Page 5 of Saving Graces
Rachel gave her a blazing look. “Are you fucking stupid? Of course they won’t. We’ll have to hide her.”
For ten whole seconds Rosalie stared at her. Of all the hare-brained, ridiculous, fantasy-world, Rachel plans to come up with. But then, all of a sudden, the goofy, rebellious rightness of the idea hit her like a wave. No seventeen-year-old girl should have to be homeless. And getting one over her parents appealed to her just as much as it would to Rachel.
Rosalie nodded firmly, just once, then together they turned and walked back into the room. Savannah still held the textbook, though this time it was clear she wasn’t reading.
“If you want, you can stay,” Rosalie announced. “I could do with some help with history anyway.”
Savannah raised her eyes and stared.
Rachel stayed late with them, all three of them sitting on the floor as the two sisters whispered their plans for how to hide their new and interesting guest. Rosalie’s room was the only option, being so far from the rest of the house and having easy tree cover to come and go without risk of exposure. Rachel would run interference as best she could, and Rosalie could attest it was definitely within her sister’s skillset.
Savannah stayed silent, hugging her knees to her chest. Finally she interjected.
“I don’t want to get you in trouble with your parents,” she said, quietly.
The sisters exchanged a look.
“We literally don’t care,” Rachel said. “Like at all.”
“Fuck them,” Rosalie agreed.
“I’m not your responsibility,” Savannah’s eyes flashed steel.
“We’re all each other’s responsibility,” announced Rachel. “All of us. The grownups don’t care, the streets aren’t safe, society hates us. We’re all we’ve got.”
Rosalie had heard Rachel’s grandiose spiel before as she talked about her friends and their whole gang of teenage rebels and outcasts. But she found herself nodding, finally in some way part of it herself.
“We’ll keep you safe,” Rosalie agreed, her chest tight with excited nerves. “Fuck the rules.”
Savannah looked from one to the other. A small smile cracked, then spread across her face. It transformed her, as if a teen beauty queen had suddenly arrived in their presence.
“You’re both crazy,” she told them, and with that, the pact was sealed.
Rachel went off to bed soon after. It was obvious that Savannah was beyond wrecked. She could barely breathe for yawning, dark circles under her big blue eyes.
“What side of the bed do you want?” Rosalie asked and Savannah looked startled.
“I can sleep on the floor,” she said. “Believe me, it’s more comfortable than where I’ve been sleeping until now.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” Rosalie frowned. Her bed was a double; there was plenty of room. Even for a total stranger, in from the streets. She tossed back the covers. Savannah bit her lip like she was going to argue but her longing was clear as she gazed at the soft pillows and the neat clean sheets.
That night Rosalie lay wide awake under the covers and carefully pretended not to notice as Savannah wept silently into the dark.
Chapter Three
Lane brought Cassidy coffee in bed and as she watched them walk into the room in a blaze of sunlight, nothing but a pair of snug boxers in place, she couldn’t stop her stunned smile.
“What?” Lane asked her, handing her a steaming mug. They grinned moving around the bed to sit beside Cassidy who reclined against the pillows, the sheet pulled up to just cover her breasts. She enjoyed the way Lane’s eyes still flickered to the hint of curve she’d deliberately left on view.
“I can’t believe this is my life,” she said. “I played my first gig last night. I have the beginnings of a band. I just had a ton of incredible orgasms and now there’s this sexy person bringing me coffee in bed. Did I die or something?”
“I mean, I don’t remember Sunday School all that well but I’m pretty sure that’s what they said heaven would be like,” Lane mused, taking a sip of their coffee. Their short, dark, floppy haircut was adorably mussed and it was only the hot cup of coffee in their hand that stopped her from jumping on them. Over the lip of their mug, Lane’s eyes crinkled and Cassidy’s heart skipped a beat. “I got to watch my girl slay the room last night, then I got to take her home and make her mine.”
“You definitely did that,” Cassidy’s skin tingled all over again as she flashed back over the night they’d had, making out on the dance floor, getting buzzed on beers and great music before arriving home and becoming truly intoxicated as Lane pushed her down on her hands and knees to fuck her. They’d whispered all manner of hot things in her ear about how sexy she was on a stage, all the things they’d wanted to do to her all night, then all the things they did do after that.
“I’m just saying,” Cassidy said, taking a sip of her coffee with a little sigh, “if this is the peak of my life, I’m okay with that.”
Lane looked at her and shook their head, a trace of wonder in their eyes.
