Chapter 21
“ C an’t find home,” Phoenix muttered. His head crashed back and forth on the pillow. I woke up and reached for him, since I certainly knew about hard nightmares. They might have been why he didn’t sleep much. He continued, “Can’t. Have to get home. Have to get away.”
He wasn’t shouting, just muttering through clenched teeth. I wouldn’t have been able to hear him if I hadn’t been awake.
“Sssh.” I soothed, brushing back the hair from his forehead. “You’re home. You found it.” Was he remembering being kidnapped? Maybe when he first escaped but didn’t yet know where they took him. “You’re okay. You’re safe.”
He settled back down, and I let out a long breath.
“You’re an angel,” Jeremy whispered near my ear in a low voice. I rolled over to meet his gaze. “Seriously. That was really nice. I didn’t know he still had nightmares. Now I’m wondering how long he’s been hiding them.”
Jeremy leaned over and kissed me. I caught my breath, not sure whether or not to respond. His brother held me in his arms, and we lay in bed together. “Is this … fine?”
He nodded. “It is. I’m just kissing you. It’s perfectly fine. If I do anything you don’t like, you tell me to stop and I’ll stop. No questions asked. That easy. I promise.”
I met his lips, deciding to believe him. He kissed and kissed me until I felt almost drunk on the taste of him. I let myself float away in the moment, but Phoenix’s lips and teeth at the back of my neck brought me back to the present. I startled, freezing for a moment.
“Heard you call me back from my dream,” he whispered, stringing kisses along my neck in a way that made my heart race. “But Jeremy is the one getting to kiss you. I get to kiss you, too.”
I cleared my throat. “You both want to kiss me?”
“Up to you.” Jeremy kissed the end of my nose. “It’s fine for you to say no, you know that right? No is a complete sentence with us.”
I swallowed. “Okay. Kiss me. Both of you, if you’re really fine with it.”
“We are really, really fine with it,” Phoenix said emphatically before he dragged a line of kisses from my cheek and the side of my neck.
I made my brain work, trying to think past the sensory explosion. “Have you done this before? Kissed someone together?”
“No,” they both said, then Phoenix shook his head, adding, “We haven’t had much interest in any of this before, if I’m being totally honest. But you’re different. Somehow you exist.”
I smoothed his hair away from his face and he kissed me, his lips canceling the question when I would have asked him what he meant.
Maybe it didn’t matter, but I certainly couldn’t focus on anything beyond their lips, their touch, their kisses.
A lot. Anywhere they could reach. They each took turns with my mouth, until I arched against them with a moan.
My body was a ball of fire, as though every nerve ending stood up and paid attention.
I realized I would always be able to tell their lips apart.
Jeremy’s were softer than Phoenix’s, but Phoenix kissed more gently than his older brother did, with a sweetness that tugged at my heart.
I lost track of time, of the world, just breathing against them and being kissed until my head spun. Finally, it was too much. I caught my breath, gasping, “I think …”
“Got it,” Jeremy agreed then nuzzled against my hair. “Time to stop.”
“Yep.” Phoenix rolled me over until my back pressed against his chest. “That was perfect. You’re so, so perfect.”
“She is perfect.” Jeremy kissed my forehead.
I forced myself to breathe, to slow my heart. Holding me tightly, Phoenix placed his hand on the bare skin of my stomach, where my shirt didn’t quite reach my shorts, and I shivered, wanting more.
“No more bad dreams for either of you,” Jeremey said then kissed my forehead again. “Everyone is safe tonight.”
How did he know? I thought I stayed really quiet. “Did I wake you with mine?”
“No, but when you were awake with Phoenix, I kind of figured. You were tense next to me. Want to talk about it?”
I shook my head. “Not even a little bit. I want to revel in this … In the feeling you guys just gave to me.”
Behind me, the youngest Lent laughed. “We’re feeling it, too. Trust me.”
I don’t remember falling asleep, but when the bed dipped slightly, I noticed the light streaming into the room as I woke from a deep, dark dreamless sleep. I lifted my lids to find Barrett seated on the edge of the bed looking at us.
He smiled at me, despite the fact I lay completely tangled up in two of his brothers. At some point, our legs entwined, leaving us practically woven together, but they were still sleeping. Phoenix’s hand remained on my stomach, but Jeremy’s held my thigh.
