34. Chapter Thirty Four
U nescapable heat is the first thing to wake me. That and I feel like I’m being weighed down to the bed by a ton of bricks.
I blink my eyes open, startling when I don’t recognise the room I’m in. I turn my head to the side, coming face to face with Pike. His blonde hair is messy yet he still radiates the perfection I’ve come to adore from him. His arm is wrapped around my waist with his hand squeezing my breast.
There’s a serene look on his face, still deep in slumber. I feel another body wrapped around my back and attempt to turn my head. Nicky’s body completely curves to mine. I feel the hard rod of his cock nestled between my ass cheeks.
It's only then that I realise the three of us are all naked. The only thing overing us is a thin sheet someone must have thrown over us.
I attempt to wiggle my legs, feeling they are too weighed down but two arms hold them tighter to their body .
I look down seeing that Dacre has my legs completely embraced and from the feel of the grip he has on them, it doesn’t feel like he intends on letting them go anytime soon. From the look on his face, I don’t intend on disturbing him either, even though my bladder is screaming at me.
I see another hand wrapped around Pike. Slowly pulling myself up onto my elbow, I find a sleeping and completely naked Sonny wrapped around him.
A chuckle slips from my lips and I can’t help but wish for my phone to capture the moment. Not only does the image warm my heart, it also brings filthy ideas to the forefront of my mind. Ideas I know the boys might not be interested in partaking in; not yet at least.
I know Grace would support my ideas. That dirty bitch loves a good sword crossing scene.
I take another look around the room, knowing there was one more person in here last night.
Dawson is lounged over one of the chairs in the corner of the room. Compared to us on the bed, he is fully clothed. His leather jacket and his boots are the only things he seemed to remove.
Watching him sleep, I’m able to really take him in for the first time in months. I had already burnt his image into my mind from torturing myself with the photos we took together, but it's different seeing them in the flesh. The quality is clearer and more perfect.
While Dawson has always been a grumpy cat, the stress is starting to show on his face. Frown lines sit deep on his forehead even while he is asleep but it's the most relaxed I’ve seen him since I arrived. Like even still during slumber, his worries plague him.
He feels like such an enigma .
Why did he come into the room with the other guys last night when he has been so adamant about making me leave?
Why do I still catch him looking at me from across the room, glaring at me like I’m a puzzle for him to solve?
And why the fuck is he such an asshole when not a single one of us in this room or this organisation alone can change what my future holds? He has known since we were little that this was my role. Was he the same way when we were younger?
My internal monologue of questioning must be loud enough to rouse Dawson as his eyes slowly start to blink awake. I watch as he takes in the room around him.
He sits up, rubbing his eyes before running a hand through his hair.
He pauses for a moment and I watch as he slowly starts to remember the night before. His head shoots up and his gaze immediately connects with mine.
I brace myself for the ire that I have become used to when it comes to Dawson. It seems to shock my system worse when he gives me a small smile. It slowly widens as he takes in the bed situation. I hear him chuckle as he spots Sonny entwined with Pike.
He takes his phone out of his pocket, pulling up the camera app. I hear the shutter go off as he captures the two of them. Before he takes another snap, I make a silly face, making him snigger as I hear the shutter go off again.
He tucks his phone away, before walking over to the bed. He looks down on me and must take pity on me as he slowly starts prying Dacre’s arms off my legs and instead wrapping the limbs around a pillow. I start shifting Nicky’s arms around me, halting when he groans and rolls over. I sigh a breath of relief.
Two down, one to go.
Pike is a little more tricky. Dawson hands me another pillow so I slide it in-between my body and his arms.
I wiggle myself up into a sitting position. Dawson reaches out for me and I take his help as he lifts me out of the tangle of limbs, not wanting to wake anyone else up.
Dawson sets me down on my feet but doesn’t let me go far.
“Morning,” he whispers quietly enough for only me to hear.
“Morning,” I reply in a similar tone.
It takes a moment for Dawson to realise that I’m naked and he’s fully clothed as his eyes roam my body, widening as he sees me.
He takes a step back and looks around the room trying to find something amongst the chaos of the boys stripping off in their haste to get to me. Eventually he gives up, stripping off his own shirt and pulling it over my head.
I’m left stunned for a moment. Not only at the fact that Dawson quite literally gave me the shirt off his back, but the eye candy he’s freely giving me so early in the morning.
Dawson may be a dick but he’s a fucking sexy dick.
