Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
Mr. X pulled me off my bedroom floor by my hair. My throat was so sore from screaming, all I could do was grit my teeth through the pain. He was trying to get me on my bed. I couldn’t let him do that.
The moment my feet were flat on the ground, I fought. I hit him, kicked him, and scratched him. He grunted a curse when I clawed his cheek.
His hand wrapped around my throat and squeezed. Digging my nails into his hand and wrist that held me, I tried to suck in what little air I could. His other hand appeared out of nowhere. I only got a glimpse of it before pain flared like lightning on the left side of my face. I flew backward. I braced to hit my bed, but it never came, and I continued to fall.
I lurched up into a sitting position with the feeling of falling still twisting up my stomach. I was breathing heavily, and my heart was pounding in my chest as if I’d just got done running.
A hand rubbed up and down my arm. “Bad dream?” Creed asked, his voice heavy with sleep.
I looked from him to Colt, who was sound asleep on my other side. “I’m fine. Go back to sleep,” I whispered.
Creed didn’t argue and was out within seconds. Doing my best not to wake them, I clambered out from between them and off the bed.
“Where you going, babe?” Colt mumbled.
“Bathroom. Go back to sleep,” I whispered.
Colt also didn’t argue and fell back to sleep before I made it to the door. After relieving myself, I washed my hands, took a look at myself in the mirror, and cringed. I had panda eyes. My dark lipstick had smeared to one cheek. Hovering over the sink, I splashed water on my face and did my best to wash most of my makeup off.
As I dried my face and hands, I noticed my hands were shaking. I squeezed them into fists, hoping that would make them stop. My knuckles turned white and my nails dug into my palms until it hurt. Physical pain always felt better than what I was feeling on the inside. I needed to go for a run.
Leaving the bathroom, I tried to remember where I’d last seen my wristlet. I had given it to Creed to hold before Isabelle and I had gone to dance. If I knew the guys, they would have put it in the bowl by the front door. Going into the dark living room, I turned on one of the free-standing lamps they had next to the couch. With light to see, I went over to the bowl, and sure enough my wristlet and keys were there. I pulled out my phone, hoping the time would tell me four or five in the morning. My phone lit up and showed me that it was barely two-thirty. This town’s bars closed at two in the morning, meaning people were making their way home and some, who weren’t smart, were probably trying to drive home drunk. Logan would kill me if he found out I’d gone running at this time of night. What if the guys woke to find me gone? I didn’t want them to worry. But I couldn’t go back to bed. Just the thought of doing that made my chest hurt. I needed to do something. Keep myself busy.
I looked around. If I was quiet, I could get ahead of what needed to be done for Keelan’s birthday. I had asked Colt and Creed what to expect with Keelan’s party after learning about it. They had told me that people were coming over, they’d all hang out by the pool, and Knox would grill some food. To which I’d replied, “That’s it? What about decorations? Cake? Snacks? Drinks?” They had looked at each other, then Creed had responded with, “There will be beer.” After I’d heard that, I had asked Keelan if I could contribute to his party. He’d seemed happy at the idea and given me the go-ahead to do whatever I wanted.
Relieved I had something to keep myself occupied with, I ran to my house to grab the supplies I’d purchased. Back in the guys’ kitchen, I started with making the cake and getting it in the oven. Next, I made my mom’s chocolate buttercream frosting and put it in the fridge to keep cold as the cake cooled down after it was done baking. Knowing the cake needed time, I jumped to decorating. I refused to pause between tasks or to think of anything other than what had to be done. If I did, that might allow my mind to wander. I didn’t even slow down when my hair started getting in the way. Using two pens I found, I twisted my hair up the best I could without a mirror. Small tendrils of red hair I still wasn’t used to seeing escaped as I worked and I either tucked them behind my ears or swatted them out of my face.
I had chosen the colors of black, maroon, and metallic gold. I had managed to almost completely decorate the dining room. I went overboard with the amount of foil swirls, paper pom-poms, and streamers I taped to the ceiling, but it looked amazing. All that was missing were the balloons. The pump was too loud to blow them up.
I moved to decorate the kitchen next. I had just finished taping up one side of a Happy Birthday banner over the kitchen island when I heard, “Shiloh.”
I jumped a little and glanced down. Knox was standing by the dining room table, staring up at me with tired eyes.
I winced. “Did I wake you?”
“What the hell are you doing standing on the counter?”
I looked down at the second half of the banner in my hand that needed to be taped up. “Decorating for Keelan’s party.”
“It’s four in the morning.”
I stepped to the opposite side of the island. “I couldn’t sleep.” As I reached toward the ceiling to hang the rest of the banner, the height made me a little dizzy and I wobbled a tiny bit. “Whoa.”
Knox dashed for me. “Damn it, you’re going to get yourself hurt.” He put his hands up in front of him as if to catch me. “Get down, now.”
“Not before I tape this up,” I said, reaching for the ceiling again.
Knox cursed and grabbed my bare thighs just above my knees. The feel of his warm hands distracted me a little as I pushed up on my tiptoes and finished getting the banner hung.
Knox’s fingers dug into my skin. I looked down at him. He was glaring at my left thigh where the hem of Creed’s shirt ended, and his jaw was clenched.
I patted the top of his head. “What’s the matter?”
His angry eyes jumped to meet mine. “You’re not wearing any underwear.”
