Page 113 of Unspoken Lies

“Shit,” she whispers, gazing out at the world.

“We’ve got you,” Elijah says fiercely. “You’ll be locked up tight in the study room, and we’ll swing by and take you out to lunch. Nothing but peace and quiet, baby.”

I don’t know the exact moment when we decided she was ours, but I know it was while she was in the hospital. This girl is so special, her absence was felt by us.

Rachelle takes a deep, shuddering breath and squeezes my hand.

“Don’t let go,” she whispers.

“I wouldn’t dream of it, wife,” I breathe. “I’m right here.”

Even though I can feel her visibly shaking, she takes each step to the SUV while we simply exist in her presence. She has absolutely no idea how impressed we are with her. She’s earned every second of her anxiety, with the shit we put her through, yet here she is clawing her way out to do more than simply survive it.

My hand never leaves hers except to lift her into the back seat and into the middle, so I can sit next to her. Elijah sandwichesher on the other side of the car while Theo appears amused as he gets into the driver’s seat. He rarely ends up driving, but at least this way he gets control of the radio.

As he gets himself situated, Rachelle smiles as she hears the song that he has synced from his phone, playing.

“You listen to the Darkest Nights?” she asks.

Theo glances over his shoulder as he nods. “Yeah, something about their music resonates with me,” he says. “It’s taking the trauma of the world and making really good music that goes hard.”

“The lead singer always makes me think she may have had a fucked up life,” Rachelle sighs. I’m going to have to remember to call her Rachel when we get to campus, but right now I’ll drown in her words. “My mom took me to see them once and they’re amazing in concert. I even got to speak to them.”

“They’re currently touring,” Theo murmurs, grabbing his phone to make a note to see where. His entire life is a series of notes. “I don’t know if you’d be interested in going to see them, but they’re making the rounds in the US.”

“Ugh, I don’t know,” she says with the saddest smile. “I don’t know if I could handle all the people. It’s enough to know you like them too. Their music is incredible and I have technically seen them in concert.”

Theo nods before putting the vehicle in reverse. We’re going to have to hustle to get her setup in her room and make it to class. Pulling out my phone, I open the library’s website at UCSB and reserve a room for her. Okay, we’re good.

I can cause chaos now.

“Wife,” I drawl, squeezing her hand.

“Really?” she asks. “You’re really enjoying this moment. I didn’t get a wedding or anything. It’s fucking rude, Jared.”

“Are you saying you want a wedding?” I tease her, moving my face so I can rub my nose against hers. “You should be reallycareful about what you say to me, baby. I’ll take it to heart and make it happen.”

“Said like a man with too much money,” she mutters.

“Nope,” I deny. “I’m a man with just the right amount of money to be very dangerous and equally indulgent of his new bride.”

“You’re too much,” she says, grinning.

Elijah smirks because we’re taking care to live within our means, which is still a lot of damn money. Calvin won’t let us pay him until we can show him that we’ve been in the green for a full year. I am surrounded by very stubborn people.

I’m damn lucky to be.

“I am exactly enough, thank you,” I tease her. “This leads me to some things I wanted to talk to you about while living with us.”

“This should be good,” she says, her head resting back as she gazes at me with a bemused smile.

“As your husband, I want you to sleep with me,” I tell her. At her widened eyes, I chuckle. “I mean, I won’t say no to sex, but those aren’t strings I want to attach to this. Theo, Elijah, and I have our own rooms, but tend to sleep in the same huge bed together.”

“And you expect me to sleep in it,” she says.

“My hands do tend to roam,” Theo purrs as he drives.

Her body isn’t as tense as it was when she walked out of the house, which is a plus. Her lips though, say that she’s going to be a brat about this.