Devil's Desire [h.s.]

Chapter 26

a/n: muaha. does this count as a quadruple update today because i squeezed it in before midnight???

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Chapter 26

As promised, when Sunday rolled around, my mother, Austin, and the boys appeared in the front foyer with their bags packed.

For a few days, I worried she wouldn't follow through with her word. That she would double down, ignore everything we told her, and refuse to leave. All of this to say, I'd breathed out an audible sigh of relief at the sight of them all.

Everyone gathered to say goodbye to them—even Olivia—if only to try and calm down Ian and Brooks, who hadn't stopped crying since they'd been informed that they would be leaving. The boys were devastated. They wanted to stay, they begged Harry to come with them, they threw enough tantrums to rattle an army.

"Hey," I knelt to their level and rubbed my thumb under their eyes. Their small hands clutched the material of my sweatshirt. "It's okay. It isn't forever. We'll all see each other again, okay?"

This made Brooks cry harder. He threw his arms around my neck. "I just got a sister," he sobbed into my shoulder. "Why can't we stay just a bit longer? Don't you want us to stay?"

"I want you to stay," I said softly, pulling him away to look at me. "Of course I do. But we aren't even staying. We're—we're going back home—"

"We'll come with you," Ian cut in shrilly. "Please."

The smile that etched itself onto my face was sincere. I squeezed both of their shoulders. "I wish you could come with me," I said, "but you can't. And you do you know why that is?"

"Because you hate us," Brooks said through a breathy sob.

"No," I laughed, shaking my head. "Not because I hate you. It's because I have a special job for you."

This had both of the boys stilling. I could have sworn with almost complete confidence, had the room fallen silent, that I would have been able to hear the way their heartbeats sped up. They wiped away their tears as if under order and nodded, sniffling.

"A job?" Ian asked quietly.

"A job," I nodded.

Harry appeared at my side. I knew it was him without even looking—if only for what he set down beside me. I didn't glance in his direction—couldn't—but felt his knuckles graze my shoulder as he stepped back. If I saw his face, I would crumble.

"I need you to take care of Meatloaf for me," I managed to make myself say, and reached for where her carrier had appeared, gently setting it down in front of the boys. "Where I'm going," I went on, swallowing a lump in my throat, "I can't have her there. I want you to watch her for me until I can come back and get her. Can you do that for me?"

Ian and Brooks had already sunk to their knees, their fingers curling through the metal bars at the front of the carrier. Brooks reached for the latch release to open it, but I caught his wrist. This seemed to, just briefly, pull the boys back to reality. Neither of them were crying anymore.

"Yes," they spoke over each other, sniffling and nodding with the resoluteness of a soldier. "Yes, River, we will watch her. We'll take good care of her. We promise."

"Okay," I leaned forward to kiss the tops of both of their heads. "I'm trusting you. Go put her in the car."

They both jumped to their feet, circling the small foyer to give everyone one last hug, before running out the door. They had their backs to me as they left, meaning I didn't even get one last glimpse of my cat before she disappeared entirely.