Free Always with You (WIth You Trilogy) by R. J. Sable

awkward.
    I knew he was talking to me so I raised my eyes to see he’d already gone into solider mode.
    “You don’t leave the house without Xander. You give him your schedule and you will ring him if anything changes. You will wait for him after every lecture. If he says something’s not safe, then you don’t do it. Understood?”
    I clenched my teeth. He’s trying to keep me safe . I knew it was true but I hated the familiar ease with which he dictated my life.
    “Understood?” H e repeated again, a little louder.
    “Yes, sir,” I mumbled quietly, dropping my eyes to the floor once more so I wasn’t tempted to answer back and cause an argument.
    “Adam, I’d appreciate it if you could stay off social media for a while,” he turned his attention to a confounded looking Adam.
    “Uh, sure, I guess. How come?”
    “You might accidentally reveal Jelly’s location, or th e fact that she’s home alone. It’s better to stay away from that for now,” Ian explained.
    I gritted my teeth again because Ian was extending his control over Adam as well and it just didn’t seem fair.
    “Questions?” Ian challenged.
    I knew he wasn’t expecting us to have any but I did have questions and I was too miserable thinking about Jason to worry about the consequences of pissing him off.
    “How long for?” I asked stubbornly.
    I glanced up and saw Ian’s jaw tense as he glanced over at Xander.
    “Not sure,” Xander said, his voice gentler than it had been earlier. “No way of knowing.”
    I frowned at his cryptic response and glanced up at Ian who appeared to be chewing something over.
    “I’m going away tomorrow,” Ian said eventually. “Once I get back, things will hopefully be a bit more stable.”
    “Tomorrow?” Matt asked incredulously. “Don’t you usually get a bit more warning.”
    “We’ve moved it forwards because of everything that’s happened. It’s better this way. If everything goes to plan then we can eliminate whatever threat there is,” Ian said. This time it was obvious in his tone that any questions would be very unwelcome so we all just nodded.
    “Xander’s a good guy,” Ian smirked a little. “Don’t piss him off too much, Jelly.”
    I scowled but didn’t answer. I didn’t trust myself not to say anything to annoy him. My mind was a maelstrom of emotion and I didn’t know how to handle it. Jason hated me, I was getting a babysitter, and Ian was going away.
    I hated it when Ian went away. He hadn’t been away for a good while and, over the past few years, his trips had become much more sporadic. Before, we could at least guess that he’d be away from between three to six months, but now it could be anything from a week to eight months and we very rarely heard from him during that time. It was horrible waking up every day and not knowing if he was okay, if he was safe, if he was even alive.
    I felt tears gathering in my eyes and Ian, being Ian, noticed at once and took me out into the kitchen. He sat me in his lap on a kitchen chair and hugged me tight to his chest. I was instantly transported to my childhood as he rocked me gently. I didn’t draw the same soothing calm from Ian as I did from Jason, but it was something at least. Thinking about Jason just made me sob harder and Ian squeezed me a little tighter.
    “Talk to me, Jellybean,” Ian said gently once I stopped crying quite so much.
    I shook my head and clung to him a little tighter.
    “I know this isn’t easy for you, Jelly, but it’s for the best,” he tried to reassure me.
    “I don’t want you to go,” I pleaded pathetically after a while.
    “Yo u’re sad because I’m leaving?” He asked in surprise.
    I nodded and sniffled slightly.
    “I’ll be fine, sis,” he reassured me with a renewed gentleness in his voice. “I always come back, you know that.”
    I nodded glumly because he did, but he couldn’t promise that he always would.
    “I thought you might be sad about Jason,” he said