The next morning, I was woken by a soft tapping on my bedroom door. Jumping up, I rushed forward and yanked it open to find the twins standing in the hall smiling.
A long sigh of relief escaped me as I bent down and hugged them. Although I was aware that they were home and safe, I couldn’t stop the emotion that overtook me in that moment. I guess I was much more shaken than I thought.
"Good morning." Theo said, struggling to break free of my hold. "You’re crushing me."
Gasping, I let go and stood back up, all the while keeping my eyes fixed on the twins that were watching me with looks of confusion.
Bright lights flashed in my eyes as I spilt beer on my hand. Gasping, I quickly grabbed a towel and wiped it up while preparing a new glass and properly filling it."That’s number five." Audrey sang, scooting behind me. "Someone is really off her game today, huh?"Off my game? That was an understatement. Visions of my earlier conversation with Andrew continued to play in my head, causing me to go absolutely mad.He had asked me to date him. To date him! Sure, we had already slept together, and dating would be the next natural step, but I wasn’t fully sure if I wanted to take that step.In the end, I
"Are you jealous?"I knew that he was, but I wanted to hear it with my own ears. Andrew had been sure to share his feelings with me from the start, and now it was my turn to give him something. To hell with Ashton and the fucking mate bond."And if I am?" Andrew challenged, pushing off the wall he was leaning against and approaching me."Is that a bad thing?""No," I whispered, feeling my heart begin to beat rapidly in my chest. "Maybe I like it."My gaze remained locked with Andrew’s as my words sank in. I was being bold, I knew it, but I didn’t want to continue to hang onto something that was hopeless.
I walked slowly beside Andrew, trying to keep my heart steady and my breath even. How the fuck was I even nervous right now? We had already fucked, so why was I feeling like a teenager with her first boyfriend?"Are you cold?" Andrew asked, noticing my discomfort. "Here, take my jacket."I watched as Andrew pulled off his jacket, his muscles rippling from the movement. Dammit, he was built well."Here." Andrew quickly draped his jacket around my shoulders, engulfing me in his scent of cologne and cigarette smoke."Thanks." I murmured, pulling it closer around me. "But won’t you be cold?"
I stood in the doorway of Theo and Chloe’s room. After much struggle, they finally fell asleep. It seemed that they were definitely traumatized from their kidnapping, and I would need to help coax them back to being themselves.While I sang them to sleep, Chloe talked quietly about the nightmares she was continuing to have about a strange, scary man with hollow black eyes. He seemed to tell her that he would take revenge on me. Despite my telling her that it was simply a dream, she seemed convinced that it was all real.As she did that, Theo grumbled about the darkness. I didn’t know what was going on with them, but I needed to get to the bottom of it.Turning, I headed down the
Much later, I sat on the couch sipping on a beer. Leah had already gone to bed, and Ashton was still washing up. For a man, he sure did take his time in the shower. I guess that was what a pretty boy did.As I waited for him to finish, I considered calling Haidan and asking her about having Ashton keep an eye on me, because frankly, I didn’t buy it. However, I didn’t want to know if he was lying or not. If he wasn't, then that would be fine and my hope would be crushed. If he was, then I wouldn’t even know what the fuck to do. After all, I was currently dating Andrew, and I intended to not have any regrets about my decisions.Sighing, I leaned back and took a long swig of my drink as the sound of a door opening reached my ears.
"Chloe," I murmured, trying to calm my raging heart. "Why are you up again?"She hadn’t been asleep for that long, and I could only assume that she had a nightmare."Didn’t you say," Chloe gasped, covering her mouth. "There was nothing."Fuck, leave it to a nine-year-old to not know what to say and what not to say. Lifting my hands, I covered my face to hide the flush that was beginning to creep up my neck."You talked about me?" Ashton asked with interest. "Was it good?"Lowering my hands, I shot a glare at Ashton, who was lookin
Asher and Antoine were outside of the packhouse waiting when Ashton and I arrived. They eyed us suspiciously as we closed the distance. I felt instant embarrassment over how this probably looked, but now really wasn’t the time."Why are you here?" Antoine asked, eyeing Ashton. "Weren’t you supposed to be vacationing with Meghan and her family?"A jolt of shock rushed through me as I shot a look at Ashton. Did this mean that what he said about being asked to watch over me and my siblings was all a lie?"Doesn’t matter right now." Ashton snapped, his eyes darkening. "Thia said you mentioned something about finding an informant in the inbetween."
The morning came much too soon. Despite being told to get some sleep, I was unable to and instead just sat up staring into space as my mind whirled.I still couldn’t believe how quickly things were going from bad to worse, especially after two years of peace since King Nigel’s defeat. It was all so weird and, for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out why it would happen.Sighing, I leaned back on the couch and threw my arm over my eyes."Thia?" Chloe’s sleepy voice called from upstairs. "Why are you awake?"I waited as Chloe bounded down the stairs, two at a time, and then jumped into my lap.