72. Willow
WILLOW
The smell of waffles drifts up the steps into Noah’s room. He has had to keep some form of contact with me ever since we came inside, whether it be washing my hair or just holding me as we stand under the stream of water. He hasn’t wanted to let me go, and I can honestly say I don’t want him to.
“I think the waffles are done,” I say just as Jenna yells up the steps.
“Get your asses down here. You can fuck later. Food’s getting cold.”
“Is she always like that?” Noah asks as I pull his T-shirt over my head.
He glances down at the fabric covering my body as if it’s personally offending him before handing me my shorts out of my bag.
“What’s wrong?” I ask, stifling a small laugh.
“When it’s just us, I don’t want you wearing any clothes,” he growls as he pulls me against his body.
“But what if Jeremy comes over?” I ask coyly, batting my eyelashes as I look up at him.
“I’m changing the locks. All of them.”
“No. Don’t do that. Just tell him to call and give us a heads up, and no more showing up out of nowhere. By the way, how’s your head?”
I think both of us forgot about the concussion thing after everything that happened.
“I’m fine, Willow. I told you I’ve had worse. This was nothing.”
He closes his eyes and leans down to kiss me, but I stop him by placing my hand against his lips. His eyes shoot open as he looks down cross-eyed at my hand covering his mouth.
“Why?” he mumbles against my palm.
“It wasn’t nothing. Your head was cracked open. You were bleeding so much. You blacked out, and you wouldn’t wake up.”
I can still feel the pain from the fear gripping my chest. When I was holding his head in my lap trying to stop the bleeding, I couldn’t breathe. My mind just spiraled into what-ifs.
“Hey. Shh. I’m sorry. I promise you, though I feel fine. I’ll stop saying it was nothing.”
He wraps his arms around me and rests my head against his chest. I can hear his heart racing and feel the guilt he’s feeling from how that day went. He just wanted to make me breakfast and spend the day with me, but then everything has been complete chaos since then.
“Thank you.”
“Hey. Are you guys coming?” Jenna’s voice comes from the bottom of the steps that lead up to this room.
“No. We just finished,” Noah laughs, and I can hear the disgusted groan from Jenna.
“Nasty. Hurry up.”
We can hear her footsteps trail off down the hall.
“Come on. We’d better go before she comes up here. If she sees that bathroom, she’ll want to move in,” I tease, but honestly, I’m serious.
“Hell no. Having Jeremy here is crazy enough. Having both of them…Dear God. I would not be able to handle it,” he groans.
“Aww. I think you would secretly love it,” I tease, causing him to roll his eyes.
“Let’s go before I drag you into bed. We really should go to sleep.”
At the mention of the word sleep, my body uncontrollably yawns, and he laughs as he kisses my head.
“Breakfast, story time, then sleep,” I say, yawning again.
“I’m holding you to that. You’ve had a long night.”
“Are you actually going to let me sleep?”
“We’ll see, Little Rabbit. We’ll see.”
We quickly make our way downstairs to find Jeremy and Jenna in the kitchen together.
Jenna is sitting on the counter looking relaxed as Jeremy moves around the kitchen separating food onto the different plates.
She’s watching him with such admiration that she doesn’t even realize we’re watching them until Noah clears his throat.
“Oh, good. You decided to join us,” Jenna jokes as she jumps off the counter.
“Is that your ass print on my clean marble counters?” Noah groans.
“Clean? Sir, when I got here the other night, there was still dried waffle batter on the ceiling.” She points up in the air, and we both follow her gesture. “Well, not now there isn’t.”
“Wait? The other night? What other night?”
“Sunday night. I wanted to make sure the house was clean for you, and she wanted to help,” Jeremy cuts in.
“You came over here when I was in the hospital?”
Jeremy’s eyes widen slightly before he glances at Jenna then back to Noah. An unspoken conversation seems to pass between them before Noah nods and walks further into the kitchen. He steps up to Jenna and pulls her into a hug.
“Thank you, Jenna. I appreciate you helping clean my house.”
She looks over at me stunned, seeing as the night at the restaurant, he looked almost in pain when she hugged him.
“It was no problem at all. And don’t worry about those things under your bed and in your closet. I’m sure all guys have them.”
Noah looks confused causing her to laugh before swatting him playfully on the chest.
“Just kidding, big guy. Jeremy kept me on the first and second floors. I didn’t get to go snooping through your attic room. What’s up there anyway?”
“Sex toys, cocaine, used condoms, and rubber chickens,” he says seriously, and I swear to God I almost burst out laughing.
“Wh…What? Rubber chickens? Is that some sort of weird sex thing? Are you serious?” she asks, looking disgusted.
Noah tries to hold in his laughter, but he can’t. The look on Jenna’s face is priceless.
“No. Jesus Christ. I don’t use condoms,” he laughs before turning to wink at me.
“Oh, great. Willow, you'd better be careful or else you’ll have two of these running around soon.”
She jabs him in the chest with her finger before turning back to the counter to grab a plate and hand it to him.
“Seriously though, thank you for cooking breakfast. After we eat, Willow and I are going to get some much-needed sleep.”
“After you tell me everything,” Jenna says, quickly spinning toward me with another plate in hand.
“Yes, after I tell you everything. This looks really good. I’m starving.”
There are eggs, waffles, and sausage on the plate with some cut-up fruit. It looks so good and my stomach agrees as a loud growl comes from inside me.
“Oh God. Do you have his demon spawn inside you already?” she teases, and my eyes shoot up to Noah’s.
A smile instantly lights up his face at her words. I know he said he’s thought about our future, and apparently that means he’s thought about the possibility of kids too…
Jesus, Willow. One step at a time.