Page 28 of My Crazy Killers
I shrug. “Fine, I guess.” He gives me a look that makes me want to pour my heart out to him, and I frown. “How do you do that?” He tilts his head in question. “How do you make it so easy to talk to you?”
He leans down and presses his lips to mine in a gentle kiss before tapping on his written question again. I sigh, looking down at my hands as I shrug. “I don’t know. It’s strange. The time we spent at Ivan’s seems like another life, you know?” I glance up at him, and he nods.
“I was terrified, not knowing what had happened to any of you, if you were even alive. I thought I was the only one there until you were brought into the dining room. Where had you been for the week before that? Were you in the bedroom right down the hall from me that whole time?”
He signs his response this time.“I was kept outside in a shed. It was cold all the time. I didn’t even see Ivan until that day at breakfast.”
“You were shackled outside in the freezing cold that whole time?” I ask in shock. He nods, and I gently wrap my arms around him, being gentle with his back, but knowing he can take some pressure without any pain. “I’m sorry you had to go through that.”
“Did you have any issues with your claustrophobia?” Elias asks from where he’s sitting nearby.
I turn to face him as I shake my head. “No. There was a closet in my room, but I managed to get by without any panic attacks.”
“That’s my girl,” Pete says as he drops to the couch beside me and wraps an arm around my shoulders.
“I’m proud of you, Wren,” Elias tells me as I feel my cheeks heat with slight embarrassment.
“All I did wasnotpass out when going into a closet. It’s not a big deal,” I tell them, brushing it off.
“Itisa big deal, and you know it,” Elias corrects me. “There is no need to feel shame that enclosed spaces make you panic.”
“Overcoming that is a huge deal,” Sly adds.
“It’s embarrassing,” I mumble. “You guys aren’t afraid of anything.”
“I’m afraid of losing you,”Jagger signs.
“That doesn’t count cause I’m afraid of losing you guys, too,” I tell him with a smile to soften my retort.
“I’m afraid of heights,” Dex suddenly blurts out, surprising everyone.
“No way!” Pete says, sounding amused.
“Yep, I’ve always hated them. I can’t do anything that’s more than five feet off the ground.”
“But you’re over six feet tall,” Pete says in amusement.
“I don’t know what to tell ya, kid. I don’t make the rules.” Pete snorts, shaking his head as Dex asks, “What about you, Pete? What are you afraid of?”
His lips pinch together for a moment before he replies. “Nothing.”
“Liar, liar pants on fire!” I accuse, jabbing my finger into his side.
“How do you know I’m lying?” he asks me curiously.
“'Cause I know you. Can’t you tell when I’m lying?”
“Yes,” four voices answer at once, making my eyebrows raise in surprise.
“Wren,” Elias says gently, “you wear your emotions on your sleeve. You’re as easy to read as a book.”
“Easier,” Pete adds. “Books are boring, but I could stare at you all day.”
“You’re stalling,” I tell him with narrowed eyes.
“Fine, fine. I am not particularly fond of clowns.”
“Clowns?” Sly asks, and Elias's eyes widen in surprise.
