Page 93 of Stalked By Shadows

She put her hands on his face, using her thumbs to wipe away his tears, then cupped his cheeks until she could stretch up to brush a kiss across his lips. “He’s home and safe. I’m here and safe.”

“Not because of anything I did,” he said sounding heartbroken.

“That’s okay,” Sky assured him. “We don’t expect you to be Superman. You need to be here for us. Can’t that be enough?”

I let Lukas go, giving him a little nudge toward Sky. He turned completely and enfolded her in his arms. She accepted his embrace and almost seemed to melt into it.

She kept murmuring, “We’re safe. It’s okay.”

It was one of those moments that I realized as put together as Lukas was, it was all a façade. He’d lived so long under the mask of control, that when something didn’t go right, he didn’t know how to deal with it. Chaos was sort of my brand rather than his.

Focus, he’d said he wanted for me. Something more than the past. It was what he needed too. I patted Lukas on the back. “How about you go and take a nap. I know you haven’t been sleeping well.”

He looked at me, exhausted, full of fear and loneliness, afraid we would all vanish from his life, I think. “I don’t know…”

“I’m going to order a grocery delivery for you,” I told him.

“I want you to stay here,” he begged.

“I can’t hide forever.” I glanced at Micah thinking there was more in lifeIwanted than to lock myself away. “We can’t waste our lives waiting for something bad to happen. I want a chance to live it, without constantly looking over my shoulder.”

“But we don’t know what happened…”

“No,” I agreed. “And as you told me before, we don’t need to. We can still move forward and try to find something new to focus on. You have someone who needs you.” I motioned at Sky. “I’d like to try too. Yeah?”

He frowned but stared at me with a mix of emotions plain on his face. Fear, worry, anger, and sadness, but also understanding. “Text me the minute you get to his house. I’ll be watching on the cameras.”

“Creepy, but okay.” I glanced at Sky. “Can you handle the groceries that I order?”

“I can put my own damn groceries away,” Lukas grumbled.

“I want you to relax.”

Sky nodded. “We’re good.”

I looked at Micah. Was he still okay with me coming home with him? I really wanted to curl up in his space and watch him craft if that was what he needed, or even mindlessly watch a show with him. I was too emotionally exhausted to do much more, but the idea of sitting in his presence and enjoying the calm acceptance he gave me, was enough.

“I’ve already ordered an Uber for us,” Micah said. He looked at Lukas. “We won’t be walking home. And I’ll make sure we both text once we’re home. It will be from my phone since we have to get Alex a new one, but we can call if that’s better for you. So you can hear his voice?”

It took a moment, but Lukas finally nodded. He pulled Sky close, dragging her with him to the couch where they both collapsed curled around each other. I used Micah’s phone to order groceries for delivery and hoped there were easier days ahead. Lukas needed back to his normal routine which I had interrupted by showing up in his life. I felt kind of bad about that, but couldn’t keep punishing myself for not being like everyone else. Maybe this was the chance I needed to really be me. Even if that me was messed up and a little nuts.

Chapter 29

Micah’s place was different inside. He’d reorganized the entire layout; the lower floor had been changed to a craft space instead of having it all hidden away. The futon was pushed off to the side, looking mostly unused and Micah’s sewing machine had a prominent place toward the back of the room. A new wall of cubes had appeared and little colored boxes filled it. I recalled he had a smaller one upstairs originally, and this was like that only four times as large.

That worried me since he tended to go crazy with crafts when his head got too loud. Was the closet so full he’d have to expand outward? Had he slept at all while I was gone? He looked okay. No bags under his eyes, or weight loss. Not like Lukas. That didn’t mean he’d been taking care of himself properly. It could mean he was better at moisturizing his face than my brother was.

“Do you have groceries?” I asked once we’d gotten off the phone with Lukas.

“Yes. Sky always makes sure there’s food here. Are you hungry?”

“Not at the moment. I wanted to make sure the pantry was full before we settled in for a bit.” I heard the familiar thump of Jet jumping down from something, and a moment later he appeared from the loft. He let out a little “erp” sound from the top of the stairs and raced my way. A moment later he wove around my legs giving me happy little mews.

“Hey, buddy,” I said. “Missed you too.”

I bent down to pet him and scratch his head. “You been taking care of daddy? Giving him lots of snuggles while I was gone?”

“He has been very clingy,” Micah said.