thing the following morning, my Dad moved us all to our house in Medina. Even if Sophie’s father was still alive and knew Marie had remarried, there was no way he’d be able to get anywhere near our house. With two full-time security guards, high fences, security gates and a state-of-the-art alarm system and panic room, he wouldn’t have a chance.
By the early afternoon, I was moving the last box of stuff into Sophie’s new bedroom, right across the hall from my own. With all the drama in the last sixteen hours, the whole Dan situation seemed to have been dropped. I still felt guilty for the shitty way I’d handled it, but Sophie seemed to have forgiven me. I guess having her crazy Dad possibly back in the picture made her realize that in the end, I had been a douche, but it wasn’t anywhere near the worst thing in the world.
“Where do you want this?” I asked, setting the box down for a moment as I waited for her to emerge from the closet where she’d been unpacking her clothes.
“Just anywhere is fine for now,” she said, coming out with an incredulous expression on her face. “That closet is bigger than my entire room at home.”
I grinned. “Yeah, there are some perks to having a rich Dad.”
Her surprised expression faded into a grimace at the mention of the word ‘Dad’, and I mumbled an apology and picked the box back up. It was filled with notebooks and paper, so I assumed it belonged somewhere near her desk.
“Hey, what’s this?” I asked, picking up a sheaf of papers that had been sitting at the top. They were stapled together, and there was a printed title on it that said ‘Forbidden Steps’. Her eyes widened as she snatched it out of my hand.
“Don’t touch that!” she said.
“Why?” I asked, arching a brow. “Have you written bitchy things about me in there or something?”
She blushed. “No. It’s just an early draft I printed of a story I’m writing. It has nothing to do with you.”
“I didn’t know you wrote stories.”
She looked down at the floor. “Um…yeah, I do. It’s just a hobby.”
Judging by the amount of papers with scrawled writing on them in the box, it was a lot more than a hobby, but I didn’t say anything else about it.
“Right. Let’s go grab some lunch.”
“I’m not hungry.”
“Well, too bad, you need to eat,” I said. I knew she was lying. She was always hungry when she was frightened, and with everything that was going on, she was scared out of her mind. She just wanted to hole herself up in her room right now, but I wasn’t going to let her do that.
“C’mon,” I said, grabbing her hand. “I’ll make you some popcorn with powdered sugar on top….”
She gave me a watery smile. “Fine.”
“I knew you wouldn’t say no to that,” I said with a grin. “All right, I’ll show you the kitchen first, and then we’ll eat.”
My phone buzzed in my pocket as we headed downstairs, and I checked the caller ID. It was Caleb. I ignored it for now. He’d been texting and calling a lot lately, checking up on the ridiculous dare he’d made, and I couldn’t be fucked explaining that it was off. I didn’t give a shit about winning his Phantom, even if it was an awesome car that I couldn’t otherwise get my hands on. What I actually cared about was Sophie.
We spent the rest of the day hanging out in the house and watching old movies in the cinema room. I made sure to pick all the ones she’d always insisted on watching over and over again when we were kids, and she rolled her eyes as I put on Roman Holiday.
“Seriously? You want to watch this?” she asked.
“Hey, I never wanted to when we were kids, but you forced me to watch it with you so many times that I can’t help but like it now,” I said with a wink.
She smiled, and it was good to see her finally relaxing a bit. I think she finally knew how safe she was here. No one could touch her as long as she stayed within my sight.
My Dad came and found us at eight.
By the early afternoon, I was moving the last box of stuff into Sophie’s new bedroom, right across the hall from my own. With all the drama in the last sixteen hours, the whole Dan situation seemed to have been dropped. I still felt guilty for the shitty way I’d handled it, but Sophie seemed to have forgiven me. I guess having her crazy Dad possibly back in the picture made her realize that in the end, I had been a douche, but it wasn’t anywhere near the worst thing in the world.
“Where do you want this?” I asked, setting the box down for a moment as I waited for her to emerge from the closet where she’d been unpacking her clothes.
“Just anywhere is fine for now,” she said, coming out with an incredulous expression on her face. “That closet is bigger than my entire room at home.”
I grinned. “Yeah, there are some perks to having a rich Dad.”
Her surprised expression faded into a grimace at the mention of the word ‘Dad’, and I mumbled an apology and picked the box back up. It was filled with notebooks and paper, so I assumed it belonged somewhere near her desk.
“Hey, what’s this?” I asked, picking up a sheaf of papers that had been sitting at the top. They were stapled together, and there was a printed title on it that said ‘Forbidden Steps’. Her eyes widened as she snatched it out of my hand.
“Don’t touch that!” she said.
“Why?” I asked, arching a brow. “Have you written bitchy things about me in there or something?”
She blushed. “No. It’s just an early draft I printed of a story I’m writing. It has nothing to do with you.”
“I didn’t know you wrote stories.”
She looked down at the floor. “Um…yeah, I do. It’s just a hobby.”
Judging by the amount of papers with scrawled writing on them in the box, it was a lot more than a hobby, but I didn’t say anything else about it.
“Right. Let’s go grab some lunch.”
“I’m not hungry.”
“Well, too bad, you need to eat,” I said. I knew she was lying. She was always hungry when she was frightened, and with everything that was going on, she was scared out of her mind. She just wanted to hole herself up in her room right now, but I wasn’t going to let her do that.
“C’mon,” I said, grabbing her hand. “I’ll make you some popcorn with powdered sugar on top….”
She gave me a watery smile. “Fine.”
“I knew you wouldn’t say no to that,” I said with a grin. “All right, I’ll show you the kitchen first, and then we’ll eat.”
My phone buzzed in my pocket as we headed downstairs, and I checked the caller ID. It was Caleb. I ignored it for now. He’d been texting and calling a lot lately, checking up on the ridiculous dare he’d made, and I couldn’t be fucked explaining that it was off. I didn’t give a shit about winning his Phantom, even if it was an awesome car that I couldn’t otherwise get my hands on. What I actually cared about was Sophie.
We spent the rest of the day hanging out in the house and watching old movies in the cinema room. I made sure to pick all the ones she’d always insisted on watching over and over again when we were kids, and she rolled her eyes as I put on Roman Holiday.
“Seriously? You want to watch this?” she asked.
“Hey, I never wanted to when we were kids, but you forced me to watch it with you so many times that I can’t help but like it now,” I said with a wink.
She smiled, and it was good to see her finally relaxing a bit. I think she finally knew how safe she was here. No one could touch her as long as she stayed within my sight.
My Dad came and found us at eight.
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