Lawless

Chapter ThirtySix

Sure enough Sage keeps his word. At 10.50pm he came to let me know he was leaving, with instructions to stay in the bedroom and that he would be back by morning.

And at 11 o'clock I watch them leave in the Jeep from the bedroom balcony. The windows of the Jeep are blacked out, making it impossible to see through but I know from the way my body reacts that Sage could see me.

It had been two hours since they left and I had been in the bedroom the entire time, Ivy hadn't even knocked on my door and I had suspicions that she had also been told to stay in her room by either Serge or Gunner.

It's just past one in the morning and almost everyone in the house is asleep except for the occasional footsteps of guards walking around on the floorboards downstairs.

I lie in bed, Sage's side cold and empty. The balcony doors remain open as the breeze gently fills the room, the moonlight making the white curtains glow in the dark.

I hear what I first think to be leaves on the trees rustling but listening closely it becomes apparent that the noise is the sound of whispering, just below the balcony.

I crawl out of bed and tip toe to the open doors, leaning slightly over as I try to be as quiet as possible.

I can't see anything clearly in the darkness, only the glint of patches on a jacket that the guards wear. My heart rate calms knowing that it's just the guards discussing something as I make my way back to bed.

I close the open balcony doors behind me; the cool night air feeling a little too cold while Sage is gone.

*

The sound of a vehicle driving up the gravel driveway awakens me. The sun is still down as I look at the bedside table that holds the alarm clock, it reads 3.34am. Sage shouldn't be back yet, it's only been just over four hours since they left.

I sit up as the headlights light up my room. I stand up and walk towards the balcony doors. I'm only dressed in a shirt and underwear as I try and peak around the curtains of the window as to not flash anyone but I'm unable to see anything except for the blurry imagine of the car and people gathered around as the fog from the cold fogs up the windows.

I turn around to find pants as I see the silhouettes walk up the steps to the front door.

I pause briefly, one leg in and one out of a pair of Sage's track pants that I managed to find as I faintly hear the sound of a knock on the front door.

I listen quietly; my eyebrows pull together in confusion. If it is Sage or any of the guys he left with, they'd just walk in rather than knocking.

The faint sounds of boots slapping the floor is heard leading to the front door, I hear them clear their throat before the door is pulled open.

A manly shout is heard before it's cut off by a loud bang. My hands automatically fly up to cover my ears as they ring. The walls of the house shake with the vibration. I hurriedly pull my pants on the rest of the way just as I hear footsteps coming to the door of Sage's bedroom.

I dive across the room to the bedside drawer that holds the gun Sage had stored away for me. The door handles jiggle frantically on the other side as I grab a hold of the gun, my hands shaking.

I point the gun at the door and hope that the safety is off.

"Dove!" I hear a whisper-yell through the door; I lower the gun at the female voice and take a steady step closer.

"Dove, it's me!" my body snaps out of the fear once it registers Ivy's voice. I run over to the door and unlock it as she barges into the room.

I catch a glimpse of a man rounding the corner of the stairs looking the opposite direction of Sage's bedroom before Ivy closes the door as quietly as possible. I'd never seen him before and he wasn't dressed in the usual Lawless guard uniform.