Page 16 of Savage Scream

‘Because I fucking care about you, too.’

Then the line disconnects.

Fuck!

6

DEE

Exhaustion has its claws in me as I leave the peace of my bedroom and enter the rowdy Rogan house living area for dinner. I don’t really feel like a family dinner after the chaos I’ve been living lately.

Aside from wielding Thana and eliminating some new targets, I’ve been busy on my side hustle, trying to get that done without anyone noticing, which isn’t easy in this house.

I could probably use Jared’s car again, but I’m worried if I go to his house that I’ll ditch the work I need to get done and end up in his bedroom. And as much as I really want to do that. I can’t. Not when I’m leaving soon. Right?

I’ve barely set foot in the living room when a hard body comes barrelling into me.

An umph flies from me as familiar arms wind around me and hold me close. I’m stiff as a board for a few moments, not used to physical contact without invitation, or in Jared’s case, persuasion, but as the familiar scent wraps around me, I relax and wind my arms around my brother’s back.

Travis.

“Fuck, Ell. When I found out you were involved in a car wreck, I…” He trails off, rasping into my hair, his arms tightening even more.

Scanning the room, Cynthia is wiping a tear from her eye while Will rubs her back as they watch. Charlotte still looks as unimpressed as the first day I entered this house, and the twins are grinning, their dark eyes magnified by their glasses.

And then there’s Rhys, currently sitting on Shaun’s knee, her black lips spread wide with a carrot stick dangling from her lips as she munches on it.

I want to tell Travis that I’m ok, but with the eyes on us, and the fact that the reason I don’t speak is because he said he never wanted to hear my voice again, I keep my words to myself.

I ease my grip around him and he does the same, pulling back to look me in the eyes.

“I know I’ve been a prick, but I don’t want you to die, Ell. I just want…” He trails off, shaking his head as he struggles to finish, so I mouth‘what?’

He shrugs. “I just want you to be ok.”

Tears well in my eyes.

This is different. Travis hasn’t been very welcoming to my sudden appearance back in his life, which I get. He’s still mad at me for killing his mum. He seems to have blocked out the bad shit that bitch did to him when he was little, so of course, I’ve been the enemy since the day I took her from him.

I do feel bad about that. I blame myself for him being sent to foster care and separated from me. I don’t feel bad about killing his mum, though. She killed my dad, and she would have killed both me and Travis that day had I not stepped in.

I pat my chest and then give him a thumbs up to indicate that I’m ok, and he grins. “Why don’t you just speak?”

I shake my head as fear creeps in.

When I first started withholding my voice, I did it because of what he said, and because I found it to be a good way to get people to leave me alone. By not talking, I could control things a little more, but now… now I realise I am scared. Scared to let down that wall I’ve spent years erecting. A wall that has kept me safe until recently.

A wall that Jared Crowley has somehow penetrated.

Travis sighs. “Well, if you won’t talk, you know Rhys is going to do all the talking and it will be about all of her fellas.”

“I don’t see a problem with that,” Shaun offers, and Rhys giggles.

“Me either.”

Then they start kissing. Or perhaps it is more like eating each other’s faces.

“Hey! Not at the dinner table!” Will growls and the twins giggle.

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