Chapter 26

“I want at least two guards with her at all times.” I heard a pause and a shuffling of feet. “I also want one of you guys with her at all times. This was too close for my liking. I just got my daughter and I’m not losing her again.” James, whose voice I recognized, cracked at the end. Who is he talking about? Who is after me? It can’t be him. No, it can’t be. I opened my eyes to see I am on one of the couches in the panic room. I quickly sat up, eager to find out what was happening. My vision blurred for a second before it evened out again. I turned my head to see James standing there with the triplets. Matthew, Ian, and Cameron’s heads whipped toward my sudden movements. James followed right after them.

“Good morning Sunshine,” James said while coming over to me. I said nothing as he sat down next to me. He sighed and looked at me. Nobody said a word. The tension in the room was growing thicker and thicker by the second.

“Did he find me?” I broke the silence with the unwanted question. His breath hitched. The triplets froze. It seemed that time had stopped. He cleared his throat and put an arm around me. The silence was my answer. “Oh no. No, no, no, no, no. This can’t be happening.” I broke down in tears. Sobs made their way out of my mouth. I collapsed onto James. My mind couldn’t think straight. I grabbed my hair in a tight fist.

“I won’t let anything-” I cut James off.

“I-I-I need Ethan. Oh no.” My sobs got stronger and they took my breath away.

“Someone get Ethan, now!” James's voice seemed to shake the room.

“I-I-I can’t go b-b-back to him.” I dropped from the couch onto my knees on the floor. I was choking on my tears at this point. I heard the door open and I turned to see who it was. Ethan’s familiar face came into view. I tried to crawl toward him but my sobs kept me from moving. He ran over to me and lifted me in his arms. “I-I-I can’t do t-t-this again.” He guided my head to his chest.

“Sh, Brianna, listen to my heartbeat. Feel my breaths. In and out. In and out.” I grabbed onto his shirt in my tight fists. I tried to match my breathing but my brain wouldn’t comprehend. My lungs begged for oxygen yet my brain wouldn’t let me listen. “Brianna, you need to try and calm down. You’re going to pass out.”

“I-I-I can’t. Help m-m-me.” He gasped and quickly stood up with me in his arms. He ran to his room and flung open his bathroom door. He sat me on the counter and rummaged through the drawers.

“Damn it! Where is it?” He continued to go through his drawers in search of something. “Here it is.” He grabbed the inhaler and shook it. He then placed it in my mouth. “Okay breath in on the count of three. One, two, three.” He pressed down and the medication filled my lungs. It got easier to breathe. “Okay, one more. One, two, three.” Once again the medicine-filled air invaded my lungs. My whole body relaxed as my breathing started to calm down. My body was slowly shutting down after my meltdown.

“H-H-He’s back.” Ethan tensed but calmed down when he started to rub my hair.

“I swear on everything that he will never lay a hand on a single hair on your head.” I leaned more into Ethan and let my body give in to the exhaustion. I had seemed to run out of tears at this point. I let myself stare into space. I heard someone walk in, but that was the last thing on my mind. I felt another hand on my back but I flinched away.

“Oh, sugar. It’s Dad. I’m here for you baby.” I slowly turned my head toward him.

“Oh, Papa.” I whimpered out. He brought me in his arms and held me. “I can’t do that again. I can’t go back to him.”

“Brianna Black, I promise you my life that you will never, and I mean never, go back to him.” I just nodded and closed my eyes. All of a sudden more sets of arms were around me. I quickly looked up to see all of the boys standing there.

“Y’all are ninja’s.” They all started to laugh. I cracked a small smile also. They all pulled back but I stayed in James’ arms. One by one they kissed my head and left Ethan’s bathroom. Ethan however stayed with us. I slowly slid off of the counter but didn’t leave his arms. He lifted me up and I stuck my head in his neck. He slowly started to walk out of the room and into the main room. All of the boys sat on the couches and the floor. The love seat was open, almost as if they knew we were coming. James sat down with me in his arms. I rested my head on his chest and listened to his heartbeat. Ethan sat next to us so I stuck my legs on him. He stuck his tongue out at me but I just smiled.

