Because of Them

Chapter 12

Winnie woke up feeling like she was between two brick walls. She was still curled into Lex, but Wilder was at her back.

Wilder and Christian. She lifted her head, finding Christian crammed up next to Lex. He was mostly hanging off the bed, so was Wilder, but she was so relieved they were home and next to her.

Wilder was awake, watching her, and she pulled free from Lex so she could look at him. Something wasn't right.

She ran her hand along his face. He looked so devastated that her heart broke.

"What happened?" she whispered.

Lex pushed himself up with a yawn, blinking at them. He pulled Christian over his lap so he was no longer hanging off of the bed. Christian was still sound asleep.

Wilder sat up, placing her between his legs.

"I snuck in," Wilder said.

"You snuck in?" Lex repeated, processing the words. "You mean the place where Win-"

"Yes," he cut him off. "It was so awful. I had to pretend to be like them."

Winnie cooed, keeping a soothing hand running along his skin. "Why would you do that? You could've been hurt."

"We want this stopped for good. There were others," he added solemnly. He ran his hand along Winnie's back.

Lex cursed.

"I was kept separate most of the time, so I wasn't sure," she muttered.

Wilder treaded cautiously, pushing a bit. "I heard you were the boss' favorite. Do you know who that is?"

Winnie paled. It hurt to think.

"Wilder, she had a really bad panic attack," Lex told him softly.

"I'm okay," Winnie said. She was okay. She just needed all of them with her for her to be okay.

Wilder brought his legs up and she leaned back against them.

"Everyone called him boss or sir," she said. "but I remember once, someone slipped up and called him Tom."

"Thank you for remembering, baby," Wilder said, bending his head. His lips grazed her cheek and her breath caught.

She felt like she was seeing them clearly for the first time since she met them. She felt like she had been cleansed, rid of her horrific past and leaving love and warmth.

"You had a panic attack?" he asked.

Christian woke up, blinking sleepily. He yawned.

"Who had a panic attack?" he mumbled, moving away from Lex and towards the center of the bed towards Winnie. He pressed his hand on your face, making her look at him. "What happened?"

"I was overwhelmed from telling you everything, and-" she stopped herself. She didn't want them to blame themselves.

"And?" Wilder pushed.

She shook her head, "Nothing."

"Don't start that with me," Christian said firmly, his voice deep and rough from sleep. She tried not squirm since she was sitting on Wilder.

"She was worried about you all," Lex finished.

Winnie huffed in frustration. "I was upset, and I had every reason to be considering you snuck into that place. You could have been killed. What were you thinking?"

She turned to Christian. "And you. Did you think that was a good idea? I thought you were in charge. I bet you encouraged him, didn't you?"

She took a deep breath.

"Is that everything?" Christian asked.

She nodded.

Lex gave a soft laugh, leaning against the headboard.

"It was stupid," Christian said. "but we needed to know what we were getting into and how we should prepare."

"I could've taken them all out," Wilder muttered.

"You could have, but we wouldn't have the ringleader, and he would probably go off and do this again somewhere else."

"Do you have a plan?" Lex asked.

"Yes. We have a meeting before training bright and early tomorrow," Wilder said. "Winnie you cannot leave any one of our sights until this is resolved. Do you understand?"

"Yes." She wouldn't want to anyway.

"Good," Christian said, trying to stretch. "We need a bigger bed."

"I don't even think I was on the bed most of the night," Wilder added.

"I slept so much better when I felt you all get in though," Lex said. "I'm so glad you are safe."