Page 33 of Shrouded in the Dark

“I’ll ride in the back seat. That way you won’t have to change out seats when you drop me off.”

Cody opened the passenger door. “Nope. You get the front seat.”

Instead of arguing, I just got in. I buckled my seat belt as Cody got in behind me. He had my art supplies next to him.

“Alright. It’s going to get dark.” Jasper apologized as the inside light turned off automatically.

“It’s ok, I promise. I’m used to this.”

As the SUV pulled away, the light from the outside of the house faded and I was plunged into darkness. The lights where the digital clock was were super fuzzy, but still there. A yawn slipped out after a few minutes.

“Tired?” Cody asked softly.

“I’m not used to so much activity, I guess. I had a lot of fun yesterday and today. I'm sure I didn’t have this much fun in a whole semester at school.”

“Well, we are a bunch of fun guys.” The sarcasm was thick as Jasper chuckled. “SOME of us could drive a saint mad.”

I bit my lip hiding my laugh as Cody gave an indignant denial.

“How long have you all been friends?”

Silence greeted my question for several long moments. Beginning to become uncomfortable, I had just started to apologize when Jasper spoke.

“I’ve known Seth since I was a toddler. Axel since I was about ten. Cody joined our group almost four years ago permanently, but we’ve known each other in passing since we were little.”

Sounds of shifting came from behind me. “My family moved around a lot, but we always came back in the summers.” There was pain in his voice that I found myself reaching my hand back blindly to him.

His hand engulfed mine, squeezing it tightly. He whispered a soft, "thank you." I held his hand the rest of the way back to my house. It was a short ride, give or take fifteen more minutes. The lights on the outside were on as Jasper pulled up right in front of the front door. He flipped the inside lights on as he turned toward me. His eyes narrowed in on Cody’s hand in mine, but he just smiled softly.

“I’ll walk you inside. Cody, hand me her art stuff?”

Cody squeezed my hand one last time before he released it. He passed my art supplies over the console to Jasper. Waving good bye to Cody, I closed the passenger door. Jasper was at my side in a few seconds, holding my hand in his arm. I could just see the outline of his face until we got right under the light. His eyes were gentle.

“I’m not leaving until I get a text saying everything’s alright and you’re all locked in.” Jasper was stern as he took the key I pulled out to unlock the door. “Deal?”

My lips curved in a smile as I looked up into his eyes. “Deal. Thanks, Jasper. Today was special.” I stood on my toes to kiss his cheek before taking my stuff and closing the door.

Resetting the security system was done within seconds. All the security shutters were already down. I texted Jasper it was all good.

Text you tomorrow!

Leaving my art supplies and pad on the kitchen island, I went to my bathroom to start a bath. I was deciding on what I was going to put in the bath when my phone rang. It was Felicity.

“Hey!” Answering it quickly, I shut off the water for now.

“Hiya, chicka.” She was tired but her tone lightened as we began to talk. “I miss your face and it’s only been a few days!”

Leaning my hip against the sink, my chuckle was soft. “Sounds like you’ve been busy. What’s going on?”

She blew a raspberry in my ear. “You always know. Don’t you?”

“Mhm. You haven’t talked to Axel since leaving the dorms, huh?”

There was the sound of moving in the background before a soft grunt from Felicity. “No. It’s hard to explain. This family thing is intense. Honestly, I wouldn’t even be allowed to talk to you if I hadn’t had Wyn’s support convincing my parents to let me keep my phone during the summer. I want to talk to him, but if my parents ever found out that I was thinking of dating a boy they didn’t pick? All hell would break loose.”

A cold feeling washed over me. “But you said that you’d talk to him during the summer to see how it went. I remember you said that to me, too. Are you going to break it off before anything even happens?”

She sighs deeply. “I don’t know, Bec. It’s only the first few days into this family thing. I’ll have a better answer by next week. Okay?”