"What are we doing here?" I asked and looked over at him with tears in my eyes. "You said you wanted to go home, so I took you home." Colby said as he reached for the door handle.
"Colby." I said then sniffled. "Yes, love?" He asked and looked over at me. "You didn't have to do this." I said as he nodded.
"I know. Now come on, I wanna see your house." He said then got out of the car.
I couldn't help but feel the excitement coursing through my veins as I got out of the car. It had been such a long time since I have been here and there were nerves surrounding that fact.
I knew people I didn't know were in my house while I was away. The same guys who had taken me and ripped my life apart.
The fact they were here, learning everything about me made my stomach churn.
"You okay?" Colby asked as he grabbed my hands holding it tightly.
"They were here. How do you know it's safe to be here?" I asked as he led the way towards the front door. "You trust me, right?" He asked as I nodded.
"With my life." I said causing him to grin. "Then just trust me on this one." He said then gestured to the door.
"Uh...fuck. I don't have my keys." I said causing him to purse his lips. "Okay, I'll just break in. No biggie." He said then knelt down and started picking the lock.
"You're hot as fuck." I said causing him to chuckle and look up at me.
"Me breaking into your house is hot? Now I know that you're broken." He said then winked and opened the front door.
"Welcome to my home." I said and looked around the room. It was almost eerie, seeing this place look exactly how it looked when I left it.
I didn't even have a chance to grab anything before leaving for so long.
If only I knew the whirlwind of a journey I would be going on for the next couple months.
"This place is nice." Colby said as I nodded. "Simple. Just the way I like it." I said and looked around.
"Give me a tour." Colby prompted, gesturing around the room. "Okay, uh...well this is the living room." I said and started walking towards the kitchen.
"The kitchen...which isn't anything special." I said with a shrug. "I think those cookies are probably bad." He said and pointed to the container of moldy cookies that were made months ago.
"That's pretty safe to say." I said with a laugh then continued walking.
"Theres a bathroom over there and a little patio through those doors." I said with a shrug.
"Very nice." Colby hummed as we walked towards the stairs. "This is my room." I said and opened the door to reveal the messy room.
It was kinda sad seeing my school supplies scattered around the room.
I wanted to finish school but obviously fell off the face of the earth for a while. Sure, I could go back but it seemed like a waste of time.
Life was never going to be normal for me again.
"Don't be sad, Jules."Colby said and wrapped his arms around me.
"I'm not sad, it's just weird being here. I miss how simple life was when I was here." I said with a sigh then looked up at him.
"It was a sad time in my life, but I don't know. Independence is so beautiful and you don't realize it until it's gone." I said as he leaned down and kissed my head.
"I know. One day things will be different." He said as I nodded.
"Let's finish this tour." I said then took his hand and led him out of the room.
"This was Juniper's room." I said, pointing to the room next to mine. I didn't want to go in there because I didn't want to be reminded of the siblings that were in constant hell.
The siblings that I couldn't ever talk to.
"That's Carter's room." I mumbled, pointing to his room. "I like that you got them a house with enough bedrooms for each of them." Colby said as I nodded.
"They haven't had much their whole lives. It was the least I could do." I said then sniffled. "Jenna's room...Sam's room." I said and pointed to their respective rooms.
"Bathroom over there." I said, feeling my mood deteriorate very quickly.
"Where's my room?" Colby asked causing me to laugh. "You don't have a room." I said as he grinned and wrapped his arms around my waist.
"Guess I'll just have to stay in your room then." He said then pressed his lips to mine.
I kissed him back, wrapping my arms around his neck and lacing my fingers through his hair.
I loved how gentle Colby was being.
He has been so tense lately, hardly even talking to me after work.
Seeing him be so soft made me unbelievably happy.
We kissed for a second before I heard a small giggle behind one of the doors that were in the hallway.
"What was that?" I asked with confusion as I pulled away from Colby. "What was what?" Colby asked with confusion. "I heard a laugh." I said and looked around as another giggle sounded.
"That! What was that?" I asked as Colby shrugged. "I don't hear anything." He said simply as I pulled away completely from him.
"I swear I heard something." I said then started opening the doors to each of the kids' bedrooms.
There was nobody in any of their rooms until I opened Sam's door, revealing my four siblings.
"What the fuck?" I asked with wide eyes as Juniper let out a sweet laugh. "No swearing, Jule." Sam said as tears pricked my eyes.
"I....uh...oh." I said and stepped back, my hands trembling. "Are you gonna just stand there or can we have a hug?" Jenna asked with a grin. I started to cry as I ran up to them, pulling them all into my embrace.
"I missed you. God, I missed you so much." I whispered, hugging them tightly.
"Sissy, I can't breathe!" Juniper squealed. "I'm sorry." I said and pulled away from them.
"I wasn't sure you would be surprised." Carter said as I shook my head. "You have no idea how surprised I am." I said then looked at Colby.
He was leaning against the door frame with a small grin on his face.
The amount of love that was in his eyes was enough that it could send me to my knees.
"Thank you." I whispered as he nodded and took a step back. "Have some time." He said then closed the door, leaving me with just my siblings.
"What are you guys doing here?" I asked and looked at all of them in shock.
"Colby got mom arrested." Jenna said causing my jaw to drop.
"Whaaaat?" I breathed out in shock. "Yeah! I like him." Juniper said as I hiked her onto my hip. "Yeah?" I asked as she nodded.
"I thought he dumped you?" Carter asked and raised his brows.
"Things change." I said with a shrug. "Is dad really alive?" Sam asked, causing my face to fall.
"No." I said simply, trying to not let my emotions take over.
They didn't know how horrible of a man our father was.
They didn't know that he sold my body and abused me.
They would never know.
"Are we gonna be living here again, sissy?" Juniper asked as I shrugged. "I don't know. I don't know what we're doing because I didn't even know you were here." I said then scrunched my brow.
"Wait. Who brought you here?" I asked with confusion.
"Mr. Jeremy." Carter said as I nodded. "And have you been hanging out with Mr. Jeremy?" I asked and tilted my head to the side.
"Noooo. We've been hanging out with Colbyyy." Juniper sang as I nodded. "Right. I need to go talk to him, then how about we take you guys out to dinner?" I asked and set Juniper on her feet.
"Really?" Sam asked with amazement as I nodded. "Yeah, kid. Whatever you want."I said then turned and left the room.
I walked down the hallway and towards my bedroom. When I walked into the room Colby was sitting on my bed, looking at his phone.
"I can't believe you." I said and walked over to sit on his lap. "Now do you understand why I was pulling away so much?" He asked as I nodded.
"How did you do it?" I asked as he shrugged. "I know a guy." He said nonchalantly.
"And that is?" I prompted. "Oh, ya know. The Governor." He said as I hummed. "And he let a crime lord convince him to send my mother to prison so that he could steal her kids." I said as he shrugged.
"Something like that." He said with a laugh then looked at me. "What does this mean though? Are they in danger?" I asked as Colby shook his head.
"Don't worry about that right now. Tonight is about you and them reuniting." He said then brought his hand to my cheek.
"I love you." I said as he grinned. "I love you, too." He said then leaned in and kissed me.
I couldn't believe he would do something like this for me. Sure, I was still very confused and honestly didn't see this coming at all.
It made me so happy that I was almost afraid that I was dreaming and that I would wake up soon to be brought back into the nightmare that's been my life lately.