Echo

8. Awake

A couple of days later, Malax comes to visit. We sit on the couch in the sitting room. He looks like hell.

"Hard day?"

"Hard week."

"I'm sorry."

"I want you to come back."

"I still can't stay awake. I don't know if daddy will let me. I don't even know if I want to. I tried working for a week. Not sure how much more of this experience I can take."

"I shouldn't have made you be there. You tried to say no. Then I didn't even check the people that I hired. I checked the company but not the people. You were supposed to be safe."

"It's not your fault. Things seem to just happen." I lay my head on his shoulder. "I'm sorry I ruined your party."

He scoops me up and puts me on his lap. "None of it was your fault. You didn't ruin anything."

I relax and make shapes on his chest. "What happened? I don't even remember. Last thing I remember was Rye asking me how much I drank. I think he picked me up."

He relaxes and adjusts me. Then he lightly rubs my arm and sparks shoot up it. "The man making the drinks tried to run. I stopped him. Rye and I took you and Eriska to the hospital. We called your parents. Alder took over for the police. He released the footage and checked it. The guy got arrested. I knew you were going to be ok. That's all that mattered."

He hugs me and I yawn. He's so warm. I love this feeling. I love his arms. I try to cuddle, but I think I'm already asleep.

We jump when the door slams.

Eriska puts her hands on her hips. "It's been 5 hours. Did you sleep the whole time? Move over there. Your dad is going to be home any time. He will kill this man."

I move off him and stretch. "I'm awake."

"I have so many questions." She shakes her head. "But at least you're awake. Are you going to quit blaming yourselves for something a criminal did? The fault doesn't lie with either of you."

"I should have been running checks on everyone."

"Braxtin ran a check on the man. He was completely clean. Nobody will ever know how many times he got away with it before. You didn't miss anything. It wasn't your fault."

"Are you serious?"

"Yes. Braxtin was no doubt going to throw in your face. But his plan fell through. The man had no record at all. Completely clean."

I grab a pillow. "At least he's been caught now. Girls will be safer no matter where he's hired."

"Exactly. And honestly, Malax, you protected everyone in that room. Her mostly. But the rest of us, too. You dealt with everything and got her help. That's what matters." She pulls the pillow away from me. "The doctor says the drugs are out of your system. Get your ass up. You're done sleeping."

"I was enjoying the sleep though."

"Well, you were sleeping on a muscle man. I assume so. Up." She pulls me up.

I stretch and momma comes in. "Baby, you need to try to stay awake now. I did not realize you were still here, Malax."

"WHY IS THAT ASSHOLES CAR IN MY DRIVEWAY?"

I stretch again. "Daddy's home."

"Why are you here?"

"He wants me to come back to work, daddy."

"I don't know."

Eriska laughs. "He misses getting his own stuff."

"I guess you can go back. But no more parties. You can do half a day tomorrow, if you feel up to it."

"Thank you, daddy."

"Yea, he can go now." Daddy walks out grumbly.

Malax checks his phone. "Yea, I need to go." He stands up slowly and his back pops. Then he stretches it.

Momma shakes her head. "Did you fall asleep too?"

"Yea, he was sitting there sleeping. I slammed the door and woke them up."

"He did look rough when he got here."

Eriska nods. "They're better. It was a hard week."

"It was that. I need to finish dinner. It's in 5 minutes. Eriska, you can help me. Malax, you're staying. You have to eat anyway. Echo, stay awake. You are eating dinner in the dining room with everyone else."

Malax and I look at each other and plop back down. I stretch and he rubs his face. "When do you turn 18?"

"A month. Why?"

"Just wondering."

"GET OFF THE COUCH." Eriska puts her hands on her hips.

I hear momma laughing from the dining room. "TIME TO EAT."

Malax and I move to the dining room and sit in those chairs. He sits beside me. I stretch again and daddy walks in.

"BOY."

"Braxtin, sit down. I told him he's staying. He needs to eat and it's dinner time. You'll survive."

Daddy plops down in his spot at the end of the table and glares at Malax. He picks up his knife and holds it.

