56. Mina
Chapter fifty-six
I t’s been exactly two months since I woke up in the hospital, for the second time.
The guys have been taking care of me every moment since I got home. I thought I would grow tired of it, but I love having them around me all the time. I’m just tired of being stuck in bed.
Secretly, I started moving around my bedroom two weeks ago on the rare occasions when they would actually leave me alone. Max and Tucker caught me a week ago and, after I explained my frustration of laying in bed and my fear of getting other issues from laying still, they started helping me around my room.
Yesterday, we finally told the other guys that I was able to walk around on my own. They were upset we didn’t tell them, but they had been so overprotective they couldn’t be reasoned with.
At first, nobody would stay in my giant bed with me, afraid of hurting me. They would sit in a chair at my bedside. That lasted all of two days until I broke down in tears, thinking they didn’t want me, and that finally put an end to it. Now, I wake up surrounded by at least two of my guys every day, and I love it .
And today I’m finally leaving my room, on my own two feet. They promised me at the two-month mark I could walk around again as long as I had someone with me at first.
Today, Gideon helped me take a bath and dress, and now he holds my hand firmly as he leads me to the stairs.
“You sure you can manage them, Love?”
“Yes, Gideon, I’m sure, I’ve got your hand and I’m holding the railing.” I roll my eyes at him. I mean, I feel fine, like I could even jog or run, if I had any ambition to do so.
When we get to the kitchen, I whistle. “Wow, that is a lot of food!” I tell them as they pile an enormous amount of food onto the kitchen table.
“Well, we’re celebrating!” Max tells me like it’s obvious.
“Celebrating what?”
“You!”
“Oh…” He chuckles as Gideon helps me to a seat.
The guys pile their plates with food, after Atlas stacks mine with pancakes, bacon and sausages. We all eat as we talk and laugh about nothing in particular.
“Ok, I have to ask…” I start. This has been playing on my mind for a while now. “What happens next?” They exchange glances.
“ The Office marathon?” Max asks.
“Not what I meant…” I grumble.
“Well…” Dom starts. “You know we’ve been putting off work while you recovered. But now you’re better, we can get back to our business. I have a stack of jobs we can pick from.” This is what worried me. Where did that leave me? They made it clear I wasn’t leaving them, but what was I supposed to do while they worked ?
“So, Kitten. What do you think? You want to help me choose our next case?” Dom asks me and my eyebrows shoot up.
“Me?!” I ask in surprise as they all chuckle.
“Yes, you. You’re part of this family, so that makes you part of the business. You can try different parts to see what you like. Ben can give you books or websites to learn about this stuff, or you can enroll in some online courses if you like.” At my stunned silence, he continues. “Of course you don’t have to be part of it if you don’t want to. You’ve probably had enough crime in your life. You can stay at home and keep us company.”
“Or you could take any course or program that interests you. We can find something online so there is no worry about moving around where our work takes us,” Gideon adds.
“Or maybe you could find a hobby or interest that you enjoy. Like knitting or baking?” Max suggests, and I look at him like he’s crazy.
“You think I’m going to sit at home knitting scarfs while you guys are out there solving crimes?”
“Uh, well… If that’s what you want?” Max says uncomfortably.
I try to hold in my laugh, but it’s impossible, and I burst out laughing, the others following my lead.
“Of course I would love to be part of your business!” A round of cheers and hugs goes around the room, and I can’t stop from smiling.
“Alright, now that’s settled, it’s time for your presents!” Tucker says, rubbing his hands together in glee.
“What!?” I perk up. “I get presents? Why?”
Ben laughs at my expression. “Princess, when was the last time you got a present? ”
“Besides the ones you guys have already given me?” I ask, holding up my charm bracelet for them to see. It now contains charms for each of them, as Dom and Gideon didn’t like that I had nothing on there from then. Gideon gifted me with a charm in the shape of a book, and Dom’s was a lion. He said it represented bravery, for me, and dominance, for him.
“We have fifteen years of birthdays and holidays to make up for you,” Ben tells me as he leads me to the office down the hall. On the desk are six items. They range in size from a tiny one only about two inches big, to a couple envelopes, to one that is a couple feet wide.
I squeal in excitement. “They’re all for me?!”
“Yes, Kitten.” I go to dive in, but Dom wraps his arm around my waist, holding me back and pulling me to his chest.
“Hold on there, Kitten!” He laughs. “I didn’t think you’d be so excited by presents. I have to admit, I thought you would be a little weirded out.”
“Would you rather I was?”
“God, no! Now I can spoil you and not worry about it.”
I turn my head up to face him and pat his cheek. “Now let me go like a good boy so I can open my presents,” I demand. His eyes go wide.
