Chapter 285
I looked over at him. “What do you mean?”
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“The kitchen window is broken, there’s damage from the fight, blood on the floor,” he explained,
his jaw tight.
“I don’t want you there while it’s like that, not after what happened, you need to rest somewhere
safe, somewhere you can actually relax.”
“So where are we going?” I asked.
“I was thinking we could get a hotel room for a few days,” he said. “Just until I can get the house
properly secured and cleaned up.”
I considered it, the idea of a neutral space did sound appealing, somewhere that didn’t have
memories of violence soaked into it.
But before I could agree, Tristan’s phone rang through the car’s speaker system, Orion’s name
flashing on the screen.
“Hey,” Tristan answered. “We’re on our way back from Mara’s.”
“How’s Athena?” Orion asked immediately. “How’s the baby?”
“Both fine,” Tristan said, and I heard the relief in his voice even saying it again. “Mara said
everything looks good.”
“Thank god,” Orion breathed. “Listen, I’ve been thinking, you can’t take Athena back to your
place right now, not with the damage from last night.”
“I know,” Tristan said. “I was actually just telling her we should get a hotel for a few days.”
“No,” Orion said firmly. “You’re coming to my place, both of you, stay with us.”
“Orion, we don’t want to impose,” Tristan started.
“You’re not imposing,” Orion cut him off. “Sarah and I already talked about it, we have plenty of
room and you both already have room here anyway, what’s the difference.
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And honestly, after last night, I’d feel better having everyone under one roof, that way we can
protect each other if anything happens.”
Tristan glanced at me and I could see he was considering it. “What do you think?” he asked me.
I thought about it, about being at Orion’s house with Sarah and the kids, about having family
around us instead of being isolated in some hotel room.
“I think he’s right,” I said. “It would be safer, and I’d like to be close to Sarah right now, make
sure she’s really okay.”
“See?” Orion said, having heard me through the speaker. “Athena agrees, it’s settled, come to my
place.”
“Alright,” Tristan conceded. “We need to stop by my house first though, grab some clothes and
things.”
“Make it quick,” Orion said. “And call me when you’re on your way, I’ll have food ready.”
He hung up and Tristan changed direction, heading toward his house instead of a hotel.
When we pulled up, I felt my stomach clench at the sight of it, it looked normal from the outside except for the boarded up kitchen window, but I knew what had happened inside, knew that
violence had invaded what was supposed to be our safe space.
“Stay in the car,” Tristan said. “I’ll go grab what we need.”
“I’m not staying in the car,” I said. “I need to get my things too.”
“Athena,” he started.
“I’m not fragile,” I said firmly. “I can walk into my own house.”
He looked like he wanted to argue but finally nodded, coming around to help me out of the car
and keeping his arm around my waist as we walked to the door.
Derek’s truck was still in the driveway and when we entered, I found him in the living room with another man I recognized from the pack, both of them were cleaning up the overturned furniture
and broken items from the fight.
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“Hey,” Derek said when he saw us. “How did it go?”
“Baby’s fine,” I said, and he smiled with genuine relief.
“That’s great news,” he said. “Really great.”
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I looked around the living room and felt my chest tighten, the coffee table was cracked, one of
the armchairs was torn, there were scuff marks on the walls and dark stains on the floor that I knew
were blood.
