CHAPTER 3 #2
I’d woken that morning laid in my bed, pressed between Cal at my back, and Arran at my front.
They had both been laid on top of the comforter, but Cal had his arms wrapped around me, holding me tight, while Arram just lay facing me, a little space between us.
It had been a shock at first, but then I realised I was actually laid in my bed, not in the closet, and I felt okay about that with them there.
I had also slept through the whole night, without a single nightmare, which I had truly needed, so I had no objections about them being there ultimately.
It wasn’t until I extracted myself from between them to head to the en-suite, that I saw Dante had stayed the night too, sleeping in the uncomfortable chair from my desk, his head hanging forwards, and his arms folded across his wide chest. I smiled when I heard him snoring just slightly.
I vaguely remembered him bringing me up to my room, and setting me in bed when I became uncomfortable in his arms during the night sometime, but it was fuzzy.
I was still aching pretty badly and my left arm and shoulder were throbbing angrily, but I was more with it than I had been the night before. At least my head didn’t hurt as much.
I managed to slip from the bed without waking anyone and stood on shaky legs for a moment as the room spun slightly.
It took a few minutes but eventually I felt solid enough to move, so I crept as quietly as I could into the closet and grabbed some comfy clothes to change into, then slipped into the en-suite.
I worked quickly through my morning routine, brushing my teeth and showering.
I was pretty bruised and banged up, especially my right side which was a hideous palette of bruises.
I felt an egg on the back of my head as I washed and conditioned my wild hair, and moving my left arm at all was a definite no-no.
Just getting it out of the sling had brought tears to my eyes.
By the time I managed to drag on leggings and one of Cal’s hooded sweaters over clean underwear, I was completely exhausted and my shoulder was more painful than anything I remembered experiencing before.
I didn’t even try to put on socks, instead picking them up, along with the sling and heading out to my room.
Maybe showering and getting changed hadn’t been my best idea, but I just wanted to feel clean. My hair had been hard with my own vomit, and my clothes had felt filthy after being thrown down on the floor of that disgusting place the night before.
I tiptoed to the nightstand at Cal’s side in search of the pain meds that the doctor had left for me the night before, but tiptoeing was a bad idea apparently.
Dizziness swept over me and I lost my footing, banging into the wall to try and remain upright, and I gasped in utter agony as my shoulder took the brunt of the hit.
I closed my eyes to try and stem the tears that started to fall right away, and moved my body so my back leant against the wall instead.
“Cara?” I opened my eyes at the low whisper and found Cal stood in front of me. “What happened? What are you doing?”
I opened my mouth to speak but all that came out was a shaky, gasped breath. It hurt too much to even concentrate on talking.
“Come,” he took a hold of my good hand and led me over to the bed, setting me down on the edge. As he crouched before me I tried hard to take some deep breaths and calm down. The initial burst of agony was calming, but it was leaving behind a lot more pain than I had been in before.
“That’s it. Deep breaths,” Cal coached, and I felt a little better when he placed his large, warm hands over my knees.
“Christ, that h-hurt,” I gasped. I opened my eyes and tried to force a smile for Cal. I was pretty sure it fell short though.
“What did you do?” he asked as he moved some hair from my face. “Have you been in the shower?”
“Yeah. I had to. I needed to f-feel clean. Can I…where are those pills, Cal. Please?” I rambled.
“I’ll get them. Just stay here and keep taking deep breaths,” he told me, then I watched, confused, as he went to Dante and nudged him awake.
Dante’s eyes shot open and searched me out instantly.
I smiled a little for him too, but he didn’t look convinced by it.
Cal was whispering to him, then Dante stood and pulled a box from one of the pockets of the cargo pants he was wearing, handing them off to Cal.
They had hidden them, I realised, from me.
Dante had kept the pills on him so there was no chance of me getting my hands on them and taking the lot.
I didn’t even know how to feel about that realisation in that moment.
“Here, gorgeous. Take these,” Cal said as he held out two white pills in one hand and a glass of water in the other.
Desperate for some relief, I took them and swallowed them down fast.
“How bad is the pain?” Dante asked, and when I looked up again, he was standing opposite me, watching me in that inscrutable way only he could.
“Bad. I knocked my shoulder,” I admitted.
“Why didn’t you wake one of us to help you in the bathroom? I don’t even know how you managed, in as much pain as you had to have been, and with just one working arm,” Cal said as he looked to me disapprovingly.
“It was stupid. What if you fell and hurt yourself more? Could have fucking killed yourself in there!” Dante barked with clear annoyance.
“I could have killed myself having a shower?” I snorted. “Relax, Dante. I’m a big girl. I can handle showering alone.”
“Yeah? You sure about that?” he asked as he looked down at me with scorn, and I did kind of have to admit he had a point. I wasn’t exactly doing great at that exact moment.
“I’ll be fine as soon as those meds kick in,” I told him stubbornly.
