Page 64 of Requiem
“Yeah,” I say, leaning down to nip her shoulder lightly just to hear her breathe out a soft laugh again. “Still gonna check to see what’s going on. Gonna see if Jude’s doing better today.” I check the time on my phone. “He’ll be ready for his dose in like an hour, too.”
She stretches, one arm sliding out from under the blanket. “I’ll be down in a minute.”
I nod once and get up, pulling on sweatpants and a hoodie, already focused on whatever disaster Adela has probably discovered before breakfast. With a yawn, I walk down the hallway to see Emma’s door ajar. With a quick glance, I see that it’s empty.
Huh.
I stand there for a second longer, hoping that the damn woman didn’t do anything reckless. Was that why Adela was worked up earlier?
Shit.
“Of course,” I mutter under my breath. I don’t waste time thinking too hard about it. I already know where she went.
Downstairs, I find Rafe and Adela already awake at the dining table, coffees in hand, Adela leaning over her laptop.
Rafe glances up when I come in. “She’s downstairs,” he says before I even ask.
I pause.
“Basement couch.”
I exhale through my nose and don’t bother responding beyond that. By the time I reach the basement stairs, I see her curled on the couch in front of the monitors like she just…fell asleep watching him.
“Emma,” I say quietly.
She jolts, blinking up at me with exhaustion in her brown eyes. Her now shoulder-length dark hair has definitely taken some getting used to since Adela cut it.
“I thought you went to bed,” I add.
“I did,” she says.
I step closer, eyes flicking once to the monitors, then back to her. “You slept down here?”
“Yes.” She sits up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. “I tried going back to bed, but then found myself down here again.”
I sigh. “Emma.”
She tilts her head, studying me in a different way than usual. “I’m fine,” she says. There’s no emotion behind it, which is a little worrying to me.
I drag a hand through my hair. “You shouldn’t be down here alone.”
“I wasn’t alone,” she says, already turning her attention back to the screen. “Kieran and Nico were in their rooms in case something happened.”
“That’s not what I mean,” I say, moving a little closer now.
She finally looks at me again, and something shifts in my stomach. Because she’s different. I remember seeing her struggling to survive in the hospital with broken heart syndrome, and now, she’s staring me down with a renewed kind of confidence. I still don’t like that she was down here alone, because it’s easy to walk in there the moment you see that he’s in any kind of distress.
“He’s stable right now,” she says calmly. “Seems like he’s doing better than yesterday. The Suboxone is helping him.”
“Yeah, I’ll give him some more.” I glance at the monitors to see him resting peacefully. Thank hell.
“I’m happy he took it.”
“You don’t need to be the one watching him every second of the day,” I whisper. “I don’t want you making a split decision to go in there alone and get yourself hurt. He’s dangerous.”
That finally makes her glance toward the hallway leading to Jude’s room. “I’m not going in thererecklessly,”she says, her voice steady. “You know…I’ve struggled with how to process all of this. I cared so much about Jude that I let him tell me he was handling things before.”
I sit beside her, bracing my forearms on my knees as I listen. I know what she means. I did the same fucking thing and hate myself for it.
