𝑆𝑡𝑎𝑟-𝑐𝑟𝑜𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑑

Truth

This chapter takes place four weeks before the previous chapter and three weeks before Abby's birthday.

Rafe's POV

She sleeps so soundly in my arms. Her forehead pressed against my chest. Her raven hair falling messily over her face. She's so beautiful. I gently glide my finger over her face, pushing her hair out of it so that I can see her face. Her long black eyelashes contrast so beautifully with her snow-white skin. Her lips look as soft as clouds like always.

Her chest softly lifts and falls against me as she sleeps. By the look of the smile slowly stretching its way on her beautiful face, I think she's having a dream. Not a nightmare. A dream. She's been having less nightmares from her past traumas as the days progress. She hasn't had one in a week. A full week of sleeping in peace, not plagued by the horrors of her past.

It's hard to understand how such an innocent-looking girl could have gone through so much. So much pain. So much torture. I would have never guessed how strong she was when I first knew her. When I first met her, I thought she was a teenage girl who didn't know how to shut her mouth. I had no idea how completely and utterly wrong I was.

How she survived through all of what she went through is beyond me. I barely got through my father's death, and she survived all that she did without becoming completely numb to the world.

She stirs a bit in her sleep, a little noise escaping her mouth. I smile down at her and bring my hand back to her face, stroking her cheek. Loki rests at the foot of the bed, his tail slowly wagging back and forth. I carefully reach my other arm to pet him, and he allows it. Her cats stay sleeping right next to Loki, leaving nearly no room for me or her. I told her to kick those things out days ago, but she refused and instead, kicked me out of her room that night.

Pansy, who was raiding Abby's fridge like she does every night, laughed it up when she saw me walking to the guest room half-naked, with nothing but a pillow in my hand and scowl on my face.

Thinking about Pansy makes my eyes narrow. I still don't trust her. She was Kai's sister after all. There's no way she doesn't hold some hate or anger in her heart for Abby for killing Kai even if she doesn't know she does. But Abby trusts her. Because of that, I won't try to get rid of her, but I'll be damned if I trust her.

My phone buzzes on the nightstand and I carefully reach behind me to grab it. I turn it on and quickly turn the brightness down so Abby doesn't wake from the bright light shining from my phone. I glance at Abby to make sure she is still soundly asleep before looking back at my I-phone. On it, I see dozens of notifications from Rose. 84 texts, 35 calls, and 23 voicemails to be exact. There's a few calls and texts from Wheezie as well.

I roll my eyes and carefully place a kiss on Abby's forehead before slowly getting out of bed, walking out of her bedroom. I close the door behind me and walk into the living room which is thankfully vacant. Though it's 2 am, I'm sure Rose will be up. She texted me just now.

I click the call button on Rose's contact and press my I-phone to my ear. The phone rings for about three seconds before Rose answers it. "Where the hell have you been!?" she yells into the phone. I rub my forehead with my thumb and forefinger, the shrill of her voice beginning to cause a migraine. I haven't answered anyone or really even been on my phone since I came here and killed Kai. "At a friends'. I'm not dead. Relax," I answer.

"Relax? I've been trying to reach you for days and you are nowhere to be found! Not at Barry's, not at Topper's, not at Kelce's, not at the country club, nowhere!"

I roll my eyes. "I've been gone for weeks at a time, Rose. Calm down. You aren't my mother."

She scoffs into the phone. "Get home now. There's something I need to tell you." I sigh. Let me guess, she still hasn't found the gold. I don't even care about that anymore. I have Abby. And I might have Sarah too.