“I’ve got to pack the presents and I don’t want you to see, I’ll call you back when I’m done” I tell him and chuckle as he grumbles.
I reach under the bed and pull all the presents out packing them carefully into the suitcase. I also add wrapping paper, tape and bows so I can wrap Trick's new present. I do pack his old one just in case I change my mind about giving it to him though. Once everything’s packed I stack it near the wall next to my bedroom door ready to take down and then quickly change into my pyjama’s. It took me embarrassingly long to pack and it’s getting late. Since we have to get up early tomorrow I want to get to sleep early. I am not an early morning person.
Once ready I start to yell for Trick but I’ve got no idea how Jenny and Rob would react to him being in my room and to be honest I don’t want to risk them telling him he can’t stay with me so instead I hop into bed and text him. Answering text’s from the guys as I wait, I’m asleep before he even enters the room.
Chapter Twelve
“Ever come on, it’s time to get up” Trick says sweetly, kissing my cheek.
“No” I grumble.
“Come on Angel, get up” Jensen says sounding far too awake and amused for this time in the morning.
Wait why is Jensen here?
Deciding it’s too early for me to really give a shit, I stick my hand out from under the covers and flip him my middle finger.
There’s the sound of loud laughter from more than one of the guys. I groan and stick my head out from under the covers glaring at all of them which they seem to find hilarious and not at all threatening like I had intended.
“Something to remember guys” Riot chuckles, “Ever does not do mornings any earlier than seven” the guys all chuckle.
My glaring at them still seems to have no effect whatsoever. As my eye’s travel over them I spot an equally grumpy and scowling Luc. I open up the side of the covers and point to him, crooking my finger in a come here motion. He grins sleepily and my heart lurches at the sight. He practically stumbles towards me and before the guys have realised what’s happened, he’s under the covers with me. His head buried in my neck, both arms wrapped around my waist as mine are wrapped around his shoulders holding him to me, my leg moves up and around his hip and we both breathe a sigh of contentment.
“What the fuck” Jensen exclaims, as he finally gets his laughter under control. “When the fuck did that happen?” he asks sounding perplexed.
“When did what happen?” Trick says his voice getting louder as he moves towards the bed from wherever he went. “Oh for fuck sake Luc, that is not helping” he says sounding more than a little bit exasperated. “Which one of you fuckers let him snuggle, he hates early mornings apparently as much as she does” he says but there’s no heat to it and actually he sounds amused as fuck.
“Ever, if you get up I’ll get you the biggest hazelnut mocha we can find with an extra shot of coffee, and cake for breakfast too” Riot tries to cajole me out of bed.
I must admit it semi works. Luc’s arms tighten around me.
“That nearly worked” Rafe chuckles.
“Let me try” Cash offers, his voice is decidedly sinful, and I instantly perk up.
The bed dips behind me and Luc’s arms loosen as he moves his head from my neck putting it on the pillow and smirking with his eye’s still closed like he knows that whatever Cash is going to say to me is going to get me up.
“Ever” his voice takes on a husky but demanding tone and surprisingly my pussy clenches.
His fingers trail up my back and I repress a shudder as every damn nerve ending fires at once, he leans forwards and takes my ear lobe in his mouth as his hand gently moving over my shoulder and gently wrapping around my throat, my body submits instantly.
“Holy fuck,” Luc grows his hands tightening on my waist as he feels my body’s submission to Cash, I honestly never thought I would like to be dominated but I feel completely safe with Cash and I know for a fact that if it got too much he would stop instantly and because I know that, I feel safe enough to enjoy it like my body is craving.
“Good girl” Cash praises as he trails kisses down my neck.
I moan and they both echo me.
“Guy’s!” Riot says his voice strained.
