This time I listened and walked over to him, moving like a zombie.
“Did something happen to her?” Milo’s voice got higher the more scared he got.
Jack didn’t answer him. Instead, he looked me over with this odd expression on his face, a cross between disturbed and jealous. He put two fingers underneath my chin and lifted it up, revealing my neck. He turned my head this way and that, inspecting me carefully.
When he was done, his expression had softened, and he looked satisfied.
“Come here,” he repeated, but this time, he looped an arm around my shoulders and pulled me closer to him. “You’re okay.”
I threw my arms around him, hugging him tightly and relishing the safety of his arms. I sobbed into his chest, unable to hold it back anymore, and he kissed the top of my head.
“What happened?” I heard Ezra’s melodic voice boom behind me, but I hadn’t seen him when I came in. He seemed to have materialized at the sound of my crying.
“I don’t know! She just came downstairs crying!” Milo explained plaintively. He was upset, and I wished somebody would just tell him that everything would be okay. Why wasn’t Mae here when I needed her?
“Did something happen?” Ezra demanded, and there was an edge to his voice.
“No,” Jack said softly, stroking my hair.
“Are you sure?” Ezra persisted.
“Yes, I’m sure,” Jack replied, growing irritated.
“I’m going to talk to Peter.” I didn’t hear Ezra leaving, but I knew he had anyway.
“What’s wrong with her?” Milo sounded panicked.
“Nothing.” I pulled away from Jack a little but made sure to keep his arm around me. I wouldn’t feel as safe or sturdy without it. Wiping at my tear stained cheeks, I forced a smile at Milo. “I’m fine.”
“You’re not fine!” Milo insisted with wide, worried eyes.
“It’s just… girl stuff.” I tried to shrug it off, and I couldn’t tell if he saw through it or not.
It was a perfectly reasonable explanation that while I was upstairs, alone with a very attractive guy, he had said or done something to offend me, and that’s what had upset me.
In fact, that would be much more plausible than what had actually happened, which was that I had become so entranced with somebody that I almost let him slaughter me.
And I was pretty sure that this attempted-murder had happened not because he hated me, but because he was attracted to me.
“Like what?” Milo narrowed his eyes.
“I don’t wanna talk about it.” I just shook my head and looked away.
“What’s going on?” Mae shouted suddenly, and my heart soared at the sight of her standing in the doorway. She rushed over to me, placing her hands her firmly on my shoulders to look in my eyes.
“She was upstairs with Peter,” Jack explained. Mae’s expression changed from one of worry to shock, and she turned to look at Jack sharply. “Nothing happened.”
She softened, looking sympathetically at me. Before she pulled me into a hug, it finally dawned on me.
Whatever had happened or almost happened with Peter, they knew it. Ezra had sent me upstairs, knowing exactly what would happen. Meaning, he had sent me to my probable death.
What the hell was going on here? And why didn’t I feel as terrified as I should? In fact, as Mae stroked my hair and murmured words of comfort in her soft British accent, I felt nothing but safe. What was wrong with me?
“I’m okay, really,” I insisted, and she finally released me.
“I hope you mean that.” She smiled sadly and pushed strands of hair back from my face, and then straightened up.
“I do.” I nodded firmly, and Jack playfully ruffled my hair, as if to reaffirm that everything was okay.
“And who is this?” Mae turned her attention to Milo. Just looking at her made his anxiety disappear, and he returned her open smile.
“I’m Milo, Alice’s brother.” He looked a little embarrassed by the look she was giving him, and I knew the feeling. She reached out and touched his face gently (his chubby cheeks were hard to resist) and grinned warmly.
“I’m Mae, Ezra’s wife. You’re so much cuter than I’d thought you’d be.”
“Thanks?” Milo replied unsurely.
“Have you had a tour of the house yet?” Mae had already started looping her arm through his, and she’d missed her calling as a real estate agent. Milo shook his head no, and she laughed a little. With that, she led him away on a tour.
As soon as they were out of earshot, I turned to Jack and hissed, “What the hell happened?”
“You tell me,” Jack countered evenly, and I might have overestimated how much he knew.
“You have an idea of what happened, don’t you?” I asked. He didn’t answer me, so I continued, “You have suspicions. There was something that you were afraid happened.”
“I wasn’t afraid,” he answered quietly, but the fog of Peter was wearing off and I could feel how unnerved he really was.
“Jack, I trust you,” I whispered fiercely. “Don’t betray that trust.” An amused but pained expression flitted across his face, and he shook his head.