Chapter 22
Twenty-Two
Enoch
I spun around, smiling as I took in Shiloh’s form standing in the entrance to the living space. Her hair was sticking up in the back, but she looked beautiful anyway, still wearing my clothes. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes with a yawn stretching her face.
“Morning, baby.”
She blinked up at me, eyes wandering around the room as she stepped into the kitchen where I was making breakfast.
“Morning,” she mumbled, leaning against the island beside me. “I didn’t mean to sleep so late.”
“That’s okay. Jae ran to the store this morning and dropped you off some supplies,” I said with a nod towards the grocery bag on the counter.
Shiloh scrunched her nose, and I couldn’t help smiling at the adorableness of it. “Great.”
“How are you feeling?”
She looked up at me, and I could see the embarrassment in her red eyes and flushed face. “Fine.”
Freaking hell, I hate that word.
“Does that happen a lot?”
She licked her lips, rifling through the bag on the counter and snorting at the variety of products.
“Which part?”
“All of it? Any of it?”
She shrugged. “I don’t usually have sleepwalking panic attacks, no.”
I studied her, wishing for the umpteenth time I could just read her thoughts.
“Right. I just…does your therapist know about these ‘sleepwalking panic attacks’?” Shiloh shook her head. “I really think you should talk to her about them. I’m worried, Shy. You scared the hell out of me, but you also scared the hell out of yourself.”
I could tell she was shutting me out. I cupped her chin, tipping her head back to meet my eyes.
“You were afraid of me last night. You know I’d never hurt you, right?”
“Yeah. I know.”
“Then why were you so terrified? You were praying like I was about to murder you in the bathtub.”
She flicked her eyes to the side, and I knew she remembered the dream or maybe it was a flashback. Fuck. Please don’t tell me that was a flashback.
“Is this…” I chewed my lip, debating bringing up my own assumptions. “I know you got your eye problem because of your mom…she tried to drown you in the bathtub, right? Is that why you were worried about the bathtub last night?”
“I really don’t remember what I was dreaming about.”
I sighed, releasing her chin. “If you won’t talk to me, then promise me you’ll talk to your therapist. I don’t want to be lied to. Honesty, remember?”
She bit into her lip and nodded in agreement.
“Promise?” I asked, holding her gaze.
“Promise,” she whispered.
“Good.”
I was disappointed that she hadn’t been honest with me but tried to push the feelings of hurt aside.
I didn’t want to let it spoil the day we had to spend together.
And as much as I wanted to know every single thing about her, every thought, every fear, every desire… I knew I wasn’t entitled to them.
Shiloh insisted on helping me clean up the kitchen after breakfast, so I grabbed my speaker.
“Do you want to DJ?” I offered.
“Um, sure. Just fair warning though, I don’t listen to the same genre as you.”
I studied her face with intrigue as she connected her phone to the speaker. When the heavy guitar and vocals started, I was stunned speechless. I focused on the lyrics while I watched her fidget with her phone. I wasn’t certain if she was messing with me.
Shiloh looked up at me with a raised brow, “Are we gonna clean?”
I shook myself out of my trance and nodded, “Yeah, sorry. I just wasn’t expecting you to…well, I mean I guess it does kind of match your tough-guy facade.”
I turned the music down a little as I opened the dishwasher to begin unloading it. “How did you discover emo music? Or is this screamo? Sorry,” I laughed to myself, “this is totally out of my wheelhouse.”
She shrugged in my peripheral. “It was mostly my friends, I guess. I liked the sound and the lyrics of this one band Cole was playing, and it kinda just opened the door to music for me. I hadn’t really had an interest in music since…you. It was too much of a reminder of us.”
I nodded with a hum of understanding. “Well, it’s different than what I usually listen to, but I like it. I mean, I like getting to know these little details about you.”
I tried to get into it, broke out some dance moves which had her laughing.
I even convinced her to dance with me around the kitchen.
Admittedly, we weren’t getting much cleaning done, but it was much more rewarding getting to see her smile and laugh.
Watching her light up like she didn’t carry the weight of the world on her shoulders.
When we finally finished cleaning up, I turned the music off and carried her to the couch. She gave me the stink eye for not letting her walk the few feet, so I pinched her butt, making her screech and slap my chest.
I dropped her onto the couch cushions, her body bouncing, and tried not to laugh at her glare.
“Shitbird,” she said, eyes narrowed like she was scheming revenge.