Cash chuckles, turns my face to his, his hand still lightly gripping my throat, I crave for him to grip just a bit tighter. I’m not fucking breakable. He smirks as he studies my features, as soon as he see’s the heat in my eyes and the challenging look I can’t help but give him, his grip tightens, not too tight but enough to make my eyes practically roll back with pleasure and I release a breathy moan as his lips crash down on mine, he’s still holding onto his control by a thread. His tongue slips into my mouth, not even pretending to let me be in control.
It’s addicting.
“Ok, that was not where I thought that was gonna go” Trick says, heat in his voice unmistakable.
Suddenly Cash is pulled away from me and lands with and ompf on the floor, I worry he’s going to be pissed and follow to the edge of the bed propping myself on my elbow as I look down at him. He winks at me smirking.
“It got her up didn’t it?” he asks rhetorically.
“It got us all fucking up” Rafe rumbles and I turn to gape at him.
He just smirks and so naturally my eyes dip down to the front of his jeans which sure enough are holding back a sizeable bulge.
I lick my lips, I can’t help it.
“Stop looking at me like that Baby, or we aren’t ever going to get to the cabin” he rumbles and Riot’s eyes switch between us both heat tearing through the amber depths and making them blaze.
Fuck.
Wait.
“Oh my god the cabin!” I say excitedly as I scramble out of bed. “Let’s go, let’s go” I grab Trick’s hand, and start to pull him towards the door.
He lets out a low chuckle as the others laugh.
“What?”
“You’re not dressed, Firecracker” Luc grins, getting up from the bed, “I mean we don’t mind but I’m assuming you don’t want other people to see you in your teeny tiny pyjamas?” he raises an eyebrow at me and I stick my tongue out at him, dancing out of Trick’s reaching hands.
I grumble as make my way to the closet as they start laughing again and once they’re all behind me I whip my tank top off over my head leaving my bare back exposed and all laughter abruptly cuts off. I smirk to myself as I reach for the dark purple underwear set that I picked out yesterday. I pull my bra on and hook my fingers in the top of shorts so I can pull on the matching underwear. Looking over my shoulder, I smirk seeing that all of them are frozen their eyes glued to me. I chuckle and flip them the bird.
“You don’t get a show, you laughed” I smirk not really annoyed at all but feeling playful.
“I’ll return the favour Angel” Jensen promises a sinful smirk on his lips and dark heat swirling in his eyes.
Now normally an offer like that would make me cringe but one, I’ve seen Jensen dance and he’s fucking good and B his large body, though slightly slimmer than the others is so fucking defined I swear he has an eight pack, my thighs clench as I bite my lip.
I shake myself at the last moment.
“Tempting, so fucking tempting but I’m pretty sure we really do need to get going?” I ask it like a question.
“Unfortunately, yes” Rafe rumbles.
Jensen scrubs a hand over his face and shoots me a heated look full of promise.
“Fine, I’ll be right out. Don’t think I’ve forgotten you promised me coffee and cake for breakfast” I say pointing to Riot.
“Sure thing, Sunshine” he smirks.
“We’ll go finish loading up the truck, the snow mobiles are already in the trailer and the trailers hitched, ready to go when you are, Il mio Cuore.”
“Alright guys!” I say as I pull the door on the closet closed and finished getting dressed, I make sure to dress warm since the guys said it will probably be snowing when we g
et there.
We are all going to be squished in a car though so I don’t bother putting my jumper on and instead carry it down the stairs with me, I’ve got a long sleeved thermal top on anyway so I’m plenty warm enough. When I get down there the guys are already waiting by the door and as soon as they see me they’re out of it and moving towards the truck, piling in. I get in my usual spot, Riot on one side and Rafe on the other. Riot immediately grabs my hand and pulls it on to his lap, I glance up at him and notice for the first time the dark smudges under his eyes. He must’ve had nightmares last night.
“It’s ok Riot, go to sleep” I say softly.
He bends down and kisses me softly before lying back and gripping my hand tighter. I lean my head on his arm and he relaxes more. Before we’ve even left the driveway he’s fast asleep. I chuckle and Rafe leans around me to see Riot and grins.