Gasping, I jerked to get away from him so he couldn’t see. He didn’t release his tight hold on my legs and I ended up falling backward. Knox tried to catch me by the back of my calves. It didn’t work. My legs bent and I ended up clamping his hands between the backs of my thighs and calves as I went down. My butt slammed onto the island, making a very loud thump. I caught myself with my hands before falling the rest of the way onto my back.
“Ow.” I closed my eyes, wincing at my now-sore tailbone.
Knox’s grip tightened to the point it toed the line of painful. My eyes shot open and I found him with his gaze glued between my slightly parted legs. Creed’s shirt was bunched around my hips and my bottom half was on full display.
Mortified, I went to snap my legs shut. The intense look he held stopped me. His eyes had darkened, and his brow was pinched, giving him a mixed look of agony and want.
I couldn’t tear my eyes from his, not when they made me feel…desired. Did he want me? Did I want him to want me? Yes, I did, and that terrified me. I brought my knees together and began pushing my shirt down to cover up. “Knox, I?—”
“Well, this was not what I was expecting to see when woken by a loud noise,” a voice I knew belonged to Keelan said.
Knox ripped his hands from my legs like they were on fire and moved back until he bumped into the fridge. We both looked toward the voice and found not only Keelan, but Colt and Creed standing in the dining room.
“Same here,” Creed said, frowning at Knox.
Colt and Keelan didn’t appear to be upset, but kept looking from me to Knox and back repeatedly.
“It’s not what it looked like,” Knox said.
“That doesn’t make you sound guilty at all,” Keelan said caustically.
“He’s telling the truth. I fell and Knox tried to catch me.” I pulled Creed’s shirt down as far as it would go. “Unfortunately, I ended up exposing myself.”
Creed let out a frustrated noise and Colt ran his fingers through his hair with a heavy sigh. Keelan was staring at Knox with a smug look that seemed to piss Knox off more.
“Well, actually, I ended up flashing him before I fell.” I was blushing badly. I cleared my throat and looked at Knox. “In my defense, this all could have been avoided if you hadn’t made a fuss over me hanging the banner.”
He frowned at me. “You were going to fall.”
I rolled my eyes. “I was fine.”
“Accident or not, that doesn’t explain why he couldn’t remove his eyes from between your legs,” Creed snapped and scowled at Knox. “You said you didn’t want her. You said you didn’t want to have anything to do?—”
“Creed,” Colt snapped, silencing his brother. I swore, whenever Colt hulked out, it always surprised everyone. It was such a drastic change from his kind demeanor. “It doesn't matter,” Colt said, calmly.
Creed’s jaw clenched, but he didn’t argue.
Colt’s attention flicked to me and his angry expression softened. “What are you doing up?”
It took a moment for me to answer because I was still digesting that Knox had told them that he didn’t want me. I shouldn’t have been upset about that. I shouldn’t have because I was in a relationship with Colt and Creed. I shouldn’t have, yet my heart hurt. “I couldn’t sleep,” I said and tried to scoot to the edge of the island, but my bare butt was sticking to the granite.
“Are you stuck, baby girl?” Keelan asked with mirth in his eyes.
I didn’t find any of this funny. “Can you all close your eyes? I get that everyone has seen my vagina, but I would like to get off this counter with a little dignity.”
Keelan spun around. “If it makes you feel better, I haven’t seen it.”
“Fucking Christ,” Knox cursed and turned around.
The twins averted their eyes and I hopped off the island. “I’m down,” I announced and Keelan and Knox turned back around.
“Did you sleep at all?” Creed asked me.
I busied myself with collecting the plastic wrapping that the decorations had come in. “I don’t want to sleep.”
“That’s not what he asked,” Knox grumbled.
I shoved what I’d collected into the trash can with a little more force than necessary. “An hour.”
“You need to come back to bed and get some sleep,” Colt said.
“I said I don’t want to sleep!” I roared. Guilt hit me instantly and I squeezed my eyes shut. I couldn’t believe I had just exploded on them like that. “I’m sorry.” They were pushing the matter because they cared. They didn’t understand. I opened my eyes. They all seemed surprised, except Knox. He was watching me carefully with his intense brown eyes. “I’m sorry,” I said again.
“You want to tell us what that was about?” Creed asked.
I forced myself to appear calm even though panic was building in my chest. “I guess not sleeping is catching up with me. I’m sorry I yelled. You’re right. I should go back to bed.”
Colt made his way over and pulled me into his arms. “It’s alright. We’re just worried.”
“I don’t want that.” I pushed away from him. “Let me just put the cake in the fridge and I’ll come back to bed.”
“I can do it,” Keelan offered.
“It’s your birthday cake?—”
“Just because it’s my birthday doesn’t mean my hands are broken,” Keelan interrupted me with a grin. “Go back to bed.”
I nodded tightly and let Colt usher me away.
“Shiloh,” Keelan said before we left. I glanced back at him and saw him looking at all the decorations. “It looks amazing in here. It means a lot that you did all of this.”
“I’m not done yet,” was all I could say before I walked with the twins back to Creed’s room.
I felt like I was outside my body watching as I forced myself to climb into the bed between them. I pretended to get comfortable with Creed snuggled up behind me and Colt holding my hand. I lay there with my eyes closed, faking sleep, fighting back my anxiety.
After they fell back to sleep, I couldn’t stand to lie there any longer. I snuck out of bed, grabbed my dress and heels off the floor, and left.
“Shiloh.”
I paused for a moment a few feet from the front door. Refusing to look back, I scooped my wristlet and keys out of the bowl. “I’m going home, Knox. I’ll see you later.” Not giving him a chance to say anything, I opened the front door and left.