She suddenly hopped up, spinning around to my back, and slapped my ass. Hard.
I winced at the sting, but laughed, my head swiveling to track her as she ran to the opposite side of the room.
Her eyes were alight with mischief as she bounced on her feet.
She bit down on her lower lip as she tracked my movements.
I smirked, stalking forward and watching her face as she realized that she had cornered herself in front of the fireplace.
“No, no, wait,” she pleaded through laughter. “Truce. Truce.”
“Nuh-uh.”
I pounced, wrapping my arms around her waist as she shrieked and swung her up over my shoulder. I chuckled as she swatted repeatedly at my ass. With one hand locked behind her knees, I used my other to slap her ass back.
“Dammit! This isn’t fair! You just wait ‘til I carry you around like a ragdoll.”
“I’d like to see you try,” I chuckled.
“Put me down, you shitbird!”
I spun around on my heel, heading for the couch and nearly tripped when I noticed a figure walking up the stairs.
“What the hell is going on up here?” Jae asked, his eyes bouncing between the two of us with amusement. Shiloh stopped hitting my ass and curled her head around to see Jae.
“Jae! Tell him to put me down,” she commanded.
Jae held up his hands. “Sorry, your glare doesn’t really work on me anymore. I know how much you like to cuddle to ever take your menacing look seriously.”
“You fucktrumpet, you should sleep with one eye open tonight,” she hissed.
We both laughed as he passed us on his way to the kitchen.
“You shouldn’t tell people when you’re going attack them,” Jae mocked, reached out to pinch her cheeks.
Shiloh swatted his hand away from her face and he snickered, backing away from her.
“If this is like foreplay or something I can just leave.”
I laughed at Shiloh’s exaggerated groan.
“Yes, please leave.”
“Shut up, Enoch! Put me down. You’re gonna make me pass out.”
I rolled my eyes, but relented, gently tipping her body forward, until her feet landed back on the floor.
She huffed, straightening her clothes. I guessed she had tucked her shirt into her sweatpants while she was hanging upside down.
“Shitbird,” she whispered harshly, but I could see the smile fighting to break free. I pushed her hair out of her red face, and she flipped me off.
I chuckled and turned my attention back to Jae.
“I thought you were going to be at the gym all day?”
“Yeah, I was, but I forgot some paperwork at home that the project manager needed. And I figured I’d eat something while I was here.”
I nodded, and Shiloh stepped to my side. I tugged her in front of me, my arms wrapping around her middle as I leaned my chin on her head.
“Well, since you’re here, Jae, um, my friends invited both of you to hang out with all of us.”
Jae smiled brightly. “Hell yeah. When?”
“Does next Friday work for you guys?”
Shiloh squeezed my hands around her, and I squeezed her back.
“Works for me,” I said, watching Jae.
“Yeah. What are we going to do?”
“Bowling.”
“Sweet, I haven’t been bowling in like a decade,” I said.
Jae nodded in agreement. “What are you guys doing today?”
I shrugged and tilted my head to see Shiloh’s face. “What are we doing today?”
She looked up at me with a blank expression. “I dunno. Do you need to do anything?”
“He’s supposed to start working on the flooring in the bedrooms,” Jae said, pulling out the fixings for a peanut butter sandwich. “We want to get it done before our family gets here.”
“You want me to help?” she asked.
“Nah. You don’t need to do that. I figured you’d want to relax today.”
“I want to do something you enjoy doing. And I feel like I should help considering the mess I left on your bedroom carpet.”
“Baby, that was just an accident,” I said, squeezing her forearm. “You don’t need to worry about that.”
“I know,” she said earnestly. “I want to. Please?”
“What happened to the carpe—” Jae cut himself off with a grimace, throwing up a hand. “Forget it, I don’t want to know what you were doing in the bedroom to ruin the carpet.”
I chuckled and ducked my head into Shiloh’s neck. “You sure?” I whispered against the shell of her ear.
She nodded and I left a kiss on her pulse point before drawing back. “Alright, well let’s get the music back on. We’re gonna tear some shit up.”
Shiloh snorted, rolling her eyes at me as I walked backward towards the stairs.
“Go put on some of my gym shorts and bring your cute butt to the garage.”
I smiled, leaping down the stairs. I didn’t care what we did, as long as we were together. But the fact that she wanted to do this with me because she knew I enjoyed it made my stomach fill with butterflies