“No over doing it. You got hurt. Badly. You need to rest and take things easy. Let people help you,” he told me flatly.
“I agree, Cara. Just for now, until your shoulder heals. Why struggle so much when you have us all here willing to help out?” Cal asked.
“I’ll try,” I agreed. “But no one is helping me in the shower, That’s a step too far.”
I felt pretty comfortable with the men I found myself living with now, maybe even more than that, but I had no idea how I would react to any of them being in the bathroom while I showered. I just had too many fears and hang ups when it came to that.
“We’ll see,” Dante grumbled.
“How about we get you back into bed so you can rest?” Callan suggested, changing the subject.
“I need to find Rafe, and see how Gia is this morning. They were both in a bad way last night,” I explained.
“I’ll find Rafe and bring him here. You need rest.” Dante was already halfway to the bedroom door by the time he finished speaking.
“Dante, wait!” I cried, and thankfully, he stopped and looked at me. “Don’t do that, please. I don’t want to pull Rafe away from Gia. I’ll find them, plus I want to eat some breakfast. I’m starving.”
“Come on. Lets all go and eat, then we can find Rafe if he’s not there already,” Cal suggested.
“Cara needs to stay in bed today,” Dante argued.
“I dinnae think Cara is keen on that idea, pal. We’ll just need to keep an eye on her, and make sure she takes things easy fer today,” Arran spoke up, and when I turned slightly I found him laid out casually on his back, staring right back at me. “Ye feelin’ any better, wee one?”
“My head does. My shoulder, not so much,” I tried to shrug, but that was a bad idea too. “Thank you…all of you…f-for staying with me. I slept really well, and I think that’s because I knew you were here,” I admitted.
“You only have to ask if you want us to stay with you at night, Cara. None of us mind,” Cal offered.
“She won’t ask,” Dante abruptly cut in. “Never asks for a bloody thing, does she? No, we have to just come and stay with her. I’ll take tonight.”
“Dante…” I sighed.
“Do you like sleeping alone?” Dante asked me flatly.
“I’m okay if I sleep in the closet,” I told him, but even I knew that was a weak argument.
“You cannae keep sleeping in there, Cara. Yer’ll end up wi’ a stoop to yer back,” Arran chuckled.
“I’ve slept in much worse places and survived.”
“Never happening again,” Dante growled. “No more arguments. You don’t like sleeping alone and we’re happy to be with you. I’ll stay with you tonight, and we’ll all rotate so you’re not alone.”
“You guys don’t have to do that,” I whispered, feeling embarrassed. What kind of nineteen year old was too afraid to sleep alone?
“We know that, but we want to,” Cal told me more gently from where he was still crouched before me. “We’ll all feel better knowing you’re sleeping soundly and that you’re safe, okay? Just allow us that.”
“Okay,” I nodded. “Thank you.”
“I ken yer no’ completely trusting of any of us yet, lass, but until ye get there, know that we care fer ye, alright?
All we want is to make ye comfy and happy in this house wi’ us.
Trust in that, fer now at least.” Arran said as he moved to sit behind me on the bed and gently ran his hand down my back.
“I do,” I agreed. “And I think I’m beginning to trust you all too. I feel safe with you. I know that much,” I tried to explain.
“Good,” Cal nodded, then he picked up my bundle of socks from the bed and started pulling them onto my feet for me.
It was a strangely intimate gesture and I knew my face was bright red when he was finished, but Cal just smiled and took my hand, helping me to my feet.
“Grab a blanket and her slippers please, Arran. She gets cold down stairs,” he requested, then before I even saw it coming he scooped me up and held me in his arms.
“Cal!” I cried in surprise. “I can walk!”
“I know,” he agreed, “But you’re not going to. Not today. We’re not risking you getting unsteady again and hitting that shoulder.”
“What if Gia’s in the kitchen though? She already thinks I have you all under some hex or something,” I reminded him, pain stabbing at me as I recalled her words the night before. She had asked if I were a whore. She hated me and wanted me gone. It fucking hurt to know that.
“Gia is being a spoiled brat. She just hates that she doesn’t have all of the attention in the house on her now, but the thing is, even when she did, she didn’t want it.
She’s barely even been home the last couple of years.
She spends all of her time with her friends.
I told you, she barely even speaks to me anymore, and she doesn’t bother with the others much either.
She only goes to Rafe when she wants something,” Cal told me.
“He’s right, Cara. Gia’s just throwin’ a tantrum because she got caught out a few times since ye arrived here – no’ that any of that was yer fault. Don’t listen to her shite. She’ll calm down eventually. She always does,” Arran agreed.
“I’ll set her straight if she says anything,” Dante added flatly, and I groaned, knowing that was the last thing I needed.
“It’ll be fine,” Cal laughed as he started out of my room. Somehow, I felt his optimism may be misplaced.