Eriska laughs. "I don't know if the place can hold any more tension."

Momma rolls her eyes and sits by daddy. "You are going to lose."

I shake my head. "Daddy can't lose."

The twins nod. "He wins everything."

Eriska smiles. "I don't think he knows how to lose."

"Well, it's coming."

"What?"

"You'll see, baby. Put down the knife."

Daddy drops the knife and sounds like he growls.

"Good speech Mr. Kinnik." Eriska stands up. "I would like to say, I am so happy you're awake. Please don't ever go unconscious again. I will die of boredom. I missed you all. Every single one of you. I also went to work this week because I was that bored."

"Wow, you were bored."

"I really was. Please don't do that again. I am so happy to be back. Thank you."

"Glad I could help."

Daddy laughs. "You girls."

Casdy jumps up. "We bought you some clothes, so now you can finally dress yourself."

We burst out laughing.

"Thank you, girls. I appreciate it."

Rune runs in yelling, "sissy."

I scoop him up and get a big hug. "You all know I was here, right?"

"You were sleeping."

The servant takes Rune and daddy smiles. "I don't want you driving to work tomorrow. You could fall asleep. Take the helicopter."

Malax shakes his head. "She could fall out."

"I'll drive you, sweetheart."

"Thank you, daddy."

Momma tries not to laugh. Then she signals for the food.

"We're going out tomorrow night. We haven't gone out in weeks." Eriska takes a bite. "I missed your cooking. This is amazing."

"Thank you, Eriska. We're glad you're back too. The house was so empty this week."

Malax shakes his head. "You can't go out tomorrow. Going to work for half a day would be enough. You're still not 100%."

Daddy nods. "Wait and see how tomorrow goes. Maybe on Saturday you can go to a movie or something."

"Daddy, we can take the suppra's. I'll be lying on the table. It'll be fine."

"Sweetheart, if you fall asleep. Your suppra will disconnect. Eriska will be carrying it home."

"I would never hear the end of that."

"I got a big trunk. It'll be fine."

We lose it.

Momma smiles. "We'll see how tomorrow goes. Then we can decide."

"Fine. But you're doing your half day of work from the pool. You can use the helicopter to get him his afternoon coffee."

Daddy rubs his face. "You're not using that for coffee runs."

"Let's play with the suppra's tonight. I miss them."

"What did we just say?"

"We'll stay here. I feel awake for the first time this week and I just woke up. If I fall asleep, we'll be here."

"I guess that's fine."

"Can I watch you switch to it? I've never seen it happen."

My mouth falls open and I stare at Malax.

"YES." Eriska runs around the table for him.

I pull him up and pull him 1 way. She pulls him the other way. The twins go under the table. 1 latches onto his leg. The other jumps on his back. Rune laughs so hard he screams.

"GIRLS SIT. We're eating first."

Momma smiles. "You excited them."

"I could tell."

We get seated again. "You don't have a suppra?"

"I have 500 now. But no. Not for me personally. I never really understood them. It wasn't until we came up with the idea to put them on Cru N that it clicked in my head. Other than that, I tried one once. Went to a bar. Couldn't taste anything."

"How did you try 1 but not own it?"

"I have the keys to wipe them, sweetheart. I can assign them to someone, then take it away. They wanted to test them for their missions. It's also helpful for people who don't want to pay."

"Yea, that would be helpful. Daddy, you're going to have to give him that key. Employees are going to quit and everything else."

"We have that worked out already."

"Did you take into consideration that they're going to be on Cru N?"

"Yes, sweetheart. You don't have to worry. Let's go down so he can watch this part."

I lay on the table and get sticky pads all over me. Then the tube in my mouth. I count backwards and step out of the box as the suppra.

Malax stares at me with his eyebrows up.

"Are you ok?"

"Sorry. Yes, I'm fine. It was fast. Hard to believe you're in there."

Eriska tackles me. "I'M HERE TOO." We get up and she brushes me off. "I forgot to step out of the box."

"Now I believe it."

Daddy laughs so hard. Then him and Malax go to his office.

Eriska and I spend the night giving our suppras make-overs and doing hair.