Chapter Fifty-Three
Maddie
Hours later, after everything has settled, food has finally been eaten, my parents have reluctantly left after giving their approval, and my girls have insisted on staying over, I don’t have the heart to turn them away after scaring them into rushing over.
Which means all four of us have crammed into my bed like a tin of emotionally exhausted sardines with no room to spare.
The starfish named AJ takes up most of the bed, while Zelda becomes a comforter criminal, hogging the damned thing as though she’s the only one lying in my bed.
Henley sleeps peacefully through it all, because she’s apparently God’s favorite, while I can do nothing but stare up at the ceiling, unable to succumb to slumber.
Every single time my eyes shut, I hear it. The sound of the gunshot. Rayne shouting my name. The screams of the people watching nearby. It all echoes in my mind the moment I close my eyelids, and by the time two in the morning crawls around, I decide enough is enough.
Slipping out of bed, as graceful as a trash panda falling out of a garbage can, I climb over my friends.
I’m grateful for my best friends’ abilities to sleep through a war zone, because there’s every chance I army-crawl over AJ when she spreads out a little more.
I know for certain I jab Zelda in the ribs with my foot when AJ accidentally takes one of my legs out from underneath me with one of hers.
And Henley, the little dove, sleeps blissfully through it all.
Lucky bitch.
Finally finding my footing on the wooden flooring in my room after a damn near barrel roll off the end of the bed, I tiptoe to my dresser and retrieve my phone that someone has thoughtfully placed on the charger.
Swiping the unlock button, I leave my room before giving up on the notion of being quiet, walking down the hallway and to the living room before stopping and pulling up the group chat with my girls. I type out a quick message and press send before I talk myself out of it.
MADDIE: Can’t sleep so I’m sneaking off to greener pastures. They don’t hog the sheets or kick me in their sleep. Love your faces xoxo
As though only the ping of a text message wakes them from the dead, I receive three messages in quick succession, and I wonder if those bunch of hairy assholes were only pretending to sleep. It wouldn’t surprise me in the least.
ASHTON: If you die again, I’ll haunt you forever.
ZELDA: Do you, queen. Mwah.
HENLEY: Love you. Text us in the morning <3
Shaking my head at the audacity, I slide my feet into my Vans before ditching my apartment for the one below. It’s dark when I let myself in quietly, hissing under my breath when I bump my arm against the doorframe as I enter.
That hiss brings the attention of the four bodies taking up space in the living room, only a dimly lit lamp highlighting my guys as they sit in various positions around the room.
I’m pretty impressed by the synchronicity, even if it’s creepy as shit, four sets of eyes watching as I shuffle into the living room.
“That lasted a total of four hours. I win. Pay up,” Caiden declares quietly, holding his hand out to Ryan first, who slaps a ten-dollar bill into his hand. Bax does the same, followed quickly by Rayne, and I frown at all four of them.
“What the hell?” I blurt. “What was the bet?”
“How long it would take before you came here,” Baxter answers, smirking over at me. “My bet was three hours.”
“I had ten on two,” Ryan declares, sending me a sheepish grin.
Frowning, I stare at Rayne questioningly. He looks over at me before looking away quickly, only then muttering, “I was pretty sure you’d be here an hour after we left.”
“Wow. Unbelievable,” I grumble, crossing my arms and then dropping them with a groan, the pain doing a fine number on my memory. I will remember I have a bullet wound in my arm, of that I am determined, damn it.
Feeling petty, I turn to leave, reaching for the door handle with my good arm.
My hand only just wraps around it before I’m airborne, my Vans slipping off my feet the moment they end up in the air.
I squeak in surprise as my good hand drops to Caid’s muscled forearm while the other hangs limply at my side.
“I don’t think so, Blue,” he declares in my ear, and I hear that cheeky grin of his in his words more than I see it with my own eyes. “You stepped into the lion’s den, and so we’re keeping you.”
Bax snorts, right before I watch him drag several pillows to the makeshift bed that has been created on the floor.
