“Do you have him? My brother?” I sat up taller, ignoring the stiffness in my body. “Is he okay? Where was he? Is he here right now?”
The words were spilling out so fast, and my body was moving quickly as I tried to hop off the bed. Isaiah grabbed onto my waist and pulled me back. “Gemma, take it easy. You’re still recovering.”
My head turned to him, and I knew that he could see the hope blossoming. “Tobias is alive, Isaiah! My brother is alive.”
His lips curved slightly, but there was something sad lingering there too. I knew Isaiah, and I could tell when something wasn’t right. “I know, baby. But…”
“But what?”
He sighed, bringing me closer to him as if there wasn’t anyone else in the room. I peered up into his blue eyes, and I could see him stalling. “Isaiah, I can handle it. What?”
He chuckled. “Oh, I know you can. I just don’t know if I can handle the hurt I’m going to see.” My mouth tugged down as he continued. “He’s been at the Covens this entire time.” He swallowed, licking his lips again. “And…he’s working on some things. On himself.”
“So…”
“So, he doesn’t want to see you...not yet.”
My shoulders dropped as hurt crashed and burned around me. He didn’t want to see me? “Oh.”
“Hey, he’ll get back on track, okay? He’s just…”
“He just wants to be alone right now.”
I turned to the headmaster… My father... Our father. “Does...he know that you’re our father?”
He nodded. “He knows everything.”
I nodded in unison with him as I tried to wrap my head around everything. The rollercoaster of emotions and revelations. The ups and down of devastation and hope and then more devastation was making my head hurt again. I didn’t know what to say or feel. I should have been grateful that I was alive and sitting beside Isaiah, but now I just felt empty, like my body was locking down emotion because it was just too much.
“Alright. Out.” Isaiah pointed to the door as if he read my mind.
I slinked back onto his chest without even realizing I’d done so.
Jacobi stood up, glancing over at me once more. He and Isaiah looked a lot alike, except Isaiah was bad-boy handsome with his coy grin and dark features, and Jacobi was a serene type of handsome. Smooth and put together. Chivalrous. “You are safe now, Gemma. You and Tobias both. Okay? Get some rest.” Then, he looked at Isaiah once more and turned around and walked out the door.
Headmaster Ellison patted my leg and slowly began to back away, looking more confused than ever. I felt the same.
“Headma—” I paused. “Ta—” I paused again. What should I call him? I shook my head, looking down. “If you talk to my brother, can you just tell him…that…” The vulnerability was so heavy I could hardly speak. “Can you just tell him that I love him? And whatever he’s feeling, it’s okay?”
His lips gently curved, and the uneasiness that I saw just seconds ago was gone. “I will. Get some rest. I’ll be back in a bit.”
Once the door shut, Isaiah’s hand was on my chin, and he angled my head on his chest to look up at him. His eyes bounced back and forth between mine as his thumb rubbed over my bottom lip again. I was pretty sure it was wobbling. “You are unbelievable. The strongest person I know.”
The tears were there, making his face blurry for a second before I blinked them away. I was swimming in everything I’d just been told, and there was shock and fear and a whole bunch of other stuff that was threatening to come out of my mouth, but instead of talking about the fact that my brother was alive, or that I now had a father, I said something that surprised us both. “I love you.” Those three little words were the one thing I was sure of in the moment, and it felt good to get them out.
A flicker of shock reached Isaiah, and it was as if everything else just paused for a few seconds. My eyes watered again, and I buried my face back in his chest. “I just wanted you to know that. I didn’t say it before, but I felt it. I felt it a long time ago.”
“I know. I felt it, too.” Then, his arms came around me as his leg popped back down. Mine hooked over his, and we lay like that for so long I thought he might be asleep.
“So now what,” I whispered, talking to myself more than anything.
He answered quickly. “Things are going to get messier. We’re still stuck in a fucking web. There will be trials. Statements to be made. All of it. My father’s entire empire just came crashing down. Some of his people went into hiding, and others are currently being arrested. Richard’s name is plastered everywhere, and it’s an uproar. The entire state is in shambles.”
“What about Jack? And Sloane?”
“They’re both okay. I sent Jack to Jacobi before I even knew he was in the FBI, working toward the same goal I was.”
I nodded, squeezing him tighter. The future looked even scarier than before, but at least the people I cared about were okay.
“I’ll be here no matter what. Okay? We just have to find a new normal.”
A small grin covered my face as I tried to lighten the mood. “So, no more hiding underneath the dining hall tables in the middle of the night to reach under my skirt so no one sees us?”
Isaiah’s chuckle was abrupt, and my face shook against his chest as he laughed. Somehow, I still managed to let out a light laugh, too.
“Fuck that. I’ll have you on top of the table this time. In front of the whole school. Ask me if I care.”
I smiled, my cheeks feeling hot, but then a thought occurred to me. “What happened to Bain?” I popped up, and we locked eyes. “He untied me, Isaiah. I think. In that room. He…”
“Don’t try to make sense of it.”
“Where did he go, though? He was there, and then…”
“He helped us get to you. He had put you there, but he helped get you back after he realized...” He shook his head. “I need you to understand something. Bain won’t hurt you. When and if you come back to school, he will be there, but he will not fucking touch you. Okay? Do you trust me? We do not have to worry about Bain.”
“Yes, I trust you,” I answered swiftly, still stuck on Bain. There was something off about him at the Covens. He wasn’t his usual, put-a-knife-in-your-back self. What had happened while I was out the last couple of weeks? Was Bain the one in the mask after I ran? Did he say those things to Richard? That he would kill him? What was real and what wasn’t?
Isaiah must have sensed that my mind was pulling me again, because the next thing I knew, he was pushing my face closer to his and silencing me with his mouth. His lips covered mine softly, and the things I felt when he kissed me, that had been dormant since I was taken, were suddenly turned back on, canceling out the questions and confusion.
A tiny noise left me as I pushed closer to him. Isaiah’s teeth sunk into my bottom lip as he clenched his eyes. He pulled back, and looking into his eyes was like the ocean was pulling me. He drank me in, every inch of my face, especially my lips. “Knock it off, Good Girl.”
I smiled.
The twitch of his lips had mine rising higher. He shrugged and said, “Never mind. Don’t knock it off.” And then he pulled me in again and chased my tongue with his.