Miserably Delightful

chapter 27

Two weeks of being holed up in Victor's giant mansion, and I felt like I was getting cabin fever. The boys did their best to keep me entertained, but it was hard when the list of things I could actually do was short. With a busted head and a psycho obsessed with me, there was a limited amount of activities I could participate in.

By day fifteen, I was mostly unpleasurable to be around, irritable and restless. Anyone could notice that I was unhappy and paranoid, but they weren't sure how to tackle it. I wasn't asking for much, really, just a couple hours out of the house to get some fresh air and pretend like we were normal, even though nothing about our situation was.

"Pookie," Sean's voice drifted to my ears from where I was sprawled out on Victor's balcony, getting some fresh air that I was sorely lacking from being cooped up.

I sat up and smiled, gesturing for him to come join me. He returned the smile, taking a seat beside me and tilting his head back to look at the dark clouds that were forming, indicating that there would be rain later in the day. My eyes fluttered, enjoying the peace and quiet as well as Sean's company.

After a few moments, Sean spoke, "We know that you're on the verge of killing one of us and that you feel really restless lately, and we talked about it. Since nothing has really happened, we thought it might be okay for us to go out to dinner and for you to spend the night at the Taylor Compound. As long as you want to, that is."

I jolted into a sitting position, staring at him, wide eyed, half-expecting him to tell me that he was joking. But he wasn't. He was staring at me, waiting for an answer. A broken squeal tore from my throat, and I threw myself at him, hugging him as tight as I could. He chuckled, wrapping his arms around me and returning the hug.

"You're welcome, pumpkin," he said, pecking my lips quickly before releasing me and allowing me to stand. "We leave in an hour, so be ready, okay?"

I nodded exuberantly, unable to stop smiling. He could have told me to eat his cooking in that moment, and I would have done it because I was so inexplicably happy to get out of the house and spend some time with my boys. Not to mention, I couldn't remember the last time I had saw Uncle, and if I got to spend the night at the Taylor's it meant I got to see him too.

I was practically bouncing up and down from my excitement.

An hour later, I was standing in the driveway, impatiently waiting for Victor, Owen, and Nathan. I almost pounced on Nathan when he exited the door, gripping onto his arm, grinning widely. He burst into laughter at my expression, and pulled me against his side, rubbing my back in an attempt to calm me down.

"You're like a puppy," Victor said as he came outside, smiling and shaking his head me.

"Where are we going to eat? Wait! It doesn't even matter! I'm so happy!" I exclaimed, squirming in Nathan's grip as he tried to keep me still. I flashed back to North's birthday and my smile widened, this moment reminding me of then. I didn't think I would forget either of the memories, and especially not how happy the boys made me in each of them.

"Vic, you can take her," North said, leaning against his Jeep as he observed me with amusement. "She's worse than Luke when he's hopped up on sugar. In fact, you can take Luke too."

Victor rolled his eyes. "Whatever. It'll be my pleasure to take her in my car." He opened the passenger door and gestured for me to get in. "Come on, princess. Let's get going before you drive everyone insane."

The drive was relatively short, though Luke, Gabriel, and Victor had to deal with me bouncing in my seat and questioning where we were going the entire time, so to them it may have seemed longer. I was squirming and pressing my nose against the window, attempting to figure out if I was familiar with the area we were in.