Secrets Worth Keeping (Finding my Home Book 2)

by Nikita Parmenter

  I pick out a small rectangle box from my pile and pull of the paper, once I have it unwrapped I stare in shock at the latest iPhone.

  “That’s from me” Trick says quietly.

  “It’s too much. Thank you so much Trick!” I exclaim gratefully and he smiles going back to his other gifts and talking with the guys.

  Holy fuck.

  Slightly in shock I reach for the next present.

  “That ones from me and sort of goes with your phone, Sunshine” Riot says nudging me.

  I pull off the wrapping paper to see that there’s one of those workout arm band things so you can wear your phone and some tiny Bluetooth headphones. I lean over to Riot and give him a kiss on the cheek.

  “Thank you, Riot. I love it. Those two are from me” I say pointing to the two presents that have around six of those sticky backed bows stuck to them. I must’ve been pretty far into the eggnog by the time I got to his presents. He smirks at all the bows carefully unsticking two and re-sticking one to his forehead and one to mine. I giggle in response and his grin widens. Riot’s present is one of the only ones I’m not that nervous about. He unwraps the dark red hoody and holds it up.

  “Thank you, Sunshine” he says.

  “Well it’s kind of for me too. It’s to replace the one I stole” his eyebrows hit his hairline and he starts to chuckle when he realises that I was being serious when I said he wasn’t getting it back. “You can have it back when it stops smelling like you and then I’ll nab this one” I shrug as he bursts out laughing. “Hey I’m not ashamed of my weird love of smelling your hoody’s” I shrug and he laughs louder.

  “I’m good with that, Dragonfly” he finally manages to reply through his laughter and gives me a quick kiss. “What’s this one?” He asks holding up the second one.

  “Well, that’s sort of a gag gift. I got everyone something similar” I grin.

  Riot tears into it and pulls out the Christmas jumper I chose for him, he immediately puts it on and grins down as he studies the Rudolf on the front with a beer in his hand or is it hoof? And Christmas lights strung through his antlers.

  “Dude, that’s awesome!” Jensen suddenly exclaims, gaining the attention of the others.

  “I got you all one as a sort of gag gift, you don’t have to wear them” I chuckle.

  Jensen grins as he searches through his presents, the others doing the same, until they pull out their gifts from me, all of them apart from Atlas’s covered in a ridiculous amount of bows.

  Whoops, I have no regrets though.

  “You got me a present?” Atlas asks, staring at me with uncertainty.

  “Of course I did. I hope it’s right though. If it’s not don’t worry about offending me, I’m happy to replace it.” I say nervously.

  He just watches me as if he’s unsure and waiting for the other shoe to drop and it makes my heart hurt. I return his gaze steadily and smile softly, nodding that he should unwrap them.

  He studies me for a second longer before coming to some sort of conclusion and carefully unwrapping the present. Choosing to open the one that is definitely a Christmas jumper like the others. He chuckles as he pulls it out and takes off his plaid shirt to replace with the jumper, a quick glance around at the others shows that they’re all wearing theirs too and I grin.

  “Don’t you have one Angel?” Jensen asks.

  “Yeah mines in the suitcase I bought the presents down in” I reply.

  Rafe immediately gets up and chucks me my jumper and I pull it on, a massive smile on my face. As the guys all go back to their presents my attention goes back to Atlas. He slowly opens his other present and his expression freezes. I’m about to apologise when a blinding grin changes his appearance dramatically.

  Wow, that things juat as dangerous the second time you see it as it is the first.

  “Thank you, Princess. It’s perfect” he says showing me just how much he means the words by the emotions in his eyes.

  “You’re welcome” I say softly.

  Sensing that he needs things to be a bit less emotional and if I’m being honest needing it to not be so emotional for my own sake too, I decide to lighten the mood.

  “So, does this mean you’ll play some of the songs out of the Christmas book?” I smirk.

  “We’ll see” he grins.

  “You didn’t say no, I’m counting that as a win” I point out and he chuckles.

  “The dark blue wrapped ones are from me” he replies ignoring my words entirely, I chuckle and pull them out. “How come my presents didn’t have as many bows on?” He tacks on the end and I pause.

