I closed my eyes. “Well, you all just saw my secret. That is how I live. That is what happens to me. And…” A thought dawned on me, and my eyes flew open. “Fuck. Sorry, I left my money. Sometimes, she finds it and takes it from me. That is my bailout bag. Even though I sometimes can’t afford to eat, I always put some aside so I can leave the evening of graduation next year.”
“We’ll go get it.” Griffin handed me back my phone. “Tomorrow morning, before I take you to work. And yes, I’m doing that. We’ll stop and get your money.”
“Thank you.” I wasn’t sure my thanks were sufficient for what they were doing for me. I stared down at my phone, just as a message came in. The name lit up, Ace.
That will never happen to you again.
I wished I could believe him, but even as we drove farther away from where I’d spent my life, I knew better than that. Things were just getting started.
Six
We pulledup to Caesar’s driveway, and I caught my breath. I knew they were rich, but the sheer size of the mansion made my stomach drop. It was amazing this kind of wealth existed so close to me and I just never saw it. Like I’d lived in a cocoon where I really hadn’t understood the outside world.
Rowan parked, and Tanner leaned forward. “You okay?”
“Sure. You?” I turned to look at him. “Are you all okay? You were supposed to get back fast, but you’re still with me.”
Rowan shrugged. “My father has no sense of time anymore. As long as I show up before dawn, it’ll be fine. Come on.”
Just then, the front door opened, light spilling out onto the already well-lit yard, as Caesar stepped outside. Wearing only long black pajama pants, he held a water bottle in his left hand. Although his feet were bare, he walked toward us like he wasn’t the least bit concerned about tearing them up.
I’d barely gotten my seatbelt off before he had me out of the car and pressed up against him in a hug. “If I had been there, I might have killed him.”
I hugged him back. “I told the others, I’m not a hugger, but I really like it tonight.”
“I’m not hugely affectionate. It’s all you, Maci. I’ve got her. She’s safe here. Pop the trunk, Rowan. I need her bag.”
“Not in the trunk.” Griffin rolled down the window and passed him my backpack. “Here.”
My cheeks heated up, and I stared at Griff through the window he’d opened. “I totally let you go through my drawers.”
He winked at me. “Did you? I can hardly remember.”
“Good answer.” Tanner took the front seat I’d vacated at the same time as Rowan got out of the car. He walked over to me with a fast gait and embraced me. He whispered in my ear, “This will feel like nothing someday. Something that happened to you, but like it all happened in a different existence. When you’re far away from here, living out your dreams. You’ll remember it, but that’s all it will be.” He kissed my cheek. “Sleep well, Maci.”
Caesar took my hand and drew me toward him as I watched Rowan drive away.My rescuers. What would have happened to me if they hadn’t come?I tried to swallow past the lump in my throat. Crying wouldn’t help. It never fucking did.
“Is this okay?” I managed to say the words. “Or did they force you to put me up for the night?”
“No one forces me to do anything.” He squeezed my hand. “I’m glad for the company. Come on.”
I followed him into the house, and he closed the door behind us. With a strong turn, he locked the door as soon as it was closed. I didn’t know much about locking mechanisms, but his seemed old. Like it might be iron, and not installed recently.
“No one is here but us. Still, I think that it would be best if you stayed in my room. I don’t expect my father home any day soon, but just in case, I don’t want you surprising him or vice versa. So stay in my room.”
I supposed that made sense. It would be bad to run into a strange man in the dark. Sometimes, it was hard to do that in the day too. The lights had been on in my trailer.
“Thanks for doing this. I really don’t want to put you out.”
“Maci…” He said my name on a sigh. “You’re not a burden. You’re this really interesting person that has completely stolen our attention and made us all suddenly want to hold you. I can’t explain it, and I find I’m good with the uncertainty of it. Come on.”
He put his arm around me again, and we walked the hallways of his huge, cold house in silence. It wasn’t that the temperature was chilly. No, it was the atmosphere. There was nothing that spoke of anyone actually living in the ginormous space. No paintings. Nothing. Even my trailer had some posters on the wall my mother liked and a picture of the two of us with lollipops when I was eight years old.
There was nothing here but dark, outdated furniture with torn cushions lining the hallways and the sounds of our footsteps as we crossed the hallways. Eventually, we found our way to his room. I was pretty sure I wouldn’t find my way there again if I had to without help.
Caesar’s room couldn’t have been more different than the rest of the mansion. It was bright, well lit. The bed was made, his blue comforter and white pillows neatly presented like he’d taken time to make the bed. On the walls, he’d taped up pencil sketches of all kinds of things. I lost my interest in anything else and walked over to examine them.
People who could draw amazed me. I didn’t have an artistic bone in my body.Horses. Landscapes. The ocean. People.Most of the faces he’d drawn I recognized from the hallways at school, but some were strangers.