“Looks like I’m buying the coffee, he owes you” Rafe chuckles.
“Nah I’ll treat everyone this time, you guys got the coffees the last few times it’s my turn. He’s not getting out of it that easily” I chuckle.
The guys laugh too and Rafe reaches out and grabs my other hand, lacing out fingers together. I grin happily, I’ve been looking forward to this for so long, I can’t wait. I really hope Atlas turns up, for the guys but also because I’m super curious about him.
Rafe
I can’t help but run my eyes over Ever and Riot again, cuddled together and more importantly Riot fast asleep. We learnt that he could sleep without nightmares if I sleep next to him too and I love that me and Ever can do that for him. It’s not long before we get to the coffee place and all place our orders, I reach down into my bag and pull out a travel coffee mug. I ordered a coffee for Riot, he’s going to want it when he wakes but it’ll be cold by then so I’ll put it in the travel mug instead. Ever watches me grinning as I pour his coffee in it and I just shrug, before glancing in the mirrors.
Without letting go of Riot’s hand she leans over and pulls me down so her lips cover mine. When she pulls back, she grins.
“You are so sweet, I love it” her eyes widen slightly as she realises what she said and my heart pounds in my chest.
She grins wider and then turns forward taking a sip of her massive coffee.
My heart still pounds. It’s all very well that I came up with the plan for us all to be with her, after reading what quickly became one of my favourite Reverse Harem books but it won’t work unless she wants to be with all of us too. I don’t know if any of us could handle it if when it came down to it, she only choose one of us or even just a few to actually be in a relationship with.
That’s what we want, we want to be in a relationship with her. We knew she was it for us when we were kids, of course we didn’t realise the depth of our feelings for her completely until we were older and could understand them properly but still.
Asking her to be in that sort of relationship is not normal. She did help Kat, Rich and Marc out though which is promising but that whole thing still baffles me, you’d think we would have noticed something was there between the three of them. She also doesn’t show any favouritism between us, I’ve been watching and she doesn’t even seem to realise she’s doing it. She’s a natural.
The things I thought might bother me, don’t and it surprises me. I am human though and although I feel pangs of jealousy, they never last for long. I look in the mirrors again searching the surrounding area.
“Why do you keep doing that?” She asks me. She’s far more observant than she lets on, it’s impressive.
“Problem?” Trick ask’s his eyes darting to me in the rear view mirror, of course he noticed, my brother is the most observant of us all especially when it comes to safety.
“No, boss” I grin as he scowls at me, he may not like us calling him that but it doesn’t make it any less true. I turn to Ever to answer her question, “I’m making sure we aren’t being followed.”
“That’s what I thought but why?”
I feel my eyebrows raise in surprise, she never stops surprising me, a glance at the others shows the same feelings echoed on their faces too.
“Just because that stalker dick is dealt with doesn’t mean it’s completely safe and since Atlas is obviously in something that’s dangerous as shit, I’m not risking either of you or the rest of us to be honest” I explain my voice becoming rough towards the end, if I talk for too long it starts to ache, my voice not used to speaking for any length of time. I take a sip of coffee soothing my throat.
“I’ve been meaning to ask you something actually, how did you even know Jeremy, it didn’t seem like you knew him that well?” Luc asks and although I’m curious too I could smack him. I don’t want her reminded of him.
I glance at her worriedly but she doesn’t seem to be bothered that he was bought up although she pauses before she answers the question, like she’s deciding whether she should or not. She takes a deep breath and I share a look with Jensen who’s turned around in the middle of the front bench seat to watch her.
“He got severely bullied, I’m not talking beat up a few times, insulted and his stuff destroyed. I’m talking they nearly killed him at least twice. As well as all that other stuff. Back then he was really skinny and still had that stupid yellow hair” she takes a breath and I watch curiously as some of the violence that normally rises to the surface in Jensen’s eyes darkens hers. Jensen sits up straight as he notices it and nudges Trick and Cash before shooting a look behind me to Luc.
