Canvas & Keys

1. Don't Mess With Me When I'm Pissed

"I said I'm fine."

She sighed, though I knew this wasn't the end. "I'm going to bring you up some dinner in a little while," she said, and then looked over at the barely eaten plate of lunch she'd brought up before. "I might have to force-feed it to you, though, judging by how much you ate earlier."

"Not hungry."

"Not asking."

***

Emmy kept true to her word about practically force-feeding me. She kept the plate in her hand as she sat beside me on the armrest, making sure I ate every bite she handed to me. Even when I refused as my stomach felt like it was about to bust, she stuck the loaded up fork in my mouth. It was hard not to shove her off the side of the chair, but her baby belly was the only thing stopping me. She should have been the one to be eating all the food, being almost seven months pregnant.

Just as the sun was setting, I was somewhere in between sleep and awake. And in that time, someone else came into the room, someone I'd barely spent any time with over the past two weeks because I was too busy watching over Ash and plotting my revenge.

When I opened my eyes, Drake was sitting on the floor, leaning back against the bed as he watched me. I was curled up in the chair, my knees up and my head leaned back. When I moved, I had to pause to stretch out the crick in my neck and back.

"Hey," I said hoarsely. "What are you doing?"

"Watching you," he smiled slightly.

"Creep," I snorted.

"Well, when it's the first time I've seen you sleep in the last two weeks, it's kind of fascinating."

"But you've barely seen me in two weeks."

"And whose fault is that?"

I grimaced, looking away from him.

It was my fault we'd barely seen each other in two weeks. I mostly wanted to be alone with Ash and those first few days, I made sure everyone knew it. I'll admit it was definitely childish of me to scream at anyone who even got close to her. I thought every touch was going to hurt her even more, which made me freak. It finally took a stern talking to by Emmy to make me see straight again, but even after, Drake kept his distance.

So, in other words, this was the first time we'd been alone since the kiss by the pool that changed everything.

Well, the kiss I thought changed everything. But since I hadn't talked to him...well, I really didn't know where we were now.

Drake was still watching closely. "How's she doing?"

"The same," I said after clearing my throat. "Nothing's changed. Violet and Theo both said they don't know why she's out or when she'll wake up. I'm just...I'm really worried about her. I'm worried about all of them...and everything that's happened over the past two weeks...and the week before that..."

He reached forward with one hand and I took it in mine, holding it in my lap.

"Have you guys found anything?" I asked hopefully, wanting something to have changed in the past two hours. "John told me they've kept watch over a few groups, but Vince..."

But he shook his head. "Nothing. He's completely disappeared. This has happened once before, but we had Flannery keeping tabs..."

"Flannery," I grimaced. "Yeah, how are you feeling about her right now, huh?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Have you talked to her recently?"