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“Shh, Lay. I’ve got you,” Riggs holds me close to him, drawing me back from my nightmare. “He can’t hurt you anymore, and his son will have to go through the three of us to get to you.”
“I’m back,” I rasp out, brushing the fresh tears from my cheeks and cringing at the wetness soaking into Riggs’ shirt. Rhys and Adam breathe sighs of relief behind the couch, both of them mutteringthank godquietly.
“You’ve been having nightmares for over a week now, Lay. We’re getting concerned,” Rhys speaks, coming around into view. “If you can, you should talk to us about them. Riggs always makes us do this, it really helps.”
“Yeah, he’s gotten to me once already, too.” Taking in a deep breath, I mentally prepare myself to tell them the nightmare that was mostly based on truths of my past. “It started with Declan and I in a pleasant memory, that seems to be how it happens every time, but it quickly turns wrong. This time he wished he never met me and then blood started pouring out of his face. It moved to one of the worst nights I had in the basement of the Jennings house. He went after me first, making Declan watch, but when it was Declan’s turn, I screamed as loud as I could to take the attention back off of him.”
“It’s okay, Lay. We won’t push you about this.” Rhys runs his fingers through my hair, the repetitive movements calming my heart rate down and removing the rest of the lingering memory from my mind.
These guys are far too good for someone as broken as me. They deserve someone that doesn’t act like a crazy person whenever they realize they have feelings. They shouldn’t put up with my constant screaming nightmares and put effort into calming me down afterwards. They should leave me to sort my shit out, but they’re here and I will forever be grateful they are.
“What are we watching now?” I ask, adjusting my position to see the TV better. Rhys sits on the ground in front of Riggs and I while Adam moves back to the love seat after placing a kiss on my head.
“We decided to move from horror to action, so this is Iron Man,” Adam answers, pressing play on the remote and starting the movie back up.
“Oh, awesome. It’s been a while since I’ve seen this one.” Placing a hand in Rhys’ hair, I return the favour of running my hands through it, thankful he left it down.
The rest of the day passes in a blur of movies, cuddles, and a ridiculous amount of food that I definitely shouldn’t have eaten. For being a fucking shit-tacular start to the day plus an early afternoon nightmare, I ended up enjoying myself. It gives me an idea of how we can all work together as a family. It’s a bit of a terrifying concept, except it also makes my heart feel full and happy. I missed out on a family for most of my life, but it’s better late than never.
Rhys and Riggs are currently destroying a large pizza between them as I cuddle into Adam’s side, enjoying his on-going commentary about the movie playing. While unconventional, this is what family is meant to be like. At least in my fantasies.
Chapter Eleven
Alayna
“So you’re actually moving back into the house?” Juliette asks over the phone, the sounds of Danni playing echoing through. “Girl, that’s both terrifying and bad-fucking-ass.”
“I can’t keep letting men like this take everything from me and the people I love,” I answer, putting the last of my clothes and new toiletries into the suitcase. “I’ve fucking had it with people destroying the things I love and the person I am in the process. This is me taking a stand and taking back my life. Fuck Kevin Jennings Jr and may his father rot in hell.”
“Hell fucking yes,” Juliette hypes me up, bringing a huge smile to my face. “I am so damn proud of you, Alayna. It takes a lot of strength to go back to a place after what happened. I still can’t believe someone left a dead body in your room. That gives me chills.”
“It’s fucked up,” I agree, sitting down on the bed with a deep sigh. “I wish it was the worst of all of this, honestly. None of this is over, either, and I’m scared for how much this is going to spill over onto the guys. They’ve been nothing short of amazing, and if anything happens to them— Jules, I can’t.”
“You love them, of course you don’t want them to get hurt. They’re big boys, though, Lay. They can take care of themselves,” she reminds me, her tone soft and understanding. “They know the risks, and I guarantee they also know, you are so worth it. Let the asshole come and try to get through those hunks you call boyfriends, he’ll regret it real quick, love.”
“I know they can handle themselves, but if something happens to them because of me, I’ll never forgive myself.” Running my hand down my face, I lie back on the bed, thankful to have Juliette to talk things out with. “There’s a bad feeling in my gut. I don’t think we’re all going to make it out of this in one piece. I just hope it’s me in the end, not any of them.”
Adam steps into the doorway, crossing his arms over his chest with a raised eyebrow. Holding up my head to stare at him, I grumble under my breath, realizing he was most definitely eavesdropping and heard what I said.
“We’re getting ready to leave, Jules. I’ll let you know when we make it home, and we’ll make plans to hang out later this week,” I mumble, pushing myself to sit up again.
“Sounds good, Lay. Stay safe.”
“You too.” I hang up, placing my phone beside me and mimicking Adam’s attitude pose. “What?”
“You know what, Lay.” Adam walks in and pushes the suitcase back to sit beside me on the bed. “Why haven’t you mentioned your bad feeling?”
“You guys would tell me there’s nothing to worry about and I should trust you to take care of yourselves,” I answer, looking up into Adam’s smirking face.
“You’re not wrong,” he teases, pulling me into his side and stroking his other hand down my face. “All of that is true. We can take care of ourselves and you. This asshole will not be putting a hand on you or any of us. We’re going to find him and we’re going to get him locked the fuck up for the safety of all of humanity. Trust us.”
“I do trust you guys, but I don’t trust the system and I don’t trust that we can find him before he does any harm to us,” I confess, laying my head on his shoulder. “You can’t predict the future and what it holds. There’s a very real chance one of us will get hurt. Kevin Jennings has proven that he will escalate and he will take out anyone in his way.”
“You can’t predict the future either, babe. All we can do is guess with the information we have,” he reassures me, sliding his hand into the hair at the nape of my neck and holding me against him tightly. “There’s a lot of combat training between the three of us, and we know how to protect ourselves and those around us. You don’t need to worry about any of us.”
“I think part of loving you is worrying about you,” I whisper, looking up at him. Adam leans down, brushing his lips against mine, his hand tightening in my hair. The softness of the kiss is so at odds with the rough grip in my hair, yet both cause an almost instant reaction in me. The dual sensations have my thighs clenching together and a moan escaping my parted lips.
“You are too fucking perfect.” Adam’s face pulls back ever so slightly, the distance just enough for me to look into his heavy-lidded gaze. “One of these days, I’m going to show you just how much I love you. I’m going to fucking worship you from head to toe and when you feel like you can’t possibly take it anymore, I’m going to fuck you so deeply, you don’t know where you end and I begin.”
