Total pages in book: 149
Estimated words: 151384 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 757(@200wpm)___ 606(@250wpm)___ 505(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 151384 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 757(@200wpm)___ 606(@250wpm)___ 505(@300wpm)
She hoped she had.
Sampson stomped over to pick up the pill dispenser, opening it. Then he shot her a look.
Cupcakes!
“I’ve still got time to take them,” she said defensively.
Jenner held out his hand and Sampson handed him the pill box. Jenner had bought it for her to help her remember to take her medication and vitamins.
So helpful.
“Open,” he said.
“I can put them in my own mouth,” she protested as he held the pills to her mouth.
“Open,” he commanded.
Do not blush. Do not blush.
She opened her mouth and he placed the pills on her tongue. Then Sampson handed him a glass of water. The two of them could operate like clockwork sometimes.
Jenner held the glass to her mouth. She could definitely feel herself blushing. As he drew the glass away from her mouth, Sampson sent Jenner a look that she wasn’t able to decipher.
She chewed her vitamin gummies. They were way more fun to take than the medication that helped her stop getting so ill all the time.
“Right. Now that’s sorted, maybe you can tell us where you both went,” Jenner demanded.
“Like Immy said, we were out for a drink,” Isaiah repeated as he swallowed the last of his sandwich down.
Not only did he eat a lot, but he ate quickly.
Sometimes, Immy worried about why that was. At the Camp, none of them had had much. All the money people earned had been given to the Deity, leaving them without much to live on.
Oh, the idea was that they Deity would provide them with whatever they needed and that everyone would be free from monetary worries. That they would all be equal.
What a crock of bull hickey that was.
There had definitely been a hierarchy.
At the top was the Deity, of course. He’d never gone hungry or cold. Then the Sentinels. So Jenner and Sampson had always been well fed and had a nice house.
Abe and Maeve and Cat had lived with their moms. Their living conditions hadn’t been the best. Immy’s had been slightly better, but not much.
However, Isaiah’s dad had been close to becoming a Sentinel. He should have had things pretty good. But he hadn’t. There had never been enough food in the cupboards. She and the others had often snuck him food and a spare blanket.
Yeah, they all had leftover trauma from the cult.
She was still surprised that Isaiah was backing her up. Although he technically wasn’t lying.
They had been out. And she’d had a drink.
So she wasn’t lying because they’d be able to tell if she did that. She was just . . . skirting the truth.
“Why’d you go in separate vehicles?” Sampson asked.
“I met her out,” Isaiah said.
“Where were you?” Jenner asked. “Why go out now? It’s dinnertime and it was getting dark. You hate going out at night.”
She did. “On my own. But I wasn’t on my own. And there’s no need for all the questions. Don’t you guys trust us?”
“Of course we do,” Jenner said soothingly. “I was just worried about you.”
He wrapped his hands around her waist and lifted her down. Abe shot her a strange look. He probably knew there was something she wasn’t saying. But she didn’t want to tell him the truth. Or about what Lauren had said.
Lauren was right. Jenner did need someone different from her. Immy would rather sit at home with a fluffy blanket and a cup of cocoa than go out to a club or a charity gala or awards night.
She wasn’t glamorous or famous or beautiful.
She was just Immy and she wasn’t sure she could ever be anyone else.
5
Jenner stood outside Immy’s door.
He wasn’t an idiot.
He knew that she and Isaiah hadn’t been entirely truthful earlier about what they’d been doing.
It didn’t make sense for them to go separately when they both worked from home.
And Immy had seemed a bit off tonight. He’d had to remind her three times to eat. Which wasn’t totally unheard of. She could get distracted laughing and talking during mealtimes and completely forget to eat. Sometimes, he’d just grab her plate and fork and feed her between words.
But she’d been strangely quiet and reserved tonight. He’d also noticed the looks that both Abe and Isaiah had been giving her.
Yeah, he knew that he could sometimes zone out. Especially, when he was working on a song. But that didn’t mean he was always unobservant. And when he’d gotten home to find Immy gone, he’d been worried. It wasn’t like her to leave the house on her own.
He’d left her at home and he’d kind of expected her to be there when he returned.
And yeah, he realized that he sounded like an asshole.
Maybe he could make a rule that when she left the house, she had to text them where she was going, and then text again when she returned home.
Yeah, that didn’t sound too unreasonable, right?