Made of two mattresses pushed together and covered in a whole bunch of blankets and comforters, it appears the guys have created a comfortable nest in the middle of the living room.
They’ve gone so far as to push the couches and TV stand away from their original spaces, creating a large opening for the two queen-sized mattresses.
Eyeing it with confusion, I open my mouth to ask the obvious question, only for it to be answered a second later by Ryan.
“The bet wasn’t necessarily dependent on when you came down here, but more so when one of us would cave and sneak into your apartment to bring you to us,” Ryan explains, biting his lip to stop himself from smiling at the puzzled expression I can feel plastered over my face.
“You just made it easier on us,” Baxter snorts, poofing up a pillow before lying on the mattress with a tired groan. “Now that you’re here, we can finally sleep.”
Well, hell, that makes it sound like none of them were able to sleep without me. It certainly makes me feel better, the same problem troubling me into restlessness. It’s with that realization that Ryan’s words fully register, and I read between the lines with a parted mouth.
Their bet was how long it would take for one of them to come steal me away from the clutches of my best friends.
And Rayne was certain he’d cave after an hour.
Oh, my heart.
“There’s the light bulb,” Caiden snickers, depositing me oh so very gently onto the mattress, cautious of my arm. At least one of us is. Doesn’t hide the fact that he had the longest time out of the four of them, though, and so I do the only thing I can.
I glare at him.
“What? What’s that look?” he asks, suddenly unsure.
“You bet four hours? Four whole hours?” I grumble, desperate to cross my arms but thwarted by my bum arm. Fucking Toby, the goddamn goose’s ass.
Biting his lower lip, Caid holds out his hands in surrender and promises, “In my defense, I have a competitive streak a mile wide and I really wanted to win. Since your best friends promised to keep you safe and sound with movies and snacks, I was led to believe they would occupy you longer than three hours. I would have nabbed you from your bed much sooner if I thought I would have survived those three nutcases.”
And just like that, he breaks through my faux irritation, and I can’t help but laugh at the look of alarm on his face.
“They’re the best kind of crazy imaginable,” I promise, crawling my tired body toward Baxter before I lie down beside him.
With careful movements, he turns me on my side before slotting himself at my back, his warm chest pressed snugly against me. He slides one of his legs between mine before sighing into my hair, cuddling me to his body like he’ll never let me go.
Caid disappears for a long moment, long enough for Rayne to turn on a movie on a projector I didn’t even realize they’d set up, the ceiling becoming the screen for the evening.
Rayne then sneaks into the space on my other side, lying on his side to face me with a sleepy look on his face that battles against his urge to remain awake.
Ryan says nothing as he slots himself into a space beside Rayne, leaning over him to press a kiss to my forehead before he whispers, “Try to get some sleep, trouble. It’s been a rough day and you need the rest.”
I smile as he kisses me once more, pulling away, only to lean in for a proper kiss the next moment. I chuckle against his mouth, hyperaware of the two men on either side of me, enjoying how openly affectionate they are with me knowing the others won’t get jealous.
When he pulls back, Ry rubs his nose against mine before he moves back and drops to the mattress, tucking his arm behind his head just as the movie begins. Caid comes in shortly after, carrying more fluffy blankets, and pauses when he realizes we’re already bundled on the makeshift bed.
“Oh, you greedy fuckers,” he grouches, eyeing Bax, Rayne, and Ryan like they’ve brought him the deepest betrayal imaginable.
Understandable when he mutters, “The mattresses were my idea, and not one of you has the good grace to give me a spot next to our girl. Just you remember this moment. Karma and I can be real bitches when we’ve been slighted. ”
Pretty sure Baxter is already falling asleep, his breathing deep and relaxed, almost like he was simply waiting for me before he could finally drift away.
Ryan is yawning loudly, paying more attention to the start of the movie playing out on the ceiling than to his best friend, and Rayne’s focus is solely trained on me.
I’m not even sure he’s heard a single word Caid has said, and it’s that notion that makes me smile at him.
