooped up in my room, but I just can"t bring myself to face Willow. I don"t remember much about what happened the night I was rescued, but when Tristan told me Willow fed me her blood to save my life, I knew I almost killed her.
None of us really knew what would happen if I didn"t drink blood to survive; the hunger usually took over before I could find out, but a vampire I once met told me that it would be a fate worse than death.
My brothers have been bringing me fresh blood bags from town which has helped me recover faster. The first day I woke up after I got home I had already started healing and needed to get my brothers to re-break most of the bones in my body so they could be set properly.
If you ask me, I"d say they enjoyed it a little too much. Apparently they are taking Willow"s side in all of this and think I"m making a mistake. There"s a good chance they might be right, but I"m not willing to take that risk.
"We"re going in to town to pick up some things for the girls. Daniel and Jonathan are thinking about going to see Micky too, and I really think you should be there for that."
I glanced up at Tristan standing in my doorway. He didn"t need to ask me twice; I was dying to get out of this room. I got to my feet and limped to the door. I was mostly healed but my body was still pretty sore.
"Let"s get going then."
I grabbed a hooded sweater from my closet and pulled it on before following Tristan out of the room. The rest of the guys were already waiting for me downstairs. Colton seemed to be in way too good of a mood.
I haven"t officially met Willow"s sister yet, but from what I"m told, the two of them are constantly going at it. I"m guessing he won whatever battle they were in this time, since he seemed unable to wipe the smirk off his face.
Tristan picked up his keys and headed out the door, followed quickly by the rest of the guys. I jumped into the back of the truck and sat between Colton and Jasper.
The truck roared to life and we took off towards town. As we left I caught a glimpse of Willow standing in her window staring at me. My whole body wracked with guilt at the sight of her. Our eyes met and I looked away from her before I actually got sick. She was a constant reminder of what Alexander did to her, and that I wasn"t good enough to save her.
"You ok Uncle T? You don"t look so hot." Jonathan asked.
"I"m fine."
"You didn"t have to come. Maybe you should have rest a little longer."
"I don"t need any more rest, and your dad won"t be able to deal with all this on his own."
He nodded his head, and then returned to tugging on his fingers one at a time. It was a nervous tick he had developed ever since he joined the military. I"ve not been around them a whole lot since they"ve grown up, but Jonathan"s knuckle popping drove Micky crazy and he"d rant for hours on end some nights.
"Do you think he"ll hate us?"
I looked up at Jonathan. He was still staring at his feet and tugging on his fingers but I could tell he was beginning to have doubts about going to see his father. I sighed trying to find an answer for him.
"When your dad got the letter saying you and your brother died, I thought it was going to be the end of him. He broke every chair and table in the bar, and smashed up anything that wasn"t nailed down. Every bottle of liquor, every gla.s.s, even the windows! It killed him and I didn"t think he was going to pull through."
"So what happened then?"
"He found a picture of the two of you behind the bar and broke down crying. I"ve never seen him cry a day in his life until that night. He wanted to die because the pain of losing you was too much for him, but he kept on going."
"Why?"
"Because I told him that"s what you would have wanted."
Everyone remained silent the rest of the trip. The memory of that night replayed over and over again in my head. Losing his boys broke Micky in ways that could not be fixed. I"m not sure how he"s going to react when he finds out that his boys are still alive.
We pulled up to Micky"s bar and Jonathan tried to hide his tears by wiping them away. If anyone saw, none of them said a thing about it. Tristan wished us good luck, then took off into town with my brothers to fill Amelia"s shopping list. I looked over at Jonathan and Daniel.
"Ready?"
"Ready as we"ll ever be."
I nodded my head then walked around the building to the back door with both of them tailing behind me. As soon as I got inside I heard Micky from the bar.
"We don"t open "til nine."
"Good thing I"m not here for a drink then."
"Tobias, so help me G.o.d I"m going to kill you! Where the f.u.c.k have you been? Last I saw you there were dead bodies and you-"
Micky came around the corner and froze on the spot. I watched the color drain out of his face as he tried to make sense of what the h.e.l.l was going on.
"The f.u.c.k?"
He backed up as Daniel walked towards him, and ended up tripping over a bar stool. I walked over and picked Micky up off the ground and sat him in a chair. It was going to be a long night that would need a lot of alcohol.
"I"m dreaming. I have to be dreaming."
"You"re not dreaming Mick; I"ll explain everything with a drink."
I wasn"t sure how I was going to explain everything; I didn"t even know all the details myself. I can"t remember the night we escaped and we haven"t exactly had a heart to heart since then, and other than the fact that I almost killed the only woman who has ever given a s.h.i.t about me, no one"s told me anything about that night.
I watched as everyone stared at each other in silence. No one knew what to do, so I shoved both Daniel and Jonathan towards Micky.
"Don"t be d.i.c.ks, go hug your father before he thinks he died and met you two in h.e.l.l."
Both of them moved forward apprehensively, but as soon as they were within arm"s reach, Micky grabbed the pair of them in a bear hug.
No words were spoken, but the sobs of an inconsolable father filled the air with relief. I think he actually cried harder when he found out his boys were still alive than when he found out they were dead.
"My boys..."
Tears were streaming down Jonathan"s and Daniel"s faces and none of them wanted to be the first to let go. I think Micky was afraid if he let them go they wouldn"t really be there.
"I think this calls for a drink." I said while clearing my throat.
Before I could even move Micky pulled me into the group hug. I was squished between his large arm and Daniel"s head.
"Guess that"s a no on the drinks then?"
Everyone laughed before we were finally released. Jonathan grabbed a couple gla.s.ses from behind the bar and Daniel picked up a bottle of Jack.
Micky left his spot on the bar stool to hang a sign on the front door of his pub saying he was closed for the night. When he came back we were all sitting around a table in the center of the room.
After a couple drinks we all started talking; the boys told us stories about being over-seas leading up to the explosion that supposedly killed them.
"So let me get this straight, the same f.u.c.ks who abducted Tobias and his little lady are the ones who blew your crew up?"
"Yep." Daniel and Jonathan said together.
"So now you"re just like he is?"
"Sort of, it"s complicated." Daniel said while shifting uncomfortably in his seat.
"We can"t die, anymore. We will never age, never get sick-"
"That"s not true Jonathan, you will get sick. And it will f.u.c.king suck." I cut in.
Everyone looked at me like I had just said the craziest thing in the world. I shrugged it off and poured everyone a round of drinks.