Zared quickly walked to the door and slightly opened it. I went to go behind him to see it was both Rissa and Vi standing there. I smile when she catches my eye making him open the door all the way.

She quickly gives me a hug and asks, "How are you feeling? We heard about what happened out there." She lets me go, then we both walk into the room to sit on the edge of my bed.

I just shrug at her. "I'm okay, I guess with the nightmare I couldn't get much sleep, then everything that went down, I just needed some rest."

"Nightmare? What nightmare?" Zared quickly intervenes with furrowed brows as concern warred in his eyes.

He leaves Violet's side, who had been standing with him at the door still, holding onto his arm as if touching him was something she just had to do. I didn't want to get my feathers all riled up but seeing that made me a little irritated. But soon guilt swarms within me cause I knew her feelings for Zared even though she never acted on them, nor stated that she was going to.

So, I don't say anything. And I needed to have another little conversation with him before we both blurt out our relationship status to the rest of the group. We needed to put some ground rules first.

I quickly look away from them and back at Rissa only to become a little startled that she was staring right at me with such an intense stare that it made me swallow hard.

"W-What is it?" I ask a little hesitantly, afraid she was going to blurt out something I didn't want her too.

"What nightmare, Jinsen?" Zared pressed even more, sounding annoyed that I was trying to avoid his question.

I didn't want to replay those images again. Besides, I haven't told the others what my nightmare had been about, and the way Rissa was looking at me was only going to draw more attention to the two of us that I didn't need.

"Jinsen woke up screaming this morning, so we rushed in here to see he was still asleep thrashing about on his bed. He had a horrible nightmare about those things." Vi stated as she shivered at the mention of the creatures.

He swings his head back at me and his eyes were filled with worry and a little hurt. "Why didn't you tell me you had a nightmare like that?"

He immediately comes to kneel in front of me, grabbing my hands into his, not once looking at the other two. My heart melted at him being genuinely concerned and if he knew that the nightmare involved him who knows how he was going to react to that.

I squeeze his hands for a split second then released them from my grip, clearing my throat. He frowns at my action but doesn't say anything about it. Instead, he stands back up and takes a step back. I didn't like the movement, but I also didn't want to alert the other two about us just yet.

"You weren't here. Also, if you remember correctly, you ditched me this morning, so it completely flew from my mind in the condition that we found you guys. The nightmare was the least of my worries by that point."

His features flushed with shame remembering that and all I could do was deflate a little and give him a tiny smile to ease his guilt for leaving me in that state.

"We heard from Seth and Jacob. That poor girl. I wonder who she was." Vi speaks up, stepping a bit closer to Zared again looking a bit sad.

I wanted to roll my eyes at her theatrics. This wasn't the first time she acted like this with a boy she was trying to get to feel sorry for her. Or to get into his pants. And that thought instantly brought a scowl to my face.

He's mine now, sister. You had your chance, now it was too late, so you can fuck off and be a slut with some other dude.

Of course, I don't say any of that out loud, but I sure as hell wanted too damn it. I suddenly get pinched on the side of my leg, making me flinch. I stare at Rissa as she gives me a hard glare then shakes her head as if she knew.

I don't know what gave it away but this girl was definitely on to me.

I just clear my throat again and give a strain smile at the three of them. "Yes, it was sad." I say through my teeth and then the thought of the hardware building came to mind and I frown.

"Although, the one that we found..." I couldn't bring myself to say it, it was too frightening to think about.

"Found what?" Rissa shakes my knee to get my attention back into focus.

I look up at her, then look to Zared, our eyes meeting and he knew where I had been going with this. He coughs a little and says,

"One of our own. Whoever they were was wearing our school uniform." He supplies for me.

Both girls gasp in dread, Rissa raising her hand to cover her mouth while Vi clutches Zared's arm even tighter finally drawing a deep frown on his face as he looks at her hands on his person, like he just now realized it was there. The asshat.

"You didn't recognize them?" Rissa asks him, her face a bit pale now.

"Couldn't. They were uh...ahem...kind of in a state that we couldn't even tell which body part it was." He mumbles as if he didn't even want to say that much, which I didn't blame him, the images coming back to me unfiltered and unwanted.

I shook my body to get rid of them.

"Oh my god." Vi gasps again, this time covering her mouth as Rissa had done.

"Anyways!" I practically yell out and get off the bed to face all of them. "Thanks for stopping by, but it's getting late and I'm still a little eh to be honest so."

I wanted them to leave so I could talk to Zared about not telling the others about us just yet before he slips and actually does. I start heading for the door to open it for them to get out when Rissa's voice became small and scared.

"Actually, we were wondering if we can sleep in here with you guys tonight. Neither of us got any sleep last night because...well you know." She starts fidgeting with her hands and I could tell she was uneasy and a bit frightened.

