Page 110 of Craving Theodora
“You’ve been squirming in your sleeping bag since you woke up,” Jesse countered. “Just go and come back.”
“Fine,” Finn replied. He got up and disappeared out of the room, leaving the door open behind him.
“Why are you doing this?” Jesse asked me quietly.
“You know why,” I replied tightly. “We can’t stay here, kid. He knows where we are. We’re not far enough away.”
“Curtis said that he’s on it,” Jesse argued. “He said the club is taking care of it.”
“They said that when we moved here. Then look what happened.”
“It’s not Curtis’s fault,” they said defensively.
“Of course not,” I agreed, reaching into their top drawer for socks and underwear.
“Well, what did Curtis say?”
“About what?”
“About us moving.”
“He hasn’t said anything,” I hedged. “He’ll be mad for a while, but he’ll get over it.”
“You haven’t told him?”
“Look, Jess, there are things that you don’t understand—”
“What? Like the fact that it was all bullshit, and you guys had never met before?” they said, climbing gingerly out of bed. “Yeah, no shit. Dylan and I figured it out, like, the first week.”
I jerked in surprise.
“But it’s not bullshit anymore,” Jesse continued. “It hasn’t been for a long time.”
“It was always supposed to be temporary,” I replied gently.
“Right.”
“Who’s the parent?”
“You are.”
“Do you trust me?” I asked.
Jesse stared at me for a long moment. “This is wrong.”
I stood there, feeling like I’d been punched in the gut, as they left the room.
I reminded myself that it was okay. Jesse was nearly an adult, and they weren’t going to agree with everything I did. That was the nature of the beast. I’d disagreed with my pop all the time as a teenager. Jess just didn’t see the whole picture. They didn’t realize that the longer we were there, the longer Curtis and Dylan were in danger. We’d brought it to them, and it was my responsibility to take it away again.
They didn’t deserve to live under the cloud we’d lived under. They didn’t deserve to have to constantly watch over their shoulders or be attacked in their house. They didn’t deserve any of the things that had happened.
David Granger knew our address. He knew who we lived with. We’d escaped to less than a day’s drive from him. I’d been an idiot for believing that was far enough.
I wouldn’t make that mistake again, and I’d also never let anyone else be put in the crossfire.
When Jesse didn’t come back, I finished packing their things myself and then grabbed their baby blanket off the bed and stuffed it on top of their clothes. Grabbing their backpack off the floor, I carried it to the bed, picked up their pillow and clothing bag, and carried them into my room to set them down with the others.
I still needed to grab Finn’s school bag, his pillow, and both of their sleeping bags before I started bringing everything downto the truck. I was so focused on trying not to forget anything that I didn’t hear the front door open and close sometime later.
