I cut him off with a yawn so big my jaw clicked. “Guys? Pick your sides. I’m going to bed before I fall asleep standing up.”
Bones was up first—like his body had been waiting for me to say the words.
Legend pushed to his feet next with a muttered, “Called it,” while Voodoo grinned and AB simply nodded like this was the inevitable outcome he’d calculated hours ago.
Goblin glanced at us, then climbed up onto the couch. He turned in a couple of circles, then sighed as he settled in and his eyes were closed immediately.
After giving him a loving scritch, I leaned over to press a kiss to the top of his head. “Sleep well.” His tail thumped once as I headed up the stairs. Bones was already waiting for me and he motioned me ahead, then fell in behind me.
Behind me, Voodoo murmured to Legend, “I’m telling you, I’m not cuddling you if you drift into my space.”
“Please,” Legend scoffed. “You couldn’t handle cuddling me.”
“Boys,” Bones growled.
And even half-asleep, bruised, and dragging their feet…
They made me happier than I ever imagined I could be.
Bones led the way toward the bedrooms, slow but purposeful, like his body was running on fumes and stubbornness alone. The upstairs hallway was narrow, dim, quiet except for the soft steps behind me. Bones opened the door to the largest room and paused. “We’re combining beds.”
I blinked. “What?”
Legend brushed past us with an evaluating look at the layout. “Oh yeah. Lose the nightstands, then put Queen goes against one wall, king wedged against the other, create one giant sleeping surface.”
Voodoo was already in the doorway of the next room, inspecting the queen bed like he was planning a heist. “Alphabet, grab the other side.”
AB didn’t even argue. He just said, “On three,” and the two of them lifted the frame like it weighed nothing. It definitely did not weigh nothing—I’d tried moving one of those once and nearly dislocated my whole soul.
Bones muttered, “Idiots,” but he got the nightstands moved and helped Legend shove the king over before he paused to watch. He always watched. Making sure everyone was okay even in the most ridiculous of moments.
Legend stripped the blankets off the king-sized bed and rolled them to the side. “We’re gonna need all the pillows.”
“All of them,” Voodoo echoes solemnly, as though this were a tactical operation.
AB and Voodoo backed through the doorway, carefully maneuvering the queen mattress and frame. The two of them lined it up with the side of the king bed while Legend guided angles like an air traffic controller.
Bones helped too—he just did it with a growl and a wince every time his ribs objected.
Ten minutes later, they’d created a monstrosity: a bed so large it could probably host a small conference.
Legend surveyed their work, hands on hips. “Behold. The Sleep Platform.”
Voodoo added, “The cuddle battlefield.”
AB: “The tactical rest array.”
Bones: “The bed.”
I covered my laugh with a hand. God, the tension hadn’t fully left any of them, but this? This helped. The normalcy. The ridiculousness. The way they were all a little punchy and overtired.
Bones looked at me again—steady, grounding. “You good?”
“I’m great,” I said. Thankfully, it wasn’t a lie.
I walked to the bed, reached for the hem of Bones’ sweatshirt…and peeled it off. The boxers went next and I left them in a neat pile at the foot, where I could claim them in the morning.
Every man in the room froze.
