Never let her go

Chapter 42

Theo POV

I knew I was overreacting sometimes. I knew how overbearing I could be. I knew I should probably let go a little bit.

But I couldn’t.

I had a terrible feeling and I simply couldn’t.

I didn’t give a fuck about how crazy I looked. I didn’t give a fuck about their worried glances. I didn’t give a fuck about anything besides her safety.

But what amazed me most in all of this was her understanding of my behavior. She never once got mad at me. She never once told me I was exaggerating. She never once pushed me away.

I could see it was all too much for her. I could see that she wanted to go out and do normal teenage things. I could see how much she wanted to feel safe and not be afraid all the time. And I knew that sometimes my behavior only added to her fear.

But she never pushed me away.

Someone else would have already screamed, cursed, and sent me to hell. Someone else wouldn’t even try to understand why I was doing all of this.
But not her. Not my Lucy. She understood even without me explaining it to her. She listened to me and did what I told her to do, just so I wouldn’t be afraid. She put up with mine, and sometimes Noah’s, tantrums about her safety without trying to fight with us or trying to go against us.

And if she can do that for me, I can survive an hour without her while she is with our grandfather.

I knew how much she wanted to go. She wanted to connect with the rest of our family. She was having a hard time letting them in, but it was getting easier for her lately, and she wanted to get to know them more.

I could do that, right? I could let her go for an hour, right?

She closed her bedroom door and turned to look at us.

“Are you okay?” she asked me.

“I’m fine.” I sighed. “I’m sorry, Lucy.”

“It’s okay.” she smiled, sitting down at her desk chair. “I understand.”

“Of course you do.” I mumbled under my breath.

I looked at Noah. He was staring through the window with a frown on his face. I wondered if he would agree with what I was about to say.

“I know you want to go.” I looked back at Lucy. “You know that I don’t want you to go, but I will let you if Liam makes sure there are enough guards following you.”

Lucy’s eyes widened. Noah snapped his head toward me.

“What?!” he said loudly. “Are you crazy, Theo?!”

Lucy looked at Noah, surprised by his reaction. Honestly, I was too. He was usually calm, and you could rarely hear him raise his voice.

“Noah...” I started to speak, but he interrupted me.

“You are not being serious right now?” he asked, panicked. “You are joking, right?”

“I’m not.” I shook my head. “She can go if enough guards will follow them.”

Noah’s eyes almost fell out of their sockets.

“Well, I think it’s a bad idea.” he said angrily, crossing his arms over his chest. “Guards can’t protect her from everything.”

My heart started beating faster. He is right. It is a bad idea. Guards can’t protect her from everything. She could get shot. Would they jump in front of a bullet for her? The only reason I took her outside those two times was because I knew I would. I knew Noah would. That was out of the question. We would always protect her from everything.