“What are we watching?” Ethan asked.

“I don’t know. John has the remote.” Trevor said with a sigh. Everyone groaned but James and me. He just chuckled but I was still confused.

“Can someone explain why that’s funny?” I asked with a pout on my face.

“John takes years to decide what movie or TV show to watch,” Brandon said with a sigh. John put his hand over his heart and acted hurt.

“Sorry I care about you guys and won’t let you watch garbage.”

“I beg to differ on that one.” Grayson shot back. The other nodded in agreement.

“Remember when he made us watch Finding Nemo,” Elli shouted out. I gasped and put a hand over my heart.

“That’s such a good movie!” John turned around so fast and gave me wide eyes.

“Finally someone who knows what a good movie is.” He spazzed out. I let out a little giggle and smiled at him. John turned around and tried to find something to watch. As the minutes went by, my patience was wearing thin.

“John!” I finally spoke up. He turned around fast and looked concerned.

“Are you okay?” He stood up and came over to me.

“Give me the remote.” He looked confused until I stole it from his grasp. Everyone broke out into a full-on laugh. He gave me a sad look and slowly went to sit back down. I quickly put on “The Emperor's New Groove”. Everyone cheered at my movie choice and seemed to have really liked my choice. I snuggled back into James and sighed. For those few hours, I forgot everything. I escaped from the world for just a few moments. As the movie ended, the world came back to me. I sighed and closed my eyes. I just don’t want to deal with anything for a while. I have to worry about chemo, him coming back for me, and also what my life has come to in the last few days. All of a sudden, James' phone started to ring. He grabbed it and answered it.

“Che Cosa,” He said with a hard tone. I flinched away from the sharpness. He looked down at me with soft eyes and smiled at me. I smiled back at him but got off of his lap. I walked over to the kitchen part and looked in the cabinet for something to eat. I found some goldfish and a soda and went to go into my room. Before I could leave, I was thrown over someone’s shoulder. I giggled and held on tight to my snacks.

“Put me down! My snacks!” I heard laughs around the room.

“Nope, I don’t think I will.” I heard Elli say as I dangle from his shoulders. He started to spin around and I flew with him. My giggles turn into full-blown laughs. All of a sudden, I hear Grayson’s voice shoot through my laughs.

“I’ll save you!” He grabbed me from Elli and swung me around also. I still was holding onto my snacks. John came over and grabbed me from Grayson.

“Stop! I’m not a football.” I yelled out. John stopped and set me down. I was so dizzy from them spinning me that I fell right down. Ethan came running over and checked me out.

“Are you okay? That was a hard fall.” I just smiled and nodded. I got up with the help of Ethan and wiped the dust off of me. I saw that James left. I walked over to one of the couches instead of my room. I grabbed the remote and went onto Netflix. I went onto Ethan’s account and put on “American Horror Story.” I was about to hit play but the remote was taken out of my hands and it was turned off.

“Hey!” I turned around to see Trevor, Jake, and Brandon standing there.

“You are not watching that show. It is not age-appropriate at all. It has violence and sex.” Trevor said while crossing his hands over his chest. The others had the same look on their faces. I pouted and crossed my arms over my chest.

“That’s not fair. This show is fine. I have watched it before. It isn’t bad.” They still didn’t move to give me the remote back.

“Trevor is right. You are not watching this. This talk is over so get over it.” Brandon said. I stood up and on the couch so we were at eye level.

“I will watch this show. I’ll just go into my room and watch it.” They smirked and just stood there. “What’s so funny?” I continued to pout while they laughed at me. “Fine, I’ll just call Dad.”

“Oh, please do that. I want to see how this goes down. He would never let you watch this in a million years.” Jakes said while continuing to smirk. I just frowned and plopped back down. They sighed and sat down next to me. Trevor was on my right side and Brandon was on my left. Jake sat on the left of Brandon. Trevor still had the remote and turned on some scary movie.