Page 20 of What's Left of Me

The next fewdays were pretty quiet. Aziza had contacted Agent Rose about her “discoveries,” and she’d told us that he’d been livid he hadn’t been called the moment Phoenix mentioned the name he’d been ordered to refer to his captor as. She’d explained that it had come up in a session, and that it wasn’t her job to make the agent’s life easier.

After that, we’d all assumed Rose was going to come storming down here, but he hadn’t, and while that was a relief, I knew he was going to show up soon.

Phoenix ate with us most of the time and only once more in his room. He never talked much, but every so often I saw a curve appear at the corner of his mouth if one of my brothers did something ridiculous.

Tonight would be interesting. It was family night, and Hazel and Phoenix were going to be joining us. Normally, it was only for family but with them staying here, it was rude not to include them. Honestly, I’d thought Phoenix would refuse, but he’d shrugged when JJ mentioned it to him.

It was Mason’s turn to choose, and he went with a rom-com…I’d guessed it was to keep it light for Phoenix, and any one of us would have done the same thing.

We ordered Indian food and as if my thoughts had conjured it, I saw the driver stop at the end of the driveway.

“Food’s here,” I shouted as I walked toward the door. The police would be checking out the bags, and I was fine with that as long as they were quick about it.

I opened the front door, and the driver’s eyes were wide. “I was frisked,” he said.

“Seriously?”

He nodded. “Why, Noel?”

Vishnu had been to our house over a dozen times to deliver food. He knew all of us, and we’d never frisked him.

“Sorry, we have someone here we’re keeping safe. Cops are overprotective. I’ll double your tip.”

He beamed. “Deal. Here you go.”

With one large bag in each hand I walked to the kitchen, where everyone was waiting. I put them on the counter and Mason, Matt, and Gabe began removing everything.

We all ate, talked comfortably, and then congregated in the media room. It was newly decorated and renovated. The amount of people living here was growing, so we’d had to expand. We had comfortable recliners, fluffy couches, a popcorn machine, even a cotton candy machine that Matt had bought us for Christmas last year. We were all stuffed, so we took our seats and Mason started the movie.

Surprisingly, Phoenix came and sat next to me on the couch. He usually opted for seats away from people.

“What’s the movie?” he asked me in a whisper.

“You’ve Got Mail. One of Mason’s favorites.”

He nodded. I’d thought that would be the end of the conversation since Phoenix didn’t talk much, but I was mistaken.

“Did you know that it was inspired by the 1940 film, The Shop Around the Corner, which was based off the 1937 play,Parfumerie?”

I faced him, tilting my body slightly, and smirked. “I had no idea. You like movies?”

He shrugged. “I like them enough. I love plays and musicals more.”

I glanced at Gabe, who was scrolling through the list to get to the movie, and then again to Phoenix.

“Do you have a favorite play or musical?”

“I loveWest Side Story.”

“I’ve seen that. Nick and I went when we were little kids. We were in a foster home, and they took us all this playhouse. I loved it.”

He blinked, a tiny crease forming in the middle of his forehead. “You were in foster care?”

I nodded. “Yep. It’s how Nick and I met, Gabe, Angel, and Shep.”

His gaze swept over the room. “And Mason, JJ, Matt, and Four?”

I chuckled. “Mason is Gabe’s partner, JJ is Shep’s, Matt is Nick’s. Four, he’s with Lizzy, but we helped him out a couple of years ago.”

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