I turned to fully face the girls and for the first time I realize how exhausted they both look. Dark circles under their eyes, skin a bit pale, and shoulders hunched that showed fatigue. My heart went out to both of them. And the need to be alone with my new man suddenly deflated. They were scared to be alone, and I get that, but a part of me didn't want them invading our space either.

Zared was looking at me when I turn my gaze at him and he gives me a small shrug and a pleading expression to give in. Damn it. Because of Rissa I wasn't going to say no to her request, but even if it wasn't Rissa, Zared's look alone would have made me cave in.

Damn these two for being so important to me that I was willing to give in to them. Violet was just lucky that she was best friends with my best friend because there was no way in hell that she would get to sleep in here with Zared.

I school my expression of one of understanding and say, "Alright, you guys can stay with us tonight."

Rissa's face showed relief while Vi squealed in happiness, gripping Zared's arm again. He raises an eyebrow at her sudden enthusiastic demeanor. And I just scowl even deeper causing Rissa to stare at me.

"So, sleeping arrangements? I'm sure not all three of us could sleep on the bed with you Jinsen." Rissa was looking at me as she says this as if she was challenging me. As if she wanted me to confess to something.

This was actually a problem. Rissa knew how much Zared had irritated and annoyed me to no end. It would be weird now that I all of the sudden have no issues when it comes to him. Even though my behavior the last few days says otherwise.

"Rissa, didn't you state earlier that you needed some cuddle time with your other best friend as well? I mean it's a thing you guys do whenever one of you are feeling down, right?" Violet asks sweetly, trying to act all innocent.

I knew exactly what the hell she was doing, and it wasn't happening. Not with me here. But it would only look suspicious if I snap at her now and demand that the girls sleep in one bed and the guys sleep in the other. Normally, I was all for giving Vi her moment, but not with him. Not with my now boyfriend.

"She's right, you guys." Zared says, shocking the hell out of me. "You both need each other right now. So..."

He suddenly pulls Rissa to stand and starts removing all the blankets and pillows from both beds. I frown at him and ask, "What are you doing?"

"Fixing the solution." Is all he says as he then goes to his side of the bed and shoves the entire thing against mine making one giant one. "There, now we all can share, and Rissa can sleep next to both of you." He smiles tightly as if this was the last thing he wanted to do but didn't want to be separated from me either.

We get the bed ready so we can all settle in. I wasn't sure how this was going to solve anything since Violet could seriously sleep on his other side. I wasn't sure I like this situation at all. Rissa gets settle in the middle while I settle on my original side near the door. Violet goes to settle on Rissa's other side.

I was tense as Rissa grabs my arm in a tight hold like a small child would when they were frightened and curled into me shoving her face in my bicep like she normally does when we cuddle and watch movies.

Zared had gone into the bathroom for just a moment and when he came out, bringing the candle with him to place on my side of the nightstand he suddenly starts shoving me over.

"What the-" I startled as Rissa was practically smushed into me, causing Violet to be shoved a bit on the bed of the other side.

"Move over." Zared states in a no-nonsense tone.

"Zared, there's room over here next to me, why are you forcing Jinsen when he's already lying there?" Vi quickly sits up with a frown.

"I need to sleep on this side since its closest to the door. You know, just in case. Besides, I'm a bit claustrophobic and being shoved near the wall causes me to panic a little."

What. A. Big. Fat. Stinking. Liar.

Claustrophobic my ass. But I wasn't about to call him out on his bullshit. He was trying to get himself lying next to me without making it so obvious. I wanted to smile at his cleverness and I almost did, but I held it in.

"Well, don't let us stop you then, move over. I'm tired and don't want to waste more time figuring out who's sleeping where." I start pushing Rissa, who in turn shoved Vi further on the bed.

"Right, night everyone!" Zared quickly blew out the candles, leaving just one lit and practically dived in next to me causing the bed to bounce.

I stifle a laugh at his over dramatic antics but was so damn ecstatic that he thought up of something to where he didn't allow Violet to get to close to him. The girls didn't say another word on the subject and settled in as well with me on my side facing Rissa so she can cuddle back in her position before she had been forced to move.

The room was darker than usual, since there was only one candle and while I would be internally freaking out right now with the darkness, I felt a hand snake under my sweater and onto my bare skin reaching up to my chest where he splayed his hand over my beating heart.

I sighed with content wanting so badly to hold him in return but knew I couldn't, not yet anyways. But his touch calmed me and made me feel safe. With my free hand I placed it over his on my body, making it look as if I was just lying my hand there for comfort.

And just when I was finally drifting off to sleep again, feeling comfortable and warm, loud piercing screams come from just right out the window causing all four of us to jerk up in the bed as a loud bang follows.