  “Erm, well I was sober when I wrapped yours” I admit, the guys must’ve been listening though because they all burst out laughing.

  “You should’ve see her man. We found sat in the middle of the room surrounded by wrapping paper and with a bow stuck to her forehead like now, except she didn’t realise. It was hilarious” Riot chuckles.

  I reach up to touch the bow, I’d forgotten that was there. Ignoring them as they continue to fill Atlas in on my drunk antics, as if he hasn’t already experienced enough of his own drunk Ever antics, I turn my attention back to my presents and the one from Atlas.

  Carefully unwrapping it since he obviously put so much effort into wrapping it carefully in the first place. I audibly gasp as I finally open it and see the beautifully made leather sheathe that should fit around my thigh or onto my belt. Although beautiful what made me gasp is that nestled inside the sheath are two beautifully made knives. The hilts are interictally carved with swirling patterns and something written in Latin that I will have to look up later. I pull one of them out and test the balance. Although they are pretty they’re expertly made and deadly. I glance back over to a very nervous looking Atty and carefully put the knife back in the sheath with her sister. I then waste no time in throwing myself across the room and onto Atlas lap. My sheath and knives still clutched in my hand.

  His eyes widen in shock as I crush my lips to his and show him how much his gift means to me.

  “Thank you Atty. I love them” his hands flex on my hips and he watches me a soft smile on his face.

  “I can’t get over how easily he lets her touch him” Jensen says sounding somewhat surprised.

  “It’s hardly surprising. I mean it’s Ever.” Trick adds, and the guys chuckle and agree as Atlas’s smirk widens as my cheeks darken in a blush.

  I should probably be worried about the guys reactions to me kissing Atlas but they all seem absolutely fine with so I let it go. When I have that talk with the guys at the end of the trip I’m going to have to include Atlas in it now too. My stomach knots with dread at the thought of telling them so I push it away and focus back on the moment.

  “Come on Ever you’ve got more presents to open!” Riot says by my pile.

  I hop off of Atlas and he reluctantly lets me go. I spot Cash opening his present from me and pause before opening any more of mine.

  “Wow thanks Ever!”

  “No problem. I actually got tickets for all of us. I thought we could make it like a vacation, I’ve always wanted to go to New Orleans” I say as I fish the rest of the tickets out of my bra and hand them out, noticing that guys eyes linger on my boobs.

  Seriously?

  I smirk.

  “That’s a great idea, Dragonfly” Trick says. “And thank you for my present.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  “Ok I can’t take it open mine!” Jensen suddenly yells and rummages in my pile until he finds a small, flattened, rectangle box and thrusts it at me.

  I chuckle as I unwrap it being deliberately slow just to fuck with him a bit and making the guys chuckle as they easily pick up on what I’m doing.

  “Oh my god, Jensen. It’s beautiful” I say my voice hushed as I stare at the beautiful silver infinity sign necklace, with tiny, stunning, different coloured gems around it. I touch it softly.

  “Can I put it on you?” Jensen asks his voice devoid of humour but full of
warmth as he crouches down in front of me.

  “Yes” I say simply my voice filled with emotion.

  I stand up as he takes the delicate chain out of the box. As he drapes it around my neck and does it up he starts to explain.

  “Each of the different coloured diamonds represent each one of us. All eight of us” he says quietly.

  My heart leaps with overwhelming happiness and I spin in his arms practically climbing him as I slam my lips against his. His hand moves to my hair as he pulls firmly and makes me moan quietly his other one gripping my ass tightly and pulling me tight against his hard length. He nips my lip as my nails scratch down his neck making him growl. He pulls me hair in retaliation again and I can’t help but grin against his mouth as his tongue tangles with mine.

  “Whoa Jensen” Atlas starts but Trick interrupts.

  “Don’t worry they’re always like this. She gives as good as she gets and knows how to ride that pain pleasure line perfectly.”

  “Holy fuck” Atlas breathes out sounding turned on.