“Do you want to go talk?” Dawson asks, keeping his voice low. I look up from his chest and see the vulnerability in his face. It shocks me enough that I don’t question or hesitate in saying yes.
He grabs my hand, silently opening and closing the door before leading me down the hallway to the dressing room.
Pinks’ is completely empty this early in the morning, so I know we are the only ones here.
I give Dawson a questioning look before he shrugs, “I thought you might want to wear pants for the conversation we are about to have. ”
I chuckle, nodding as I go and grab the spare change of clothes I packed for after my performance. I pull my panties and jeans on but leave the shirt Dawson gave me. If he thinks I plan on giving it back to him, he is sorely mistaken. You can’t give a girl a Bring Me the Horizon band tee and expect her to give it back.
I slip on my sneakers and run a quick brush through my hair, taming the knots. After the night we had, there are plenty of them.
“Are you decent?” Dawson calls out. I give him a muffled yes through the hair tie in my mouth.
Sliding the curtain across, Dawson walks in, smiling as he sees the shirt still on me.
He takes the brush from my hand from where I’m aggressively brushing as well as the band from my mouth.
“Let me do it,” he mumbles. I nod as he slowly starts pulling the brush through my hair.
He’s gentle as he slowly starts untangling the knots. A gentleness that I didn’t think Dawson could ever possess. Once the knots are combed out, he parts my hair and slowly begins to braid it.
“Where did you learn to do this?” I ask.
Dawson’s smiles but it's a sad one. My heart clenches as he stays silent for a while. He twists my hair right until the end before tying it off with the hair tie.
“Before you were taken from us, I used to braid your hair all the time. You refused to let anyone but me do it. Even your Mum wasn’t an exception to the demand,” he chuckles as he looks at me through the mirror, “You always said that I was gentle, and you liked the way I did it. Every day I would spend ages sitting with you, brushing your hair before braiding it. ”
I stare at Dawson in shock, “You did?”
He nods, smiling, “It was always my favourite time of the day. The smile you would give me once I was done always made it worth it.” He looks back down at my hair, reaching up and playing with the ends, “I didn’t realise how much those moments meant to me until now.” Dawson trials off and I stay quiet, allowing him to collect his thoughts.
Eventually he looks back up at me and by the look on his face, I know this needs to be said face to face. I turn around, facing Dawson properly.
“The day you were taken was the worst day of my life. I couldn’t eat or sleep properly for months after,” he sighs, “It was the same for all of us. It was empty with you gone. But each day we held onto hope that our dads and the rest of the ‘Birds would find you.”
A lone tear drips down his face and I catch it with my thumb. He hangs his head as he continues.
“When your dad came back, we were all at your house with our mums waiting. I knew from the look on their faces that it wasn’t good news.” Another tear falls from Dawson's eye and my heart breaks for him.
He looks up at me, tears silently falling from his eyes, “They didn’t have to say anything. I just knew that you were gone.” He takes a deep breath, “That day repeats in my head over and over again.” He grabs my head in his hands as he steps into me, “That’s why I keep asking you to leave. To go home. I need you safe, Scarlett. The thought of you being in any kind of danger is unbearable to me.”
I feel the truth in every single word Dawson speaks. I feel the heartbreak in his tone as he pleads with me. While I hear what he is saying and can sympathise with him to some degree, he also needs to understand where I’m coming from.
“I hear you loud and clear Dawson, I really do. But this is my home. It's always been my home. I feel like this is exactly where I am meant to be. Even though parts of this life terrify me and at times I put on a brave face, I need to do this.
“There are women out there who need me. Children out there that are living through what I somehow survived. I feel like this is my calling. Not being some barista in some beach side town in Australia, but being a figure in this organisation and saving lives,” I plead with Dawson, begging him to understand me. I don’t know why I need his approval or support of me being here but I do. I’ve craved it from the moment he snubbed me when I first returned.
I see the fear written all over his face, the same emotion that has been haunting him all this time, “But what if something happens and you get hurt again? I can’t live through that. I don’t think any of us can handle losing you again. And there’s a risk of that being here.”
I nod my head agreeing with him, “I know that. Trust me I do. I’ve been warned relentlessly by Mum, Dad and Rhodes. I see just how serious it is just based on the training we do. But I need you to put some faith in me,” I say gripping Dawson’s hands,
“I’m not an eight-year-old child. I’m not entirely defenceless. And with the five of you standing at my back, I know that I can do this.” I pause as I look deep into Dawson’s eyes, “Have faith in me.”
