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Rez
I jerk upright in a blind panic and grab my chest. My breath rushes out of my lungs as I try to push away the remnants of my nightmare.
Knox’s hand squeezes my thigh gently. “You okay, kitten?” he mumbles.
“Y—yeah.” I glance over and tap my phone to see that it’s 2 o’clock in the morning and I’ve only been asleep for a few hours. “Just a bad nightmare.”
Knox shifts and rubs my back. “Do you need to talk about it?” His voice comes across thick with sleep, but he’s more awake now.
“It was just about Emer and how she took Levi away from me—from all of us, and I couldn’t get him back,” I admit, my voice going soft at the end.
Knox sits up and pulls me against him, kissing the top of my head. “Kitten, I think you need to go to him and spend some time together before he leaves in the morning.”
My jaw drops as I look at Knox in shock, and he chuckles lazily before laying back down. “Baby, you haven’t spent any time with him recently, and you’ll feel better once you do. I got my time in with you, so it won’t bother me, honestly. I promise, I’m going to roll over and get my beauty sleep, but you need Levi to feel better.” I’m flabbergasted for a moment. Did he somehow read my mind from earlier? I was planning to spend tonight with Levi, but I didn’t want to deny Knox his time with me either. I open my mouth to dispute his claim when he pulls the rug out from beneath me in one smooth reply. “I can feel it through our bond. Now, go so I can sleep. I’ll see you in the morning, kitten.” He leans back up and gives me a quick kiss before rolling over and burrowing underneath my covers.
Huh! Okay then.
I quickly slide out of bed and give Reaper a kiss as he stirs. Slipping out of my door to find Levi down the hall, I send thanks down my connection with Knox. I don’t even make it to his door before I’m startled though.
“Rez!” Levi whisper shouts when he sees me. “What are you doing?” he asks as he quickly walks toward me. It looks like he just came from the kitchen, since he’s holding a water bottle in his hand. His night clothes still look fresh, like he hasn’t slept in them, but other than that, he looks a mess. There’re bags under his eyes, and his hair is all spiked up like he’s been running his fingers through it.
“I—I was coming to find you, actually.” I confess, walking up to him. “Are you okay? Have you even slept?” I caress his cheek, and he just melts into my touch.
His shoulders slump as he sighs and looks at me with heavy eyes, shaking his head. “I can’t. There's too much on my mind. That’s why I went to the kitchen for water.” Well, at least my guess was correct. “What about you? Why are you up?” He surveys my attire, for what I can only guess is to see if I’m hurt.
“I can understand the not sleeping,” I give him a sad smile. “I had a nightmare about your ex taking you away from me and I couldn’t get you back,” I confess, emotion slightly choking me, and Levi quickly pulls me into him.
“I won’t let that happen,” he says, squeezing me tight, and I wrap my arms around him, lying my head on his shoulder.
“That’s the thing, Levi. You didn’t have a choice. It was taken away from you, away from everyone,” I whisper into his body.
“Well, you’ve already thought ahead and took a step forward in the right direction, so I have no doubt we’ll figure something out,” he says with confidence, and I pull back to peer up at him.
“You know what, maybe we should change your name to Foundation instead of Robot,” I tease.
“Oh really.” He raises his eyes. “Why?”
“Because you’re really the foundation or the solid force that holds this family together. You’ve been the rock; it’s as if there’s no other option for you.” He blushes under my scrutiny, but he doesn’t pull away from me like I expect.
“Robot has kinda grown on me,” he whispers, and my jaw drops.
“Ahh!” My eyes get big at his confession.
“Don’t you dare squeal, though.” His eyes narrow down at me. “I’ll have to come up with a horrible punishment if you do.” He chuckles as I mimic his last expression but can’t hold it long and giggle.
“So were you really coming to see me?” he asks, doubt obvious in his face as he tilts his head down at me.
“Yeah,” I say, pulling away a little and chewing on my bottom lip. “I guess I wasn’t really thinking it through because you’re staying with Ryker, right?” I ask.
“Yeah. Sorry for the disappointment. I wouldn’t be able to sleep much tonight anyway,” he admits, frowning.
I can’t have his time with me be full of bad juju. I refuse to let that evil bitch ruin my time with my man. An idea pops into my head, and I smile up at Levi before taking his hand. “That's fine. I have a better idea anyway,” I say as I drag him down the hall and on an adventure.
* * *
Levi balances on the edge of the high beam, and just when I think he’s going to make it across to the other side to safety, he falls. He tumbles in the air and lands hard on his feet, before immediately propelling himself back into the air and doing a flip as he laughs. Shaking my head, I jump off of one of the large blocks we found and hit the trampoline, joining him in doing flips.
I figured if we couldn’t sleep, we might as well have fun. So we stopped at the kitchen first for more water and snacks before spending some time trying to find the massive trampoline room. Who knows what L.A.M.B. uses this room for, but Levi and I decided to use it to let off some steam. So instead of turning on the lights in the room, we let the hallway lights guide us around until we became familiar with the room and then let ourselves loose to go crazy.
