10. Mina #2
When we get inside, I look around. Everything looks just as I remember it. I’m not sure why I thought it’d look any different.
“Tuck, let me have her now,” Max whines as they all follow us.
“Uh-uh. You snooze, you lose, brother!” Tuck laughs.
“I’ll do your chores for a week,” he begs as we follow Jasper upstairs. I’ve never been up here before.
“Nope.”
“Two weeks!”
“Not gonna happen!”
“You’re no fun!” Max whines.
“Oh, I’m plenty of fun, right, Sugar?”
I smile up at Tucker, touching his cheek with my right hand, and he leans into it.
“Here we go!” Jasper says, and I look up as we enter a room on the second floor. My eyes widen in shock.
The room is huge. It has two large windows that look out to the backyard and the forest beyond.
One has a desk under it with a computer, notebooks, and a bunch of other stuff on it.
The other window has a nook for sitting, covered in pillows in different shades of green.
One side of the room is basically its own sitting area with several comfortable-looking chairs.
One wall has a fireplace with a rug in front of it and an inviting pile of pillows and blankets.
There are two doors, and Tucker walks toward them.
Inside one is a huge bathroom with a glass shower and a separate tub big enough for three. There are gold fixtures and white marble tiles everywhere. It’s gorgeous. He takes me to the other door, which leads to a large closet.
It has a lot of clothes in it, and when I start to notice pinks and purples on some of them, I reach out to take a look. These are definitely girls’ clothes. I gasp and let go.
“Tucker?” I whisper to him.
“Yeah, Sug’?”
“Whose room is this?” I keep my voice low so the others won’t hear.
He laughs and walks us out of the closet and back to the main part of the bedroom. That’s when I take a good look at the bed. It’s huge, probably like two kings pushed together. It has a canopy draped over it from the ceiling and is covered in green pillows and blankets.
“She wants to know whose room this is,” Tucker announces.
“Tucker!” I hiss at him in embarrassment.
He laughs and I notice all the guys are in here now, some standing, some sitting on the edge of the bed, but they’re all watching me.
Dom decides to answer my question. “It’s yours. We wanted you to have your own space, somewhere you could feel comfortable and safe. Somewhere you could kick us out of if you need alone time.”
“Or invite us in to when you don’t,” Max adds, flopping backward on the bed with his arms wide.
“That’s… big,” I whisper to Tucker, but the others hear me too and smile, which makes me blush for some reason.
“Yes, and you’re going to lie in it and recover,” Tucker says as he carries me over.
Max crawls up and pulls the covers down for me to be placed into, then recovers me when I’m lying down. He lies on his side with his face propped up in his hand.
“Sweetheart, have you ever… cuddled before?”
“Max! No!” Gideon says, pointing his finger at him.
I laugh thinking Gideon sounds like he’s reprimanding a dog.
“Max, you know the rules. No touching until her wounds are healed, and there’s no risk of reopening any of them.”
What does that mean? Will there be cuddling after I’m fully healed? I can’t help but suddenly hope I’m a fast healer.
“Get some sleep, Princess, text us if you need anything,” Ben tells me as he places my phone on my nightstand. They each take a turn saying goodnight, but nobody touches me, which surprises me.
Dom exits last, and when he switches off the main light, a small light starts glowing by the bathroom door. It’s some kind of nightlight in the shape of a moon that reflects stars on the wall around it. I wonder if one of them picked that out for me or if they already had it here.
That makes me look around the room, my room, again and question where everything came from. I hope this wasn’t one of their rooms and they’re giving it up for me. But it didn’t seem to match any of their personalities. No… the person it best fit was… me.
It seems even the nicest room in the world isn’t enough to get me to sleep soundly.
I find myself tossing and turning all night, aggravating my injuries.
I’m uncomfortable and restless and can’t seem to shut off my mind.
How long could I really stay here for? What was I going to do?
Do I have to go back to high school? Do I even want to?
What if my mom finds me here? What if Simon does?
The sound of my door creaking open has me sitting up with a gasp as I clutch the blanket to my chest.
“Mina, are you alright?” The sound of Dom’s voice has me deflating, the fear creeping out of me as I drop my hands to my lap and breathe heavily.
He steps inside and closes the door behind him before coming to sit on the edge of the bed, placing his hand on top of mine. He’s wearing a pair of blue plaid pajama pants and a tight black tank top that shows off the skin on his shoulders and arms.
“Are you okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“I can’t sleep.”
“I thought I heard you moving around in here, that’s why I came to check on you.
Is there anything I can do to help you sleep?
A warm glass of milk or I could put more lights on, if that will help?
” he asks gently. I don’t think any of those things will help.
The worry and fear set in as soon as they left me alone.
“Could you—” I look up at him nervously, afraid of his response.
“Ask me anything, Kitten.”
“Stay with me?”
His eyes soften as he strokes my cheek. “Of course, lay down.” He stands up as I lay back down and he pulls the blanket back before climbing in beside me, pulling the cover up to cover us both.
I lay on my back nervously and am beyond happy when he takes control of the situation. “Turn to face the other way, good girl,” he says when I obey him. He moves himself up against my back and wraps his arm around my waist so I can’t tell where he ends and I begin.
He gently rests his palm against the bandage on my lower stomach, and my breath hitches. “Kitten, do you want to talk about it?”
I lick my dry lips and with a shaky breath I ask, “about what?”
“The doctor said you might not be able to have children. You haven’t said anything, and I wanted to know how you were feeling about it.”
I take a moment to consider how I feel. Mostly, I’ve been trying not to think about it.
“I-I’m angry she did that to me,” I whisper, deciding to be honest. He kisses my shoulder and it gives me the strength to keep talking.
“I’m mad I might not be able to make the decision to become a parent.
” He kisses me again. “I’ve never considered having children before, and I’m not sure I’d want them.
But I hate that the decision has been taken from me. ”
“I’m sorry she may have taken that choice from you, baby,” Dom says before placing another kiss on my shoulder.
“D—do you want children?” I ask nervously.
“Like you, I’ve never thought much about them. I think I’d be okay with them, if it’s something the person I’m with wants, but I’m also okay without them.”
He moves his hand higher, over my ribs and presses his nose into my neck. His warm breath skates over my skin, sending tingles everywhere.
“Dom?”
“Yes, Kitten?
“Is this cuddling?” I ask curiously.
He smiles against me as he answers, “yes, do you like it?”
“Uh huh,” I mumble, unable to say anything else right now. My mind races with a million questions, completely different from the one’s keeping me from sleeping only minutes earlier.
Is cuddling something all friends do? Why does it feel so intimate? Could I do this with all the guys? Could I do it with more than one at once?
“I can practically hear you thinking. Do you want to ask me something, Mina?”
“Is this… something friends do?”
“Sometimes,” he answers slowly. “But you know you’re not just a friend to us, right?”
“I’m not?” I ask in confusion.
“No.”
“Then what am I?”
“You’re our everything,” he says before placing a kiss on the back of my neck. That, combined with his words, sends a bolt of desire through me making me squeeze my legs together. Even though his words are vague and confusing, I can’t help but feel the sexual undertone to them.
“I don’t understand,” I whisper.
“You will. But right now, it’s time for sleep.”