“She has a fever,” Julia tells him.
“Fuck.” Ethan crosses the small room and sits on the bed, taking me into his arms. “You’re burning up, babe.”
“I feel a little crummy.” I clean my throat and take the blanket from him, wrapping it around my shoulders. “I’ll be fine, though.”
“You said that in November and ended up with bronchitis,” Ethan counters. “I need to find you meds.”
“I’ll check and see if the on-staff nurse is here,” Julia offers.
Ethan lays down, bringing me with him. I rest my head on his chest and don’t give a fuck if he’s not supposed to be here with me or not. He’s my rock, my comfort, my everything. Call me selfish, but I want him here with me right now.
Only a few minutes later, I sit up, coughing up phlegm from inside my lungs. “Gross,” I groan and reach for my purse on the ground, pulling out the water bottle I stashed inside from earlier.
“You look so pathetic and human right now,” Stephanie comments as I recap my water bottle.
“It’s because I am,” I press, though judging by the look on Stephanie’s face, she doesn’t agree with me.
Not one bit.
Chapter
Thirteen
“Ethan.”
My eyes flutter open only to shut again. Groaning, I snuggle closer to Ethan, taking comfort in his strong arms around me.
“Ethan,” someone whispers again, and this time, my boyfriend sits up.
“What?” he replies, annoyed that someone woke him up as well.
“You should go. It’s three AM.”
“No,” he tells whoever is talking to him. “I’m staying.”
“It’s four hours past curfew,” Sam whispers back. “You shouldn’t be here.”
“Exactly. And four hours ago, it was noticed I was missing. Not hard to figure out where I’d go.”
“You’re in a room full of women.”
“Two of which are my sisters. Be quiet before you wake up Anora. She needs to rest.”
I hadn’t even realized I’d fallen asleep, though I’m not surprised. I passed out not long after Ethan laid down with me, covering me with the extra blanket. And in the back of my mind it hits me that we have a curfew even though we’re grown ass adults who came here somewhat voluntarily.
“If you get put on probation again, don’t act surprised.”
“I wouldn’t fucking care,” Ethan says.
A few minutes pass and I’m almost asleep again when Sam speaks. “You really wouldn’t care?”
“No,” Ethan tells her. “And you shouldn’t either.”
“But…what will you do? Bum off Anora’s inheritance?”
“Of course not. I might already have a few things lined up.”
My heart swells in my chest and I can hear Sam shifting around in the bed above us. “Like what?”
“Let’s talk in the morning,” Ethan replies and hooks his leg over me. This time I do fall asleep, not waking until an alarm plays over a loudspeaker at six AM. Groggily, both Ethan and I slowly sit up.
“I’m gonna go back to my room and change,” he tells me with a kiss. “I’ll see you at breakfast and then we’re getting out of here. You need to go home and rest.”
“Can we leave?” I ask and start coughing.
“We’re not prisoners. They can say we need to stay all they want but they cannot force us .”
Still coughing, I nod and hope it really will be as easy as Ethan is making it seem. Even if we do just walk right out of here, there will be repercussions, that’s for sure.
“You sound terrible,” Julia says with concern. “I was able to find some Advil, but that’s the best I could do.”
“Thanks.” I stand, finding a medicine cup with two pills in it on the nightstand between the bunks. I pop them both in my mouth and wash it down with water. Ethan slips out the door and I get dressed in my clothes from yesterday before going down the hall to use the bathroom.
This place is so vastly different than the Covenstead for obvious reasons, I know. The Covenstead is over a hundred years old, rich in the architecture of the time where this place is stark and modern. The vibe is totally different, and one could say I’m biased. I also do not like the way this place is run like a business. Kill demons, but only if the demon issue is causing someone problems and they’re willing to pay. If there’s no direct payoff, the Order won’t take on the issue.
“When does everyone get to leave?” I ask when I get back to the room. Everyone else is up and dressed, and I go to my purse, looking for a hair tie so I can pull my messy, unbrushed hair into a bun.
“When we come up with a plan the administration approves of,” Stephanie answers.
“H ow long will that take?” I turn my head, coughing into my elbow again. “And what if they don’t approve anything?”
“It’ll take as long as it needs to take. If they don’t approve, then it means we didn’t come up with a good enough plan.”