No Strings Attached

CHAPTER 50

"Ana," a distant voice says, my eyebrows furrowing,

"Ana!" the voice sharpens and my eyes blink open, looking up to see Ari looking at me.

"Fuck did I fall asleep?" I mutter, sitting up with a groan as I rub my sore back.

"We all did, it's 2 in the fucking morning," Gabriel says in a raspy voice.

"Fuck," I mutter, looking at the boxes surrounding us.

Last night after we go back to Le Aquile Rosse's estate after the hospital, we went up to their attic. It was filled with boxes of my parents and their's old shit. We spent hours looking through it until apparently we all fell asleep.

Gabriel looks up from his phone, "We're breaking Ev out of the hospital before going to the De Santis' estate," he says, and I stand up and dust myself off.

Ari puts a reassuring hand on my shoulder as I rub my eyes, "In a few hours, this will all be in the past. You'll have finally escaped," he says softly, and I smile as I rest my head against his shoulder.

I hum in response, a silence settling for a minute before Gabriel clears his throat. I nod and stand up straight again, following Gabriel down the ladder into the house again.

We walk through the house before getting to the garage, and I slide into the backseat as Ari and Gabriel get in and we start the drive to the hospital.

The drive is short and silent, all three of us lost in our own thoughts, probably wondering how we ended up in this situation.

We eventually arrive at the hospital and Ari parks right out the front, I'm actually not sure if we're allowed to park here.

He looks back at me before all three of us silently pile out of the car, walking through the main entrance to the hospital and past the receptionist who's luckily dozed off.

We silently walk through the halls of the hospital to Everett's door, slowly opening the door to reveal Griffon helping his brother out of the bed.

Everett throws me a wink and I feel my body relax, it's ok, we're all here again.

Everett winces slightly and stands up straight, his hospital gown reaching half way down his legs.

"I need to get out of this fucking robe," he mutters, standing awkwardly as Griffon gets a duffel had and opens it, getting out a t-shirt, hoodie, and pair of sweats.

He looks at us expectantly and Ari, Gabriel and myself all turn around.

My hands find the daisy necklace around my neck, silking it through my fingers as I remember the way Mom used to play with it.

A few minutes go by and Everett clears his throat and we all turn around to find him grinning, "I haven't been this comfortable for god knows how long," he sighs, throwing an arm around Griffon's shoulders as Gabriel opens the door again.

We walk slowly back through the hospital, Ari and Griffon helping Everett as Gabriel leads the way.

Soon we reach the main entrance once more and I hold the door open as everyone piles through, Ari unlocking the car as we get into the car.

As per usual I'm squished in the middle between the twins, and I try to give Everett as much space as possible.

This time there's no sarcastic comments or stupid jokes thrown around, the mood uncharacteristically somber between the five of us.

I rest my head on Griffon's shoulder and he kisses my forehead, "Almost done now mia nipote," he says gently.

I hum in response, "I can't wait to sleep for 48 hours straight after this," I mutter, my entire body aching.