Page 59 of Merciless Intents

I shrugged. “Not really.” I opened my mouth, and he dropped it. The moment I started chewing it, I knew it was an edible. It tasted like nearly normal chocolate, but I could smell the pot on my breath when I exhaled. “How long does this take to work?”

“Too long. That’s why you eat that first before you get started with anything else,” Luna said with a wink.

She and Justin laid on the floor next to me on either side. He ate two of the chocolates and handed two over to Luna as well. They each held my hand and stayed quiet, all of us staring at the ceiling. It was weird at first, but soon, tears stung my eyes. Apparently, it was exactly what I’d needed.

Feeling started to return, and my chest ached. The tears came, and so did the helpless sobs.

Justin sat straight up and pulled off his shirt before twisting to lay on his side. “Come here,” he said, his voice soothing like he was speaking to a child and not an eighteen-year-old young woman with serious issues.

He pulled me tight against him, holding me with more pressure than I expected. At first, it made me feel panicked, but he made shushing noises, and Luna hummed something unfamiliar but beautiful behind me as she scooted closer and sandwiched me in.

Ah… Friendwich…

I almost found it funny, but the sobs were too much right then. I couldn’t speak. All I could do was cry against Justin’s chest. I’d found it odd that he’d removed his shirt, but it soon made sense. Skin to skin contact. It was warm and felt safe and wonderful. He smelled incredible, but right then, it wasn’t sexual for once. He just smelled… like home. I couldn’t explain it, but I felt safe there in his arms.

And as Luna ran her fingers through my hair and down my back, her leg thrown over mine to increase the contact, I felt safe with her, too. Never in my life had I met anyone like either of them. My best friend in Indiana was amazing, and I loved her, but this was a different kind of love. They were just affectionate people. Both of them. And I needed it more than I could say.

I had no idea how long we laid like that, but eventually, the tears slowed, and I was able to speak.

“I’m so glad you’re both here.” It came out broken and pathetic, but it was there.

“We’ll always be here for you,” Luna said. “You’re family at this point.”

“I don’t even know how. I’ve only known you both for two days.”

I felt her shrug behind me as her hand wiped my wet, sweaty hair from my face. It got warm in the friendwich.

“That doesn’t matter. People fall in love at first sight all the time, or so they say. Why can’t friendships work the same way? I think people sometimes just click. That’s how it worked with Justin and me. This is our fourth year here together, and we’ve never had that with anyone else. Not till you showed up.”

“It’s rare, but it does happen,” Justin said. He moved back a little and looked down into my face. “Tell us what you need, and we’ll get it for you. You look a little better now.”

I snorted. “Yeah, I bet I look fucking hot right now.”

He laughed. “Well, I’m the almighty god of indifference, so I wouldn’t know one way or another.”

I shook my head, my smile surprisingly still intact. “Nice save.” I sighed and thought for a moment. “A shower. That sounds good.”

He nodded. “Okay. We’ll hang out in here and watch a movie or something. Leave the bathroom door open. That edible should hit here soon, and I don’t want you to get dizzy and fall in there or anything.”

“Yeah, at this point, I’m sure that’s exactly what would happen,” I said.

Justin started the shower while Luna helped me up and then gathered some comfortable pajamas for me. I left the door open, which wasn’t an issue because I could hear them in there laughing at whatever they were watching. The sound of happiness made me smile, and it helped to further wash away some of that numbness.

I’d never felt like that before, and I never wanted to feel like that again. As I showered, I realized my irrational attachment to Harper and her blatant and hateful rejection of me was what caused it. I’d dealt with the bullying and bullshit, but somehow, she’s the one who broke me. And it wasn’t even what they did to me that day. Whatshedid to me. It was what she’d said to me in the car. The horrible way she’d said it.

She and Rick were the only family I had left, and it felt like that connection died. Like she’d just stabbed it to death, and it destroyed me in a way I hadn’t expected.

At that moment, I knew I could never let her in that much ever again. I could never allow my hope for a relationship with her grow inanyway. She was right… There was no way we’d ever be friends, let alone family.

When I got out of the shower, I started to dry off, and that was when I felt the edible kick in. It was a delightful buzz in my mind, and my body felt relaxed. We didn’t exactly get to follow their plan of taking one and then drinking and smoking to kick things off, but what we did was far better, I thought. Clearly, I’d needed it.

“Hey! You look a thousand times better,” Luna said with a genuine smile.

I returned it. “Ifeela thousand times better. Edibles are nice.”

“That’s just a baby one. I figured I wouldn’t go too hard on ya. I grabbed the beginner batch. That’s why Luna and I ate two of them. Want a drink?” Justin said.

“Yeah. Then you can vent to us about your day, or we can ignore it altogether and just watch some TV,” Luna followed.

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