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“Don’t hate it as such, just prefer the peace and tranquility of the great outdoors. Besides, everyone found themselves busy this morning once they found out you were being released. Violet’s on a mission to make everything perfect for… when you get home.” Levi reached out and opened the front passenger door. “She’s got half the housekeeping team slaving away, and she roped Ericka and Felicity into concocting some surprise—so act surprised, would you?”

Merrick chuckled, but it turned into a pained groan as he struggled to lever himself into the seat. “I’ll do my best, just for you, Levi.”

Tamsyn stepped back out of the way, unsure how she could help. She was glad when Levi took charge, gently shoving Merrick onto the seat, then lifting his legs into the footwell. He shut the door, then turned to her.

“Want me to take that, little one?”

Take what? she thought warily.

He gestured to her right hand, and the small bag of Merrick’s possessions and prescription drugs she’d completely forgotten she held. She couldn’t remember picking it up from the chair in his room, she’d been so focused on Merrick and Merrick alone.

Instead of offering it to Levi’s outstretched hand, she pulled the bag to her chest possessively.

“All right.” His grin flashed. “Are you going to be offended if I open the door for you?”

“N-No, sir. Thank you.”

“My pleasure, Tamsyn.” With a flourish, he opened the door to the seat behind Merrick’s and gestured her in. “Buckle up. We’re on a schedule and don’t have time to get pulled over by the fine officers of the Denver police department.”

She knew whatbuckle upmeant, thanks to Fordham. He’d shown her how to pull the seatbelt across herself and poke the flat metal key into the safety catch so she wouldn’t fly through the windscreen if there was an accident.

In total, her journey in the Jeep would make this her eleventh time in a vehicle, which was both magical and slightly terrifying when she looked through the window at how fast her surroundings went past—she’d almost thrown up the first time Fordham brought her to the hospital in his truck, but she swore that was a combination of fear, shock, and dread.

She dutifully buckled herself in as Levi shut the door for her, setting the bag on the seat beside her leg. She heard the click of the catch, then gave the belt a hard tug to make sure she was secure; Fordham had told her more than once it wasn’t necessary, but she thought it was after seeing how bad a car wreck could be—on the television, of course.

She really hadn’t liked that movie even though she’d politely sat through it with Fordham at the other side of the couch, although she supposed Merrick’s absence ensured she hadn’t really liked or enjoyed anything.

Food tasted terrible, music hurt her ears, watching TV felt lackluster and boring.

Poor Fordham, she’d probably made his life an unbearable hell during her time with him. Maybe she should apologize or bake him some cookies… but then, that meant she had to learn how to actually bake.

Resting her head back, she closed her eyes for a moment. Cooking the basics was on her capable list, she just couldn’t guarantee her food wouldn’t be bland compared to what the chefs at Serenity provided. Niceties like baking and sweet goodies didn’t exist in the community.

The faintest smile kissed her mouth when she remembered the community didn’t exist now, either. From the brief rundown Jasper gave her a few days after Jedidiah’s death, the men in black—the good guys—were thorough in their extermination of the elders and all they stood for.

The women and girls who could be saved, had been. They would be provided for, given a home and food, medical treatment and counselling. Treated like human beings for the first time in their miserable lives, seen as people rather than products to be traded and tossed away.

The lost ones, the ones who hadn’t survived misogynistic men and the system designed to benefit them, were still being recovered from the chasm. Efforts would be made to identify them, but Tamsyn didn’t know how they expected to do that when the women never had an identity from the beginning.

How very lucky she’d been, she thought as the driver’s door opened and shut. Not only to escape the community when she had, but to find a place where she’d been safe. To find a man who was willing to overlook her lack of… anything and help her find herself.

When the engine rumbled to life and the men started talking in low voices, she told herself to open her eyes and be present. Her voice was still reluctant to return to its former glory, stifled by the trauma constantly circling in her brain; she needed this opportunity to use it, to join in on a simple conversation.

But it felt so good to rest. She’d never tell Merrick how many hours she’d stayed awake since the shooting, how insomnia plagued her when they were apart. She sure as hell wasn’t going to make him aware of how she spent all three nights in the hospital guarding him, studying his monitors every ten minutes in case he decided to up and die on her.

She heard Levi laugh before her brain switched off of its own volition.

*

Merrick

The soft snuffle from the backseat alleviated some of his concern.

His little owl believed he was too mired in his own pain to recognize hers; she couldn’t be more wrong if she deliberately tried to mask it. He’d spoken to several people over the last few days and received casual reports on how Tamsyn had been during their forced separation.

He wasn’t particularly pleased with what he’d been told.

Disrupted sleep patterns—if she slept at all.