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She sighed and nodded before she stood up, grabbed some clothes from a drawer and walked into the bathroom. I sat on her bed, trying to ignore how heavy her scent was in here now that I wasn’t trying to calm her down. She came back out twenty minutes later in a pair of shorts and a tank top with her hair in a loose braid. She was fucking beautiful.
I stood up from the bed and sat at her desk.
“You can go now. I’ll go to sleep,” she said.
“I’ll wait until you’re sleeping,” I said stubbornly. She sighed and lay on the bed, and I pulled the sheet over her. I sat down and started browsing through my phone to try to distract myself, but a few minutes later, I heard her sigh, and I looked over at her.
“I can’t sleep,” she said, her bottom lip jutting outward to show her frustration, but all it did was make me remember the kisses she gave me in Columbus. I cleared my throat and looked away.
“Do you want me to get you some warm milk?” I asked her.
“Wi-will you come sleep next to me?” she asked. My head snapped back to hers, and I could see the blush on her face. She was looking at the wall in front of her, avoiding my gaze. My heart raced, but I would never deny her anything, much less something my body was screaming at me to do.
“If it will help,” I conceded, standing up and removing my suit jacket and my shirt until I was only in my undershirt. She moved forward, making room for me behind her on the bed, and I crawled over her and into the bed. The moment I laid down, she turned around and curled into me, like she used to when we were little. I pulled the sheet over her and cradled her gently in my arms.
I’d done this maybe hundreds of times growing up, but this felt different, more intimate and meaningful. I held her as she slowly relaxed and her breathing evened out. When I was sure she was asleep, I dared to look down at her face and saw it resting against my chest. Tenoch was purring in my head, but all I felt was heartache and a little bit of hope. This was the second time she’d asked me to help her sleep. She found me comforting, at the very least. It was a start. Maybe there was hope for me. Maybe I could turn that into love. Maybe she would consider choosing me one day.
Despite having gotten enough sleep, her scent and the sound of her steady heartbeat lulled me to sleep.
Chapter Thirteen
Evie
It took me a long time to wake up. My eyes opened, but I couldn’t process anything around me except the pair of strong arms and warm chest surrounding me. I fell asleep again without seeing who they belonged to, but knowing they must belong to Cory because they made me feel safe.
Those same arms wrapped around me, gathering me close. My legs wrapped around him, and I brought those impossibly soft lips to my own. I’ve always wondered how they would feel on mine, and I was happy to see that they were so much better than in my dreams. Cory pulled back.
“Evie, you’ve been drugged. It’s going to be okay,” he said, but I wanted to taste him again, and I would. “Evie, please,” he begged.
“Cory, kiss me,” I begged and wrapped myself around him again when he acquiesced.
I woke up hours later, still enveloped in the same warm body. I inhaled deeply, and the smell of green apples and that amazing floral scent that was unique to Cory invaded my senses. This close to the source, I finally recognized it as the smell of a lotus flower, very faint but heavenly.
My heart began to race as my dream came to mind. No. Not a dream, a memory. It was a memory from the trip. I had thrown myself at Cory, and like the gentleman he was, he refused me. He made no mention of the incident when I woke up, and I couldn’t tell if that made me feel grateful or sad. I looked up at his impossibly beautiful face and lips.
What am I going to do with these feelings? I wondered and recalled the night he got attacked.
I was already feeling off that day. Tozi had been pacing for the last twenty minutes, and I went for a walk to settle ourselves. I was near the borders when I heard Cory’s mind-link come through asking for help, and despite having zero experience fighting, I ran toward him without knowing how I knew where he was.
When the guards ran past me, I knew I was headed in the right direction, but I was much slower than them in their wolf form. I got there in time to see Tenoch collapse and slowly shift back to Cory. The sight of him like that was something that would stay with me for the rest of my life. For a few moments, I couldn’t breathe, thinking he was dead. There was so much blood. I held his head on my lap when I saw him breathing, calling out for Mom to come help, even though I knew she was too far away to hear me.
It wasn’t until I saw him awake again that I was able to function, and I went to watch the video of what happened. Then I started to work. I needed to get those phones unlocked. I wanted them found and killed for what they did to Cory. From what James said, there had been four of them. What cowards! Four against one. I hadn’t realized so much time had passed until Cory brought me home and made me rest.
I sighed, still looking up at his sleeping face. I wanted so desperately to reach out and touch him, but I did my best not to move so I could just watch him for a while longer. I wondered briefly what time it was. I still felt tired, but I felt rested enough to get back to work.
‘What time is it?’ I asked Zi via mind-link.
‘Four in the afternoon. Did Cory manage to get you to sleep?’ she asked.
‘Yeah. I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me,’ I answered. I didn’t mean to worry her.
‘We’ll work on it.’
‘What’s new?’ I asked.
‘Oh, not much. Molly asked James to come for dinner yesterday and since you weren’t there, it was just the three of us,’ she answered nonchalantly, as if it wasn’t a big deal when it was the biggest of deals.
‘WHAT? How did it go?’