I glance at Riot, feeling like he’s going to need to know this too, but I can’t bring myself to wake him, I’ll fill him in later.
“To explain how I dealt with them I should probably explain something else first. My life was filled with so much violence and pain that it got to the point where instead of fearing the, I guess you could call it darkness, the part of me that enjoyed the fight and the danger, I started to live for it.” I share another look with the guy’s all except Jensen who’s eyes are glued to her, not only because he’s finding it hot, I’m man enough to admit that Ever being bloodthirsty is a fucking turn on considering we all are and it just means she fits even better but I'm guessing he’s also watching in case talking about it makes her lose herself to the darkness like he sometimes does.
“I had to embrace it really, in order to survive the world my dickhead of a fucking father thrust me into” she growls her eyes flashing dangerously, we still aren’t entirely sure what went on but we know he’s an absolute cunt and is lucky he’s fucking dead. “I refused to hurt anyone innocent but I used to help those people who still had their light. I used my darkness, my love of everything violent and dangerous to protect them. From abusive parents or partners. It’s disgusting how many woman are abusive to their men and not only do they not see it as abusive but the men are either too embarrassed or ashamed to speak up, or even when they do they don’t get listened to. The double standard is so incredibly wrong and I ended up protecting twice as many men from abusive relationships than women” she looks incredibly sad for a second and we just gape at what she’s just told us, I open my mouth to comment but snap it shut when it becomes clear she’s not done yet.
“I also helped them out if they got in over their heads in something they didn’t understand. It was a way to bring a bit of light to my world, helping protect people who couldn’t protect themselves, it probably sounds ridiculous” she scoffs derisorily and before any of us can disagree and we all would’ve she pushes on, “especially since, I haven’t beaten Selena’s ass to a bloody pulp but she’s just a regular bully, she’s not really a threat and it really wouldn’t be a fair fight. That guy in the hallway, well he reminded me someone else, all pretty on the outside but dead eyes and all kinds of depraved on the inside. Unfortunately though he was the kind of guy I’d dealt with before, he was too similar and I froze.”
My eyes dart to Luc who is trying to control his rage breathing deeply, rage is bubbling in my chest and I hate that we weren’t there for h
er or know what this fucker did her but her next words help soothe us all at least a small amount.
“I dealt with him, he’s not so pretty anymore” she grins savagely and I can’t help but find that hot, I can also practically feel how much effort it’s taking Jensen not to grab her. She must feel it too because the cheeky minx catches his eyes and winks at him, savage grin still in place.
“You never cease to amaze me Ever” Trick say sincerely, and we all make noises of agreement. She glances around at us all and my hand squeezes hers gently.
“You aren’t weirded out?” she asks curiously.
Trick chuckles darkly, “you forget Ever, we aren’t normal men, your bloodthirsty nature matches our own. You can’t fear something about someone else that you accept as a part of yourself” he explains, somehow finding the right words.
“Thank, you Trick” she says softly letting go of my hand and leaning forward, she runs her hand up the side of his neck before leaning forward and gently kissing his neck before nipping it, his knuckles turn white on the steering wheel and I can’t help but chuckle.
I’m not too surprised with what she’s told us. Especially since the first time she saw us again she had a knife to Jensen’s throat in seconds and what was even more revealing is he not only let her but the fucker enjoyed it. He could’ve gotten out of it fairly easily and done it without hurting her but we all saw how on edge she was, letting her feel completely in control was more important. That and the guy had a raging hard on, Ever obviously didn’t notice it but the rest of us did, he was fucking proud of that small nick on his neck.
Ever has such a big heart it makes perfect sense that she would want to protect people, she was unable to protect herself due to circumstance and shitty social workers but she could protect everyone else.
She’s amazing. Atlas is going to love her. I’m assuming one of the others warned her about his aversion to touch, not that she would, she’s not exactly the hugging type.
Secrets Worth Keeping (Finding my Home Book 2) Page 12