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“You take her to my house. I’ll be there in a bit.”

“What are you going to do?”

Lee turned into stone, his jaw clenching. “I need to not be around people right now.”

Cassian stepped back, his hands going into his pockets. “Yeah. Okay. I got her.”

“Good,” Lee lashed out, a cold and low seething from him.

It sent a shiver down my spine.

“Lee!”

He’d been climbing out but stilled before glancing my way.

“I’m sorry.” I didn’t know what else to say. I just felt so bad.

A look of concrete came over him. His hand squeezed around the doorhandle before he grated out, “You have nothing to apologize for. I’ll be back when I’ve got myself under control. That’s all this is.”

22

Iwoke up when the blanket beside me lifted.

I hadn’t been sleeping much anyway. Cassian was behind me, an arm loosely resting over my hip. His hand had curled to rest on my stomach. Lee stood on the side of his bed, meeting my gaze before his eyes slid down, catching and lingering on Cassian’s hand and arm. He took in Cassian’s sleeping form before nodding for me to follow him.

He left silently out of the room.

I slid from underneath Cassian’s hand, gently resting his arm down on the bed and moved stealthily, barefoot to the door. Lee was waiting in the hallway, leaning against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest.

He’d been looking down at the ground, but lifted his chin when I appeared, quietly shutting his door. I wanted to go to him, press myself against his chest, but I held back. Just in case. I crept closer, raking in the sight of him.

His eyes were tortured. His whole body was closed off and exhausted.

The anger was gone, replaced by what looked like something that was soul-crushing.

“Are you okay?” I asked, in a soft whisper.

It broke whatever wall he had in place and he tugged me into his chest, wrapping his arms around my shoulders, holding me tight. He rested the side of his face against my temple. “Yeah. Just…tired of life.”

An ache formed in me, pain for him. The tired sounded like it went so deep in him. I hugged him tighter. “I’m sorry.”

His hand cupped the back of my head, his fingers threading through my hair. “It’s not your fault. None of this was your fault.”

“It kinda feels like it was.”

“No.” His hand tightened its hold on my head, briefly, before a shuddering sigh left his body. He suddenly relaxed, his arms still around me, holding me more loosely. “It’s not even Noah’s fault. It’s just…my luck.” He grimaced. “Or my curse.”

I didn’t know what to say to that so I tried to burrow as close as possible. If hugs could heal, I was hoping mine would work wonders.

His hand smoothed down my back. “Cass stayed?”

I nodded against his chest and shoulder. “He called his mom, told them about the fire and you. He did not mention me. I think that might’ve complicated things more, but he didn’t even need to ask to stay. She told him to stay and see if you wanted to move in with them. I got the feeling she meant forever.”

“Not going to lie, sometimes it hurts when she offers for me to stay there. It’s a glimpse of a family that’s not mine, you know?”

I shifted so my head was still pressed against his chest, but I peeked up at him. He wasn’t looking at me. He was staring off into the distance, his hand moving up and down on my back. Comforting. “And other times, I don’t know what I would’ve done if they hadn’t been there for me.”

“We’ve not had the ‘family’ talk yet.”