Page 51

JARED

“ S ir, Rachelle is in the breakfast room eating,” Calvin says, stepping into the living room and gazing expectantly at me. At my confused look, he sighs. “Alone. Your wife is eating alone! Get up and keep her company.”

I don’t think Calvin has ever sounded so annoyed at me.

Theo snickers as I jump up as if I’d been verbally spanked, because I have been.

Liliana and Ignacio left the house last night, and I have no idea what to do with my new wife.

Theo, Elijah and I are so busy between work and school after taking a week off to get her settled in, I’m now beginning to panic.

Essentially two weeks alone with my wife to figure out how to convince Rachelle to make a go out of a relationship with five fucking people. Jesus, I think I’m starting to feel lightheaded.

My wife terrifies me. She doesn’t back down, even when the odds are against her. Except this time, I want to stand on her side of the odds and throw my middle finger up in the air at life. I’m no longer doing shit against her. Not after helping her put at least one of her nightmares to bed.

“You look like you’re about to shit yourself,” Theo teases me, shutting his laptop.

“Rachelle is scary,” Elijah admits. Calvin rolls his eyes at us and points at his watch before walking away as I nod. “We need that, though. Someone who will remind us we aren’t gods.”

“We are,” Theo corrects, “It’s just that we also want to worship her as well.”

Oh, he’s completely gone for her. I love seeing it. In a perfect world, we could have worshipped at her feet from the beginning and made her our queen with our leash in hand. Now, we’re going to have to work differently.

“Well, let’s go see if she’s enjoying her meal,” I murmur, striding out of the room.

The wheels in my mind turn, and I have a feeling I’m about to do something that would make Liliana call me ‘shit eater.’ Eh, she’s not here to smack me with anything, so I’ll ask for forgiveness rather than permission.

How else will I get to spend time with Rachelle with how busy things are?

She’s taking a sip of tea when the guys and I join her in the breakfast room, the light shining off her hair.

It’s been three days since I helped her kill the good doctor.

The vitamins Calvin had been putting into her smoothies seem to finally be helping, though she still has deep bags underneath her eyes and she’s still too damn thin.

Liliana managed to give Rachelle’s hair some life and at this length it’s curly and bounces.

When I called her a queen, I meant it, but I am not ready for the regal lifting of her eyebrow at me.

“Off to school?” she asks, eating her avocado toast.

“We are, and you’re coming with us,” I decide.

“Um, what?” she asks, her words garbled a little by the food in her mouth.

“You heard me,” I say with a smirk. “I’m going to reserve a room for you in the library to work out of in my name. You can practice being out of the house, and it’ll be harder to nap if you’re not on the couch.”

Rachelle seems to pass out very easily during the day, and then has a hard time sleeping. I’ve noticed that the light or television is on more often in the room Lili, Ignacio, and Rachelle share.

Maybe we can reset her body by keeping her awake until bedtime. Or maybe I’ll end up removing the little sleep that she is getting. Fuck, I hope not.

Rachelle takes a deep breath as she forces herself to swallow, while Theo and Elijah take my words in stride as if we already talked about it.

“It’ll give you a chance to see the campus and decide if you want to apply there,” Theo adds.

“Guys, I haven’t been on any medication in weeks,” Rachelle says softly.

“Ah, and I’m going to fix that,” I say hurriedly. I am a fuck up. We haven’t gotten her into the psychiatrist yet. I’m going to have to bribe someone to get her an appointment. “I’m going to call around today.”

I wonder if our in-house psychiatrist for the club will see her…

Sharing a glance with Theo, he grunts in response as he texts someone. We always seem to share a few brain cells.

“I’ll make that gyno appointment too,” Theo says under his breath. “How are you feeling without them?”

“It’s like I’m walking a tightrope without a safety net,” she sighs. “My emotions feel as if they’re punching me in the face.”

“That sounds really violent,” Elijah says. “What is it like when you’re on medication?”

“Sometimes, I feel clearer, but Dr. Michaels would change the dose and I’d feel as if I fell through a trap door no one told me about,” she explains, pushing away her now empty plate.

Looking down at her loungewear, she grimaces.

“Do I have time to change?” she asks.

“Yes, we have a few minutes,” I say. “Knowing that your doctor was trying to make you feel worse, it makes sense why he was constantly messing with your medications.”

“Hindsight is like a reverse fortune teller and super painful,” Rachelle grumbles, standing.

Elijah and I pick up her plate and tea cup, shooing her up to her room to change. While she gives us an odd look, she does get moving.

Taking the china and silverware into the kitchen, I find myself face to face with Calvin.

“You’re up to something, aren’t you?” he asks, taking the items from Elijah and I.

“When am I not?” I ask in return as he purses his lips at me in annoyance.

Blowing out a breath, I turn and leave with Elijah on my heels. Theo is on the phone with our club psychologist, his eyes narrowed as he speaks with him. Hopefully, Dr. Parker doesn’t lose his shit about this.

He’s a genuinely good man, I have a feeling he’s going to want some answers about why we want her seen.

“Would it be really obnoxious of me to make her so angry at me that she forgets to be anxious that the world is sitting outside these walls?” I muse.

“It would,” Elijah grunts. “It doesn’t mean you’re not going to do it anyway.”

Grinning, I grab him around the shoulders and kiss him hard.

Having Rachelle is good for him. He’s actually been sleeping better, knowing she’s here.

There hasn’t been a single nightmare now, though last night he slept outside of her door.

When I asked him about it, he said that she’s used to sleeping with someone to be able to sleep.

It’s actually what’s also fueling my current plans.

Theo smirks at us as he gets off the phone before listening to see if he can hear Rachelle returning yet. She tends to be quick to change, so I don’t blame him.

“Dr. Parker isn’t thrilled with seeing Rachelle, but waiting lists for new doctors take forever,” Theo grumbles. “She’s had so many issues with medical professionals, another fuck up isn’t acceptable.”

“No, it’s not,” I agree.

“I am going to find her a gyno appointment now. I really don’t want to come in a rubber again when I fall into her pussy next time,” Theo says.

“You’re a pig,” Elijah says. “My dick does thank you for your service, though. If I ever get a chance with her, I don’t want to come inside a condom either.”

Theo salutes Elijah as I roll my eyes. He’s a lucky fucking bastard. Elijah also told us how Rachelle flirted a little with him. If anything, I’m the asshole because I keep having to push her to do things. Oh well.

May as well embrace it, because I’m not going to stop now.

“Okay, I’m ready,” Rachelle says behind us. She has a backpack on her shoulders, and is wearing a cute pair of ripped jeans with a long sleeved t-shirt that says Anxiety doesn’t want to be here. Her combat boots finish off her outfit.

She looks adorable. Ugh, I should probably get her a ring that tells everyone who wants to hit on her to fuck off. I wish I didn’t hate all of my family members so I could give her something special. Maybe I’ll have something commissioned at one of the many jewelry stores in Santa Barbara.

Yeah, new is the way to go when your family history is less than stellar.

“Sounds good,” I murmur, my eyes drinking her in to cover up the racing thoughts in my head. “Let’s head out.”

Moving over to her, I link my fingers in hers and begin leading her to the side door. Calvin has a way of packing our things up and leaving them for us. It doesn’t matter how many times we’ve told him that we don’t need him to, he simply ignores us. If it makes him happy, why fight it?

The three of us pick up our bags as we open the side door to where the SUV is already waiting, and Rachelle’s footsteps stutter to a stop.

“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 sandwiches her 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.”