  It’s Jensen’s turn to grin against my lips he gives me one final kiss and then pulls back. Shooting Atlas a wink which has me giggling. I have a feeling that out of my guys Jensen and Atty are the ones that love that pain pleasure line as much as I do.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  “I take it you like the necklace then?” Jensen asks turning back to me.

  “I love it. Thank you so much” I say sincerely as he puts me down.

  “You’re very welcome Angel” he replies, “now open the rest” he commands as I sit back down.

  I grin and sit back down to open the rest of them whilst the guys open theirs. Rafe got me a set of books in his favourite genre, Reverse Harem. I remember him telling me about it when I told the guys about Kat, Rich and Marc. He winked at me when he saw I was opening them and had a decidedly naughty, yet calculating glint in his warm blue eyes, so I know there’s more to them than there first appears to be and I can’t wait to get stuck in. Luc gave me a tattoo certificate to the same place that I got his one for which gives me hope that he’s going to like his birthday gift tomorrow. I can’t wait to go and get my own done, although I need to take a while to think about what I want.

  I open Cash’s last and smile as I pull out a black iPod that will also fit in the arm band thing that Riot got me.

  “I’ve already uploaded some of the songs that I’ve noticed you like and I put some covers on there of me singing some of them” he says as his cheeks pink and he rubs the back of his neck with his hand nervously.

  “Holy fuck seriously!?” I exclaim, rummaging through my pile and pulling out the headphones that Riot got me, I look at them perplexed for half a second before I thrust them in Cash’s direction. “Make it work so I can listen, please!?” I practically yell, I’m so freaking excited.

  “Sure thing, Il mio Cuore” Cash says a soft look in his eyes as he starts to fiddle with the headphones and the iPod.

  “This is a lot of paper” Rafe points out and I glance at the sea of discarded wrapping paper surrounding us.

  “Let’s burn it” I grin, probably a bit too enthusiastically, because the guys all stop what they’re doing and turn to me raising their eyebrows.

  Although Jensen and Atlas have matching grins on their faces as they look at me decidedly amused.

  “Or in normal people words, why don’t we light the fire?” I try to smile innocently but all of them fall about laughing.

  “Sure that’s what you meant.” Luc smirks.

  “I did” I say indignantly but don’t fool any of them.

  “Ok, so new rule, don’t leave Ever with fire unsupervised from now on” Trick smirks and I stick my tongue out at him.

  He immediately grins wickedly and scoops me up off of the couch, pulling me into his arms as his lips land on mine. Like usual he takes completely control of the kiss and I adore it. The hard metal of his tongue bar creates a delicious contrast and has my toes curling with need and my hands pulling him closer. One of the guys clears his throat and starts chuckling as my hands travel south and I pull back slightly.

  “If you venture any further south Sweetheart, I have a feeling that it won’t just be the two of us anymore and as much as I’d enjoy that I’m not entirely sure that you are ready for it” Trick says quietly.

  I’m vaguely aware of the guys milling around and doing stuff in the background but my focus is completely on Trick. It’s like we’re in our own private little bubble.

  Once Trick’s words register my body heats further and I take a slight step backwards before raising my eyebrow and giving him my own naughty smirk. His eyes widen slightly before they go up in flames of desire before he can react any further a drink gets shoved into my hand by Jensen. He glances between me and Trick before turning back to me and smirking.

  “What did you say to him Angel? He looks like he’s about devour you” he stage whispers and I crack up laughing at the exasperated but amused look on Trick’s face.

  When I don’t say anything else, Jensen raises his eyebrow at me I just grin my innocent grin and take a sip of my drink. He chuckles quietly, throwing an arm around me and then dipping his head to my ear and nipping it once.

  “Naughty, Everleigh. That’s my girl” he says proudly, making my heart pound in my chest.

  It does something to me when ever he calls me his girl. I love it. I wrap my arm around his waist and squeeze once. I’m in so fucking deep with these guys, there’s pretty much no hope of me resurfacing and strangely, I think I’m ok with that.

  “Why don’t we play a drinking game?” Cash suggests and I focus back on the room.

