Page 330 of Redeemed

“But they’ve been asleep forforever,”she’s complaining.

“They need it,” Phil reminds her. “They got in late last night.”

“What’s this I hear?” Xander calls. “Is the girl who sleeps through allthreeof her alarms really complaining about me sleeping in after a long road trip?”

“Xander!” Rachel exclaims. She dashes toward us and leaps into Xander’s arms the second he’s off the steps. “You’re back!”

“Told you I would be, silly. And look who we brought.”

Rachel gasps when she sees me. “Haven!”

“Be gentle with her, okay? She’s injured.”

Colton sets me down at the base of the stairs. With a grin, I open my arms and hug Rachel once she’s in reach. She squeezes me, and I let out a sharp, pained breath.

“Rach.” Xander pulls her back. “I saidgentle.”

“Sorry,” Rachel says bashfully. “Sometimes I just get too excited.”

“That’s okay.” I smile and run my fingers through her hair. “I like that about you.”

“Really?”

“Mmhmm. Reminds me of my little sister.”

“You have a little sister? How old is she?”

“I have two, actually,” Haven replies with a smile. “One who’s your age, and one who’s a few years younger.”

“Can I meet them?”

The guys exchange panicked looks, and I realize my face must’ve fallen. Lucas immediately steps in and tugs on Rachel’s hair.

“Wanna help me make breakfast?”

“Breakfast?It’s after one!”

Lucas gives her a flat look. “Do you want waffles with chocolate sauce or not, little miss?”

“Waffles! Definitely waffles!”

As Rachel follows Lucas into the kitchen, I blink back my tears. There’ll be plenty of crying later. Right now, I just want to bask in the fact that I’m back home.

“How much does she know?” I ask.

“Not much,” Xander says. “Just that you were taken, really. Dad knows everything, though.”

Two things hit me at once. First, that Phil made it to the graduation ceremony—something we didn’t think was going to happen. And second, that Xander abandoned them immediately to chase after me.

“Xan—”

“It’s okay,” he says, but there’s an undercurrent of pain to his words. “They understood.”

“Still—”

“No.” Xander leaves a lingering kiss on my forehead. “The only thing that mattered to me was getting you back.”

The guilt in his eyes tells me otherwise, but I’ll leave that for another time.

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