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“You never need to thank any of us for that, Blake. No matter what happens between the five of us, we will always look out for you.” He leant in towards me and I reached up onto my tiptoes eagerly, desperate to meet him half way. Our lips met and Tom’s arms wrapped around me as the kiss turned heated and a little frenzied. My ribs started to ache as I reached up as much as I could to get my arms around his neck, my hands tangling in his hair, just needing to hold him somewhere as his kiss drove me higher and higher.
I was panting as Tom pulled back, breaking up the moment before it went too far.
“Let’s get back to bed,” he whispered as he took my hand again. He placed a kiss on the back of it, then opened the door to my room, leading me inside and closing it again behind us. The others were just where I had left them, fast asleep. Grey snored, but not loudly, and Declan, who looked pretty uncomfortable, was twitching every so often.
I squeaked a little as Tom swept me up into his arms from behind, then placed me in the middle of the bed between Liam and Grey, exactly where I had woken up. As I settled in, Tom climbed back on too, lying beside his brother.
Declan stirred and when I glanced up at him, his eyes blinked open and looked me over.
“You good, beautiful?” he asked sleepily, as he ran a hand over my forehead.
“Perfect,” I told him as I looked all around me at the four guys who made me feel safe and loved – who could make me feel alive with just a simple touch. They had the power to heal me more than anyone else ever had or could, and I knew it. I just hoped that I didn’t have the power to destroy them in the process.
CHAPTER 6
BLAKE
“Oh my God! Blake!” Before I could even turn to calm Fiona down, she was ploughing into me from the side, and I wasn’t prepared for it, the both of us tumbling into a heap on the floor of the reception area of the gym.
I had just finished my first physio session since the accident and I was completely exhausted.
Everyone had argued with me that I should give myself a little longer to recover before restarting physiotherapy sessions, but it had been a month since that car hit me, three weeks of which I had been laid up in a hospital bed. It had effected the progress Declan and I had made before that car hit me, my muscles once again stiff and sluggish. I refused to sit idle while more damage was done. I wanted to get back to my sessions and continue my mission to rediscover my strength – even more so now that I knew there was a threat.
So Declan had reluctantly agreed to us trying again, and even though he had gone easy on me that morning, I was completely wiped out and sweating buckets once we were finished. I had hoped a shower and change of clothes would help me to feel refreshed, but it had just exhausted me more, and Fiona throwing herself at me was more than my shaking legs could endure.
I fought to hold in my cry of pain as Fiona landed half on top of me, angering my still bruised and tender ribs.
“Crap! Are you alright?” Fiona cried as she scrambled to get off of me and up onto her knees beside me.
“Blake? Everything good here?” I looked up and found Luca just a few feet back, looking between Fiona and I warily.
“Uh, yeah…I…I’m fine,” I replied as I placed a hand over my throbbing ribs and sat up. Luca nodded and returned to where he had been stood near the main entrance to the building, since I arrived there early that morning.
Over the last week I had gotten to know Luca a little more and become comfortable enough with him that I was able to have him drive me and be with me on the two occasions I had left the house alone – once to run into town to buy sanitary products when I found myself in dire need three days ago, and that morning when he had driven me toPhoenix Fitness.
The guys had been hovering all week, adjusting their entire work and home lives to make sure I had one of them with me at all times, even though Trent had also been there with me all week. Even Dad had been working very short days at the office so he could be home as much as possible. It had been great and I hadn’t complained. After everything that had happened, I knew I needed the comfort of having them with me, but I also knew it couldn’t continue on that way. They had to get back to normal, and allow me to find my own version too, even if that did involve having a hulking body guard coming everywhere with me.
So the night before I called a family meeting and I put my foot down. I made it clear that I was now comfortable enough with Luca to have him with me when I headed out. I assured them I didn’t need them to be with me every moment of every day, and suggested to them it was maybe time they returned to their jobs fully. Trent was set to get back to his class that week anyway, so he easily agreed, and my Dad seemed to understand my need to at least try and stand on my own two feet. But my guys weren’t so easily swayed. They were worried about me, and I understood that. They had been forced to sit by and watch me in a coma for ten days, not knowing if I would wake with deficits, or even at all.
But that was a part of what was worrying me, the question in my mind – had we all been thrown together too much, too quickly because of the accident with Trent and Dad and then because of the car hitting me? Were our feelings towards each other, which had developed so very quickly, only so intense because of all we had been through? I explained this to them all, and also my need for things to just get back to a normal level of intensity, so we could all just have a little breathing space to really process what the heck was going on between the five of us.
It wasn’t that I doubted the way I felt for the four of them. I knew my feelings for them were real and strong. I just wanted us all to back up a little though, and slow down. I wanted to be sure they would still want me when it wasn’t a crazily deep life and death scenario happening. I wanted them to know me on an everyday level and to see if they were still happy to take me for what I was, and I wanted the same with them.
Thankfully, they seemed to understand, though it seemed to piss Declan off somewhat. But even he conceded in the end, and it was agreed we would all try to resume our lives around the threat still looming. I agreed several times that I would never leave the house without one of them or Luca, and that seemed to ease some of the worry.
So going to physio that morning, just as I had every morning before the car hit me, had felt great, just knowing things were returning to the happy peace I had found before that night.
“Are you sure?” Fiona asked from my side, as she looked down to where I was cradling my ribs. “I’m so sorry. I only wanted to hug you, but you just went down.”
“It’s okay. I’m fine,” I assured her as I pushed a smile onto my face. “Help me up.” I held a hand out to her and she smiled as she grasped it and then stood, pulling me up after her.
I brushed off the leggings and charcoal grey t-shirt style dress I had put on after my shower, just needing a moment to stop the room from swaying around me once I got to my feet. It was a new development since I woke in the hospital - random light-headedness when I stood too quickly. I hadn’t told anyone about it, since the doctor had warned me it could be a possibility, along with a list of about twenty other issues I may face after taking a second substantial blow to the head. Dad, Trent, and my guys were all worried enough about the new issues I couldn’t hide – like the almost constant headaches. I didn’t need to add to it.
“I was so worried about you,” Fiona said as she took a step over to me and encircled me in a much calmer and gentler hold. “I came to the hospital but they said it was family only. How are you?”
“I’m really okay,” I replied, as Fiona stepped back and stood facing me. She was dressed in pale blue jeans that fit her like a second skin, and a ‘Phoenix Fitness’ sweatshirt, her hair and make-up immaculate as always. “Just a few headaches n-now and then and a few bruises. I’m m-mostly healed up now.”
“Declan told me what happened. Do you really think it was Abby?” she asked, lowering her voice so only I could hear her.