  All of the guys are back in here now and we’re all spread out on the huge u-shaped couch again. All of us with some sort of drink.

  “Sure, I’m up for that. What did you have in mind?” Riot asks and the rest of us make sounds of agreement.

  “I know!” Jensen suddenly exclaims from beside me, making me jump, he shoots me an apologetically amused look but carries on. “What about that game that they play on New girl, that looks like fuck loads of fun. New American, no that’s not right. Blue American? Fuck” he mutters and I smirk at him.

  “Do you mean True American?” I ask.

  “Yes, that’s the one!”

  “I have no idea how to play that” Atlas says.

  “Me neither” Trick adds. “Do you know how it works?” He asks Jensen who just shakes his head in reply.

  “I’ll look it up” Rafe chuckles.

  After a while of trying to find the right rules Rafe speaks up again.

  “I’m up for trying to play this at some point but honestly I’m up for a more relaxed drinking game right now there seems to be a lot involved” he says before he reads the rules out to the rest of us.

  It sounds awesome but very active and I’m feeling particularly lazy after the long day and awesome meal that Rafe cooked. I want to play a game but maybe one that we can sit down for instead.

  “I’m with you on this one” I reply, “I absolutely want to play it before we go home though” I add.

  “I agree with Princess. I vote lazy drinking game.”

  “Maybe we can play it for Luc’s birthday tomorrow?” Jensen suggests, agreeing with the rest of us.

  “What are we doing for Luc’s birthday?” I ask curiously.

  “There’s a bar down in town that doesn’t card, I thought we’d go down there for a few after the curry you and Rafe have made” Luc says.

  “Sounds good. I have a fake ID anyway though so shouldn’t be a problem” I grin.

  “Alright what about a round of never have I ever and then a movie?” Atlas suggests.

  We spend the rest of the evening learning some surprising things about each other, drinking and then finally pass out watching a movie.

  When I groggily start to become aware again it’s still dark outside and I desperately want to fall back to sleep, still curled up on the couch and surrounded by all of the guys excep
t Atlas. Unfortunately my damn bladder is hearing none of it and I reluctantly untangle myself from my snuggle partners. At this point my eyes are pretty much closed still and I have no idea who I was even snuggled with. I only opened them long enough to register that Atlas was missing and that was about it.

  I stumble my way upstairs and to my room, since in my sleepy state I can’t remember if there is even a bathroom downstairs. I make it to my room unscathed but half way up the stairs decided it’s probably a good idea if I open at least one of my eyes since I nearly fell back down them. Once I’ve done my business I decide that the trip back down the stairs is too perilous with only one eye open and I’m not willing to open the other one so I crash into my bed instead, I barely manage to get myself under the covers before I’m drifting back into unconsciousness.

  I regret the decision not to go back downstairs to the guys the instant the nightmares inky black tendrils grab a hold of me and pull me under.

  Fuck.

  Atlas

  I scream myself awake as I’m hurled into consciousness and immediately start swinging before I wake more and remember where I am. I take gulping breaths trying to calm my pounding heart.

  Fuck.

  It sucked leaving everyone downstairs, all of them asleep and somehow managing to surround Ever. I couldn’t risk hurting one of them or worse Ever if and when I woke up swinging. If I’m being honest with myself though I can admit that more than that, I don’t want her to see me like that. The nightmare tonight was particularly brutal. I’m not surprised though, I managed to pull Trick to the side before he got too drunk and after Ever had already fallen asleep and he filled me in on her past. It made me murderous and I’m out for fucking blood from every fucker who laid a finger on her, even though from the sounds of it she gave as good as she fucking got, they still deserve to die and if I ever get names from her, they will. Some of the things in her past align with my own and bought my own memories to the forefront of my mind and that's what triggered the brutal nightmare.

  After I’ve calmed down enough, I untangle myself from the covers and make my way out of the door, hoping that a glass of water will help to calm me further. As soon as I enter the hallway, I hear Ever cry out and before I’ve made the conscious decision, I’m sprinting to her room wishing like hell that I had a weapon but equally comforted knowing that I can end someone with my bare hands if I have to, it’s just a bit more messy.