51 Francesca
I wake up in Christian’s bed, pinned between him and Jamie.
When I glance down, I find Ryan curled at the foot of the bed, one arm draped over my legs.
My chest squeezes.
I have no idea how it was decided that all three of them would sleep with me, but I like it.
I like it a lot.
For a minute, I just look at them.
Christian is sleeping on his back. I don’t remember the last time I saw him without his glasses like this. He looks younger. Ryan is practically spooning my feet and Jamie is sprawled across half the bed, one arm over his head and taking up more space than the other three of us combined.
I smile. But I also need to pee so I decide to start extricating myself.
I trace my finger lightly down Jamie’s arm.
He twitches.
I do it again.
His nose wrinkles.
A third time.
He jerks.
“Jesus,” he mumbles. “Tickles.”
I burst out laughing.
One eye cracks open. “Oh. It’s you.”
“Good morning,” I say.
He squints at me.
“You woke me up to harass me?”
“It wasn’t harassment.”
“It was absolutely harassment.”
“Such a baby,” Christian mutters, from behind me. I look over my shoulder to see him sitting up and already putting his glasses.
Jamie points at him without looking away from me. “He’s rude.”
Christian leans down and presses a quick kiss to my mouth before sliding out of bed.
“I’m accurate.”
“Fuck you,” Jamie says.
“Love to.”
Christian leans over to steal a quick kiss from him before he stands up.
And oh my god.
He’s naked.
“Did you sleep like that?” I ask, unable to stop staring.
I vaguely remember him tucking me in sometime after Jamie got back. We talked for a bit, but once he was there- safe, back with us- my adrenaline crashed and I could barely keep my eyes open.
“I always sleep like this,” Christian says.
“It’s fucking torture,” Jamie informs me, flopping dramatically back onto the mattress.
“Too early,” Ryan mumbles.
He rolls into the space Christian just vacated and wraps his arms around my waist, immediately using me as a pillow.
“Aren’t you usually gone by now?” Jamie asks.
“Yeah,” Ryan says, eyes still closed. “But my best friend got arrested yesterday so I took the day off. Was hoping to sleep in.”
“Well, get up,” Christian calls as he pulls on a pair of shorts. “We have a busy day.”
Ryan groans.
Jamie groans louder.
But I can't stop smiling.
In the bathroom, I study myself in the mirror.
I look… rough. There are faint bruises where Gary’s fingers dug into my cheeks- those will fade in a day or two. My shoulder is worse, deep purples and reds spreading across the skin, tender enough that even a light touch makes me wince.
I dab medicine onto the cut, but leave it uncovered. I don’t think it needs stiches but definitely is going to take a few days to heal.
By the time I step back into the hallway, everyone is up and in motion. We hadn’t planned on moving for another week, but apparently that’s changed and we are moving today.
Christian is on the phone, snapping directions to someone. He crosses to me mid-conversation, a cup of coffee already in hand, pressing it into mine.
He leans in, brushes a kiss to my forehead then turns away again without breaking stride, continuing the call.
From that moment on, I’m essentially useless.
Things start happening fast. People show up and start packing the remaining things we haven’t gotten to, carrying boxes out of the house and loading them onto a truck.
The guys won’t let me carry anything. Not that I could, even if they did, but still.
Every time I try to help, one of them intercepts- taking the box, the bag, even my phone at one point.
It happens so fast I barely have time to process it.
One minute we’re there. The next, we’re not.
We pull up to the new place and Jamie and Ryan immediately start arguing about nonsense- where the couch should go, who called dibs on which bedroom- but I just stand there, not really passing the threshold.
Christian notices right away.
“Hey,” he says quietly.
He steps into my space and I close my eyes, taking a deep breath.
“You don’t have to do everything today,” he says. “Or anything.”
“I just…” I swallow. “I need a minute.”
He nods. “Your bedroom’s done. No one’s in there.”
He takes my hand and leads me upstairs, down the hallway to the room at the end. The door closes softly behind us, muting the rest of the house.
I take a few steps in- and stop.
I don’t know what I expected. Probably Christian’s old bed.
Instead, there’s something else entirely.
It’s massive. Like, almost comically large. It isn’t made yet. A bag sits beside it, open just enough to reveal pillows, folded sheets, thick blankets still wrapped in plastic.
“Where did you- ” I shake my head, stunned. “I’ve never seen a bed that big.”
Christian shifts. “As last night showed, four people in one bed is… a tight squeeze.” He winces, then rushes on, “Not that you have to have all of us at once. I mean, in bed together at once. Er. fuck,” he rubs his hand down his face. “No expectations. Just… options.”
I smile and walk over to the bedding, pulling out a fluffy throw pillow. It’s nothing extravagant, but my eyes sting anyway as I squeeze it tight to my chest and sit down on the mattress.
He sits beside me, careful of my shoulder, and pulls me close.
“I can’t believe you did all this,” I say softly. “For me.”
“You deserve a soft place to land.”
“I’m fighting the feeling that it’s too much. That’s it’s too much to do cause of me-“
He presses a kiss gently to my lips. “No. That house was our past. You’re the one giving us a future. Wherever it is, all we want is to be with you.”
His fingers lace through mine- warm, steady- and that now-familiar ache coils low in my stomach.
“Christian,” I say quietly. “I love you.”
His smile makes the ache worse. “I hope you know how much I love you.”
He leans in and kisses me again. This time, I turn toward him, knees brushing his leg, and when I thread my fingers through his thick, dark hair, he responds immediately. He groans and I feel it everywhere.
We tip back onto the mattress together, me on top, but then he quickly- but carefully- rolls us until he’s hovering above me, bracing himself on his arms, forehead resting against mine.
“You okay, love?” he asks.
“Yes,” I say. “I am now.”