Dawson remains silent for a moment as he assesses me. It feels like he’s dissecting me. Inspecting every single facet of me.
Eventually he nods, “I’ll try. But I swear to God if you get injured again, I’m locking you up and bubble wrapping you. ”
We both laugh, breaking the tension in the room. Dawson’s hands drop from my face but he grabs my waist, like he’s not quite ready to let go of me yet.
I point a finger at him, remembering myself and just how much of an asshole he’s been, “This doesn’t mean that things are okay between us. You have a fuck load of grovelling to do and I don’t plan on letting you off easy. You’ve been a fucking cunt.”
Dawson winces, “Shit, that’s not even the friend kind of cunt I’ve heard you call people before either.”
I raise my eyebrow and he lifts his hands in surrender, “I know. I have been a cunt. But I promise to ease up. I don’t expect anything between us.”
I nod in agreement, “Friends?” I say as I hold a hand out. I still internally wince at the word. Being friends with Dawson doesn’t seem achievable but it's better than being at war with him.
“Friends,” he nods as he puts his hand in mine and shakes.
Eventually we both let go of each other. I round up all of the shit I’ve spread around the dressing room, looking around to make sure I’ve got everything. Knowing me, I will have forgotten something for sure. Dawson grabs my bag off me as we walk out of the dressing room and back down to the room where the boys are still asleep .
They’ve moved since Dawson and I left. Pike and Sonny are still spooning but now Dacre is holding Nicky’s legs, having ditched the pillow.
Dawson snorts as we walk in, pulling his phone back out again to grab a couple of snaps of the moved positions.
“You need to send me all of those photos,” I giggle as I walk over towards Dacre.
“Already done,” Dawson says as he puts my bag down in the corner.
I run my fingers through Dacre’s hair, giggling as he smiles and snuggles his face further into Nicky’s legs who makes a groaning sound before trying to dislodge Dacre’s hold.
Dacre frowns before opening his eyes. His face brightens when he sees me in front of him but quickly morphs into confusion as he looks at the legs he’s cuddling then back to me.
He groans as he lets go of Nicky, “Was I cuddling Nicky’s legs all night?”
I giggle as Dacre pulls me into his lap once he sits up. A thin sheet is the only thing between me and his morning wood but he doesn’t acknowledge it and neither do I. He buries his head into my hair, hiding himself from reality.
Nicky eventually sits up too smiling when he sees me wrapped in Dacre’s arms,
“Morning, baby girl.”
“Morning, Nicky.”
Our low conversation seems to rouse Pike, who looks down at the arms wrapped around his waist. He groans before rolling out of Sonny’s embrace and pushing the sleeping man out of bed.
He hits the floor with a loud thunk .
“What the fuck,” he slurs as he pops up over the side of the bed rubbing his eyes before looking at all of us confused.
“The fuck is, I’m not your little spoon, Sonny,” Pike growls as he launches himself off the bed, finding his boxers and jeans before pulling them back on.
Sonny just shrugs as he pulls himself back up onto the bed, “Not my fault you are cuddly, Pikey boy.”
Pike grunts as he pulls his shirt on over his head, “The next time I feel your cock anywhere near me without Scarlett between us, I’m going to fucking remove it.”
Sonny must hear the violence in Pike’s tone as he surrenders, holding his hands up. “It's all illchay, bro.”
I snort, shaking my head at Sonny. He looks over at me as that cheeky smile of his returns, “Like that one mi alma?”
“Sonny, for the love of my vagina, don’t you dare go all eshay on me.”
Dawson, Nicky, Dacre and Pike all look confused and like we are speaking a different language as their gazes dart between us. Really, we are. The eshay culture is ripe through the younger Aussies. Something I’m more than glad to leave back where it belongs.
Sonny just laughs at me. If I know that cheeky little bastard as much as I think I do, it won’t be the last I hear of him embracing the lifestyle.
I hop out of Dacre’s lap and allow him to get up and get dressed. It takes the guys all a moment to find their clothes from where they are scattered throughout the room.
I sit on the bed watching as they pull their clothes back on and one hundred percent embrace the delicious eye candy .
It’s still unbelievable to me that the five of them are interested in me. That the instant connection we formed in Australia hasn’t fizzled out. If anything, the heat has turned up a notch. Even with the issues between Dawson and I, there is still a spark there.
Once they are all dressed, they turn towards me. No one has to say anything, they all know what today means.
Today is Saturday. Explanation day.
If it was left to the guys to describe, from the looks of their faces, it would seem it's more like doomsday.