60. Lachlan
60
Lachlan
I was still awake, staring up at the ceiling. Chase snored, Ethan got handsy, and Nolan’s legs twitched in his sleep, as if he were running. Were none of us normal?
I couldn’t get over the look on Bailey’s face during supper. I knew she blamed herself for losing the game. The thing was, it wasn’t only her loss. The team lost. They had good players, and we just got behind.
Nolan’s phone began vibrating between us. I nudged him, eliciting a few mumbled words. I picked up the phone. “Hey, it’s for you—” I frowned as Beth's name appeared on the screen. “Hello?” I answered.
In the background, I could hear crying from a voice I knew all too well. I sat up and smacked Nolan until he popped up, then put the phone on speaker. Ethan was awake right away. “Hey, Nolan?” Beth seemed unsure.
“Yeah?” he responded sleepily.
“I think Bailey is having a nightmare. I can’t get her to wake up.” Beth seemed really concerned, but the crying was all I had to hear to get my ass moving. I went out to the balcony, getting up on the railing and reaching for the gaps in the slats above to steady me.
“It’s just me,” Ethan warned before grabbing my legs and pushing me up.
I pulled myself over the railing, the boost all I needed. Beth already had the door open, and sitting on the bed, knees to her chest, was Bailey. Her hands covered her ears as she shook, rocking back and forth. Her face was soaked with tears as she kept repeating “stop it” over and over.
I ran to the bed, getting on and taking her hands gently but firmly in mine. “Bailey.” She struggled at first. “Bailey, baby, look at me,” I pleaded. Fuck. Kill me now, because seeing her like this was pure agony. “Baby, please, look at me.”
She blinked a couple times, her eyes finally focusing on me, and then she threw herself at me. “I didn’t want him to,” she cried into my neck, repeating the same phrase.
“Should we get a coach?” Beth asked.
I shook my head. “No, we got her.” I slipped my arms under her legs and behind her back, cradling her close to me. She was shivering so hard, obviously going through some sort of response to something.
When I got to the balcony ledge, I whistled down. Ethan and Chase peeked over. Bailey didn’t need much convincing. I held tight to her hands and helped lower her down, feet first, into their arms.
Next, I climbed over, holding on to the slats and sliding. Nolan made sure I didn’t slip. I stormed into our room, following her cries. “I’m so, so, so sorry,” she sobbed.
Chase held her, but Nolan bent down, cupping her face with both his hands. “Bailey, what happened?” he asked. “Is it about the game?”
“I didn’t mean to.” She laid her head against Chase’s chest, eyes drifting closed before popping back open. Nolan let go and took a step back. “It wasn’t supposed to be,” she cried again.
“She’s not awake,” Ethan said.
I frowned and took a closer look at her. Her eyes were glazed over, not quite focused. “I didn’t mean to… No. Stop.” She curled on Chase’s lap, shielding herself from whatever she was seeing.
“B, wake up,” Ethan demanded.
“Stop.” I grabbed his arm and pulled him back. “If it’s a night terror, you shouldn’t wake her up.”
“What do we do?” Chase asked.
“Be calm, just try to soothe her,” I told them.
Nolan jumped up and went to the bed, pulling the blankets down. “Lay her down here.”
“Please,” Bailey whimpered, clutching on to Chase’s shirt.
The breath was stolen right out of my lungs. As Chase lay down next to Bailey on the bed, not leaving her side and letting her hold on to him as if he were her lifeline, Ethan got in behind her, reaching out and brushing her hair back out of her face. Nolan propped himself up in between them, next to her hip.
“What happened?” I asked, pacing back and forth. “Something set her off.”
“Chill, Lach,” Chase said. “When you raise your voice, she shakes more.”
“I didn’t mean to.” Bailey cried, and I fell to my knees.
“Stroke her, someone please just fucking hold her,” I begged.
Chase leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her forehead while Nolan curled his arm around her stomach, laying his head on her gently. Ethan continued stroking her hair. I wanted to touch her, I wanted to fucking take her away and hide somewhere, anywhere no one could find us. Somewhere the world would stop fucking us over. I was afraid my touch would scare her, though. They seemed to have it all under control.
“Earlier, on the bus, she seemed off.”
“She was crying,” Nolan mumbled sleepily.
“What the fuck? And no one told me?” I growled.
“You were busy,” Ethan said. “She wouldn’t have said anything, anyway.” He cleared his throat. “She said she wasn’t in danger, but I didn’t believe her.”
“And what about now?” I snapped.
Bailey jumped, burying her face into Chase’s chest. On instinct, I reached out to her, my fingers lightly grazing her calf.
“She’s still not in trouble.” Ethan glared at me. “I haven’t let her out of my sight for longer than the time it took her to change in the dressing room, and even then, I was right there, waiting.”
“Guys, seriously, this isn’t helping her,” Chase admonished. “Lachlan, come in here. I think she will do better with all of us.”
I shook my head. “If she’s having night terrors of him , my touch will only make it worse.”
“Why?” Nolan asked, and I shrugged, because I had no clear reason why. If she was reliving moments of being harmed, would the darkness within me continue to feed her terror?
Bailey mumbled something, her voice softening. “I think she likes that, man,” Chase said, nodding to where my fingers were doodling lines on her calf.
I could feel her legs relaxing.
I pulled away so I could flip off the lights and crawled into the bed, between Bailey and Chase. As I lay my head on her hip, continuing to doodle along her thigh, I kept my voice whisper soft. “I’m going to kill him,” I promised, my tone sweet and whimsical because those were the thoughts I wanted Bailey to have right now—sweet. “When we get home, I’m going to go into that fucker’s hospital room and slit his throat.”
There was a beat of silence before Chase spoke. “That’s not very efficient. He can still make a lot of noise, and he may not bleed out fast enough.”
“It’s also very messy,” Ethan said.
Nolan yawned. “Getting out with that much blood on your hands might be hard.”
“It’s not efficient, because I don’t want him to die right away. I want to look in his eyes as he realizes he’s about to die. I want to look in his eyes when the pain takes over and he sees his own blood covering himself. I want it messy. I want to bathe in the heat of his blood, pure domination. I don’t care if I don’t get out. At least she will feel safe enough to fucking sleep at night.” I turned my head, pressing a kiss to her hip without really meaning to. I just wanted her to feel safe.
“You can’t leave her,” Ethan said. “If she lost you, she’d be pissed.”
“She doesn’t want to lose family anymore,” Nolan said.
“We need to find a way without getting caught,” Chase suggested. “I’d be pissed if I lost you too, bro.”
“Yeah.” Ethan’s voice was quiet as he said it the same time Nolan said, “Same.”
I blinked back tears I thought I no longer possessed. For so long, my tears had been angry, broken, painful. Now…they were hopeful. I had a family that would stand by me. This wasn’t just some fucked-up relationship where we all shared one girl. These guys meant something to me. They were mine as much as she was. I was ready to end anyone who tried to fuck that up.