Caiden finally finds his place behind Bax, grumbling about the injustices of the world, before settling in with his blankets.
Eventually, he drifts off to sleep, arm slung over Baxter’s waist so he can reach me, his fingers resting in the crook of my elbow on my bad arm.
I hear a soft snore from the opposite side of the makeshift bed, confirming that Ryan has followed after Caid and Bax.
The movie plays quietly over the next hour, warmth enveloping me on both sides, yet sleep still won’t come.
I sigh gently and almost jump out of my skin when Rayne reaches a hand up between us and brushes my hair from my face.
I thought he’d fallen asleep with how quiet he’s been, and my heart stalls in my chest before regaining its ability to beat normally.
“You okay, mayhem?” he whispers into the dark, only the light from the projector offering some semblance of illumination. I don’t even know who turned off the floor lamp or when, only that it’s far darker in here now than it was when I first snuck into their apartment.
I nod once, my head bumping against his hand. Then I shake my head in the opposite direction almost immediately, Rayne’s fingers brushing through my hair at the movement.
“I keep hearing it,” I admit softly. “The gunshot. It keeps echoing in my head every time I close my eyes.”
Rayne grows quiet for a long moment, right before his arm finds a space beneath Baxter’s and he tugs me closer to his body.
He hugs me tightly, pressing his forehead against mine, and simply breathes with me.
He doesn’t offer me pretty words or decorated sentences to make me feel better, just simply exists with me while I feel the aftermath of such a scary situation I never want to repeat.
“You saved me,” I eventually whisper, tucking my hands under his shirt and splaying my fingers over the warmth of his back.
“I tackled you into concrete and you still got shot,” Rayne argues.
“But you did it very heroically,” I counter, and a quiet laugh vibrates through him.
He presses the sweetest kiss to the tip of my nose before he says, “Seems to be our thing now, mayhem.”
Tilting my head up to look at him a little better, only the dim light highlighting half of his handsome face, I sigh deeply before I finally allow my guilt to manifest with rushed words, “I’m sorry you got shot because of me.”
Instantly, Rayne shakes his head. “I didn’t get shot because of you.
I got shot because some asshole showed up with a gun and got a little trigger-happy when Bax ran into him like a fucking derailed train.
It wasn’t your fault, Maddie, so don’t carry that guilt.
It’s not your fault, and not a single one of us blames you. ”
Emotion suddenly clogs my throat unexpectedly, my chest tightening with so many feelings that hit me all at once it takes a genuine miracle to stop me from actively wailing like a baby.
Rayne notices, his lips turning up in one of those rare smiles that rights the world again, and he lightly presses his forehead back to mine beneath the blankets while the others sleep soundly around us.
Then, with the softest whisper I’ve ever heard come from him, he says, “I’ll save you in any lifetime, whenever you need me to, mayhem. That’s a promise.”
I’ll be damned if that doesn’t ruin every effort I’ve made not to have the breakdown I’ve been trying very hard to prevent.
I lean in and kiss him with everything in me, ignoring the tears that start to trickle across my skin.
Rayne smiles faintly against my mouth before pulling me impossibly closer, kissing me like he needs my lips to breathe.
Behind me, Bax’s arm settles more firmly around my waist, reminding me he’s there.
As if I’d forget. It’s impossible to forget any of these guys, and with one last lingering kiss, Rayne tucks me against his chest. My head leans against where I hear his heart beating, and it acts as my own personal lullaby, my eyes drifting closed with every steady drum.
While Ryan shifts closer against Rayne’s shoulder, and Caid mumbles something incoherent about protein shakes and chicken from behind Baxter, I sigh as my shoulders finally relax and my head clears enough that I no longer feel like I’m going crazy.
Eventually, wrapped tightly between all four of them, my own heartbeat finally slows enough for sleep to find me, too. I succumb easily, slipping into slumber surrounded by warmth, love, and a newfound feeling of freedom that chases me all the way into my dreamland.