“Why you little—” He goes in for the kill and I squeal as his fingers tickle my sides.
“Atlas! Atlas, save me! Ahh!” I squeal again and laugh at Dom’s vicious assault.
“You know the deal, I get one favor from you if I help you,” Atlas tells me with amusement as he crosses his arms over his chest.
“Deal!” Atlas wraps his arms around Dom, giving him a bear hug and pulls him back, freeing me .
Jasper wraps me in a hug, kissing my head, and pulls me in his lap into a chair before I can try diving into the presents again.
“Alright, Angel, open this one first,” he tells me as Max passes me a present and I don’t hesitate to rip the wrapping paper off.
“Oh my god! You got me a tablet? That’s awesome, thank you!” I hug the tablet with one arm and Jasper with the other as he chuckles.
“It’s from all of us, all the gifts are, Angel.”
“Oh, well, thank you everyone!”
“Okay, this one next!” Max says excitedly, passing me the next one. I glance up and see the eagerness in his eyes. And something else that makes me bite my lip and press my legs together as I squirm in Jasper’s lap.
I open the gift and my eyes go wide. “Whoa!” I exclaim, grabbing the first piece of fabric and holding it up. It’s red lace lingerie. I look through the box and find seven different sets, all in different colors. “These are gorgeous, thank you.”
“We each picked one out. When you put one of them on, whoever picked it out gets some alone time with you!” Max waggles his eyebrows at me suggestively and I laugh, but then think about that and how hot it would be, not knowing which one I was silently calling to my bed.
“Alright, Princess, now this one.” Ben passes me an envelope and I open it up. It’s some sort of subscription.
“What is it?” I ask him.
“It’s a one year subscription to an online resource. It’s full of video tutorials on just about any subject you can imagine. I thought it’d be a great way for you to browse some topics that might interest you and learn a bunch of new things .
“I love it, thank you!” I jump up from Jasper’s lap and hug Ben. Then I hug each of them as it’s technically from all of them, although that one has Ben’s name written all over it.
“Alright, Sugar, the big one now.”
“Oh, oh, oh, yey!” I yell, pulling it to the edge of the desk.
“Eee! A laptop, thank you!! Now I don’t have to steal yours anymore!” I say excitedly to all of them as I hug the box.
“You’re welcome, Love, now this one.”
Gideon hands me the other envelope and I open it up and shout, “oh my goodness! Is this real? We’re going to Aruba?!? Next week!!” I hug and kiss them all as they kiss me back and smile at my happiness. I mean, can life get any better than this?
“Hey, where did Atlas go?” I ask, realizing he’s not there anymore.
“Just grabbing your next gift, Malishka.” I turn around as he walks in the room holding the cutest dog I’ve ever seen. My mouth drops open and my eyes go wide. I walk up to him as Atlas steps towards me, looking nervous.
“Mina, I want you to meet Daisy. She’s an eleven months old, fully trained border collie. She won’t get too much bigger than this and is trained to protect us and keep you safe.” I stare at the bundle of black and white fur in his arms. She’s perfect.
“She… She’s mine? Ours? We get to keep her?” I ask quietly as I slowly reach my fingers towards her.
“If you want her, yes. I thought she would help you feel safe, and give you someone to care for. I thought you might get a fraction of the joy we get caring for you.”
“If I want her? I love her! Aren’t you just the cutest thing in the whole wide world?” I say, cooing to her as I pet her soft fur. Her tail wags and she kisses my fingers. I pluck her out of Atlas’s arms and drop to the floor with her in my lap. She puts her little paws on my chest and licks my face, making me laugh as I pet her. Max, Tucker and Jasper drop down with me on the floor and she runs around between us. When Max is cuddling her in his lap, I jump up and then leap onto Atlas, he catches me easily, as I knew he would.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you! I love her! I promise I’ll take great care of her! I love you!” I kiss him repeatedly and he hugs me tight.
“I know you will, Malishka. And I love you, too.”
I give each of them a deep kiss and hug.
“Alright, Kitten, one last gift,” Dom says, grabbing the last box of the desk.
“There’s another one! I forgot! I’m not sure how you could possibly top a puppy, though!” I laugh, watching Daisy, who’s running around the other side of the desk now. I giggle and turn back to see my seven guys all in a line, down on one knee. My eyes go wide as my heart practically leaps into my throat.
Dom’s in the middle with a small box in his hand, open, showing a beautiful sparkly ring.
I gasp and bring my hands to my mouth.
“Kitten, we love you more than anything in the entire world. Make us the happiest men in the world and say you’ll marry us. Say you’ll be our wife?”
Tears fill my eyes, and never in my life have I been more pleased to be able to speak than at this moment.
“YES!”
The End