Chapter Seventy Nine

Raleigh

The rest of the night goes by in a flurry of activity.
Detective Morris is called and quickly comes to the house along with a couple of guys in uniform.
They comb through every square inch of the house, even after I repeatedly tell them about the feeling of being watched at the library and that I suspect that that is when the note was placed with my things.
Not while we were all at the hospital with Lincoln and his family.
And that no one had been in our house.
I couldn’t know for sure, of course, but after what I felt while in the library…my gut tells me it happened then.
Detective Morris assures me that they’re just being thorough and will check the camera feeds at the library to see if they can spot him there.
By the time everything settles down and everyone leaves, it’s well into the early hours of the morning, I’m barely running in fumes and all I want is to crawl into my bed and go to sleep for the next 40 or so hours but as I move to make my way towards my room, I find that I can’t do it.
I don’t want to be in there alone.
*What if he comes back for me?*
“Hey,you okay?” Ro asks as he places his hand on my shoulder and startles a scream out of me.
“Oh, shit!” I shout, swatting at him as I try to catch my breath and place my other hand against my chest, where my rapidly beating heart feels like it’s going to beat right on out of my chest. “You scared me!”
Chuckling, he pulls me into his chest as he wraps his arms around me, squeezing his arms slightly before pulling back and letting me go.
“What’s wrong? You had this terrified look on your face when I walked up,” he asks, his face full of concern.
With a sigh, I shake my head and try to put on my big girl panties, “It’s nothing. I’ll be fine.” I move in to give him another hug but he stops me by placing both of his big hands against my shoulders.
“Talk to me, Ray. You know you can tell me anything.”
“I know…” I say, breaking eye contact. “I just feel like a baby.”
“And why is that?” He asks as he places the side of his index finger beneath my chin and pulls my face back up to meet his gaze that is exactly the same as my own.
“Because, I’m…I’m scared to sleep alone…” I murmur, but even sure if he can understand a word I’m saying but I still continue without speaking any louder. “I’m scared that…what if…what if he comes back?”
“I doubt he will,” he tries to reassure but then he wraps one arm around my shoulder and turns, pulling me along with him. “But, just to be safe, you can sleep with me, okay?”
“And you will sleep *with* your clothes on?” I ask, knowing he likes to sleep in the buff any chance he gets and that is *not* something that I want a front row seat to thank you very much.
He snickers, shaking his head as he opens his bedroom door, “If I must. The sacrifices I make for you, Sister,” he says playfully as he jostles me into his side as we step into his room.
His king-size bed sits in the middle of the room, his dark gray bedding still strung haphazardly across the bed from when he must have gotten up this morning, not having bothered to make it before starting his day but the rest of the room is surprisingly clean.
“Just make yourself comfortable, I’m gonna jump in the shower real quick,” as he says this, he grabs a few items out of the dresser against the far wall before stepping back out of the room.
Nerve immediately consume me as soon as the door closes behind him, and even though I climb into the bed that I haven’t been in since right after I woke up in the hospital after the accident that took our parents from us, and I am completely and utterly exhausted, I know I won’t be able to relax enough to go to sleep until he’s back in here.
Just as I lean back against the headboard, my knees beneath the covers are pulled up as far as I can comfortably pull them against me, the door opens.
For a moment I squeeze my eyes shut, not wanting to see if it’s *him* coming back for me before my sense of self-preservation kicks in and I open them back up, only to mind Ryler stepping into the room.
“I heard the shower come on and I figured you would be in here freaking out,” he says by way of explanation as he comes around to the other side of the bed and lays down next to me. “Just lay down and relax, you’ve had a stressful day and that’s not good for you *or* the babies.”
I nod and shimmy down in the bed, getting comfortable before turning onto my side to face him. “Thank you,” I tell him, my eyes becoming heavier as sleep begins to pull me under.
“Of course. Goodnight, sleepy head. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Goodnight. I love you.”
I don’t remember hearing him respond before sleep took hold and the next thing I know, I’m waking up on the verge of vomiting.
Throwing the covers off of me, I jump to my feet and it takes a moment for me to remember where I’m at as I head toward the door. I bolt in the hallway, not even bothering with closing the door shut behind me before I dash into the bathroom, hastily pull the door shut behind me and then fall to my knees in front of the toilet just as acid and anything else that was in my stomach made a reappearance.
Tears are running down my cheeks, my nose is both burning and running, my throat burns and I’m pretty sure that my stomach is completely empty of any and all of its contents by the time that I finally finish.
After flushing the toilet, I lean back against the wall and close my eyes, not ready to move yet.
I hear the bathroom door open and then Ro ask, “You okay, Sis?” then a moment later, “Woah, you look like shit!”
“Thanks!” I deadpan, not even bothering to crack an eye open to cast him a glare, then finish with, “I feel like it too. I hope it’s okay that I skip school because I don’t think I can handle it today.”
“Nah, it’s fine. I’ll work from home today, that way you aren’t here by yourself all day.”
“Ro,” I open my eyes now to look at him, “you don’t have to do that.” But as I look at him, I note his disheveled appearance and the dark circles and bags beneath his eyes. “And I look like shit, you should look in the mirror!” I trade back.
“I blame you!” Then, he reaches into the shower and turns the water on before leaning down and grabbing hold of my forearms and pulling me up without me even having to try.
“Okay, muscles! You don’t have to show off!” I tease.
“Yeah,” he says with a grin as he lifts up his shirt, smacking his 6-pack abs before reaching out and pinching the small pooch I’ve started to develop below my belly button, then teases me back by saying, “Looks like someone has been slacking!”
My feelings immediately get hurt at the comment and tears burn the back of my eyes. Shoving Rowen away from me, I see the confusion on his face as I continue to use everything I have in me to shove him back until he’s out of the bathroom. Him being bigger than me, I know he’s letting me more than anything, but at the moment, I don’t really care and when I slam the door in his face and I snarl, “I’m pregnant, you asshole!” I hope he feels bad for his words.
Because something inside of me broke at his words and now, I can’t stop the tears that keep falling as I stop off my pajamas.
“Oh, shit! Ray!” He shouts, then knocks on the bathroom door. When I don’t respond he knocks on it again. “Raleigh, I was just messing with you.”
I continue to ignore him as I climb into the shower, he got water cascading down over me as I lower myself to the bottom of the tub and let myself cry.