“Jealous.” He rubbed his eyes. “I don’t usually drink that much.”
From the floor, Julian made a noise. “Are you shouting or am I dying?”
Barrett scrubbed his hand over his face again. “Neither.” His brother groaned in reply.
Phoenix didn’t open his eyes, but he winced. “What time is it?”
He might have asked a good question, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to know, as if the answer might push away our time in my secret next.
Right then, I wasn’t too much or too little of anything.
I was just … happy. I smiled a likely silly grin, thinking about how someday I could remember this moment, of being profoundly happy in a bed while in a room with four guys, and it would still make me smile.
Barrett pulled his phone out of his back pocket before answering, “One o’clock.”
I squirmed between his two brothers who released me only enough to sit up. “I don’t think I’ve ever slept this late.”
“You could still be sleeping,” Jeremy grumbled. “If someone hadn’t decided to get up and start conducting conversations.”
“We have to get up,” Barrett replied, stretching, which brought his shirt up just slightly.
I licked my lips, struck again by how handsome he was.
They all are . I put a hand on my hair, scratching my scalp idly.
It really didn’t seem fair for them all to look so good while wearing their clothes from the night before when I was obviously wrecked.
I tried to scramble away again to fix it.
Jeremy detangled himself from me, but not before he kissed the end of my nose. I kind of loved when he did that, if I was entirely honest with myself.
He yawned then put his head in his hands.
“I was curled up with the girl of my dreams, sleeping better than I can remember sleeping in a long time, so tell me why did we have to get up? They’re going to be getting the house set up for tomorrow’s party all day today.
There is nothing for us to do. We could have slept literally all day. ”
Julian managed to get himself into a sitting position, although he didn’t interrupt his twin.
Barrett answered, “Because Gran texted that she wanted one of us to take her to buy bathing suits and a dress for tomorrow’s party.
I think she will come knocking on Alatheia’s door any second if I don’t answer her.
I’ll take the girl you got to cuddle with all night out for clothes while you pull it together like you usually do so that our granny doesn’t notice we spent the night. ”
Jeremy nodded. “Yep, but I want to come clothes shopping.”
“So do I.” Julian winced. “Only I’m obviously in no condition to go, so I’ll go back to the main house, where I can quietly puke and shower until I’m human again.”
Phoenix laughed. “That’s why I don’t drink.”
I shot him a look and he laughed harder. “Okay. Yeah. I’m going to go pop a pill. Maybe I’ll catch up with you later.” He kissed my cheek. “Thank you for last night. And great punch, Jules. Remind me not to piss you off.”
His brother snarled back, “Fuck off. You piss me off all the time. If I was going to hit you, I would have done it already. Then again, you never know day-to-day what I might decide.”
Phoenix unlocked the sliding door to let himself out. He tossed me a little wave. “Safer this way. She won’t know we were here.”
“No, but our parents probably do, since they have the whole place on camera.” Jeremy got up next, stretching with a yawn. “I’m going to go shower and change. We should probably all do that, actually, except Julian, who I guess is going to puke. We’ll come back later to pick you up.”
Barrett pointed at Jeremy as he followed him out. “I love when you think you can make plans for the rest of us. It’s so amusing for me. But, yes, we’ll be back in about half an hour.” He winked at me as he exited. Quickly, I swung my legs over the side of the bed.
Julian groaned, then crawled over on his knees until his head landed in my lap.
As though I had done it a million times before, I ran my hands through his hair. “You’re not going to puke on me, right?” I hoped my tone was light, but I was only half kidding. My stomach churned at the thought of the smell, not to mention his poor granny’s bedding.
“No.” He didn’t lift his head, but his thumbs stroked up and down my skin rhythmically. “I promise not to puke until I am well out of your earshot. Everyone has gotten to cuddle with you except me. Can I claim one of your sides tonight?
I smiled, amused despite myself, at the idea of them setting up a schedule. “Sure, but I don’t think it’s as great as you might think. I woke Jeremy last night because of my nightmare, then again for Phoenix’s nightmare. He might even need a nap after the ordeal of sleeping next to me.”
Julian lifted his head, his eyes serious. “I’d love to be the one to comfort you through a nightmare.”
I stroked his hair again, trying not to let him charm me. “It might sound better in theory than practice. How is your hand?”
He blinked, confusion in his expression. “My hand?”