Page 12 of The Facade

My heartbeat thundering in my ears, I hurried to stand back up. Rubbing my elbow where it was tender after hitting the wall, I rushed to my door—the one that led into the hall I shared with my brothers—and put my ear against the small gap between the door and the doorframe to listen for the sound of someone coming to check on what had made the clattering noise.

My heart was beating so fast, my breathing coming in short bursts, that I could barely hear anything over it.

Deep breath in, long breath out.

Deep breath in, long breath out.

My heart rate slowed a little, but I still didn’t hear anything.

That was a good sign, right?

Maybe no one had heard the commotion? Carter was probably the next lightest sleeper in the family after me, so he would be the first person to check on me if he heard anything.

After another ten seconds and still nothing, I turned the knob and opened the door slowly so it wouldn’t creak. The hall was quiet and dark. Not a soul to be seen.

Thank you!I said to no one in particular.

Then, after carefully closing the door and locking it, I turned around to deal with Mack. But he wasn’t standing near my bed anymore. Instead, he had climbed under the covers and was currently fast asleep on his side, with a peaceful expression on his face.

What am I supposed to do now?

I definitely couldn’t carry him to his bed like I would a child. And I’d already learned a few weeks ago that waking Mack from sleep was a noisy thing. The first time I caught him walking off into the woods, he had yelled at me when I’d woken him up.

I sighed as I looked at his sleeping form in the dim lighting of my room. He really did look peaceful. And from what he’d said earlier, I knew he hadn’t been sleeping well lately.

Should I just let him stay?

He was hugging the side of the bed, so it wasn’t like we’d even be touching once I got in on my side.

I chewed on my lip as I considered it.

No one usually came in my room in the mornings. I usually didn’t see anyone until I went downstairs for breakfast.

I glanced over at the door. It was still locked.

It would be okay to let Mack sleep here just one night, wouldn’t it?

Nothing was going to happen.

I sighed.

Was my level of tiredness just making me lazy? The logical part of my brain wasn’t exactly functioning at peak performance after midnight.

I walked over to the balcony door, which was still wide open, and gently swung it shut before locking it.

This would be fine.Mack had slept in my room before and nothing had happened.

Sure, he was in myactualbed this time, instead of sleeping on the trundle bed. But…it was fine.

Right?

My eyes caught on the pile of throw pillows I had tossed to the floor when I’d first climbed in bed. I could create a barrier. It would be almost like sleeping in separate beds.

Deciding that was probably the best way to handle this, I started picking up the white and pink and gold decorative pillows and set them in a nice long line down the center of the mattress.

There.I put my hands on my hips as I studied the small mountain of pillows and decided that it was safe enough. I climbed onto my side of the bed and switched off the lamp.

This was fine.

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