“Rory,” I say quietly, “wake up, darling.”
It takes a few tries. Her eyes fly open and she gasps for air like she hasn’t been breathing. She sits up and blinks a few times. Her cheeks are wet with tears.
“Mason?” She says in a small voice. She reaches out and I move closer.
“Yeah, hey sweetie,” I murmur. Rory trembles like a leaf and I carefully put my arms around her. She buries into my chest and half sobs. Her hands are shaking.
“He didn’t answer,” she whispers and I frown.
“Who didn’t answer, Rory?” I ask her. She starts to lean further into me until I’m holding her up.
“I needed him. He wasn’t there, Mase. He wasn’t there,” she mumbles those three words over and over again.
“Rory, lay back down, sweetie,” I tell her when I realise she’s not quite awake. Luc does this occasionally so at least Rory didn’t pull a gun on me.
“Okay,” she yawns. She lays back down and I pull the blankets up for her. She snuggles into her doona and sighs.
“Mase?” She whispers, opening her eyes.
I brush her hair from her face. “Yeah?”
“Will you stay?” She asks timidly.
I pull the blankets down and slide under them. She moves closer until her head's leaning against my shoulder. I shift so her head's on my chest, my arm curled around her shoulders. She sighs contently and I grin in the darkness.
She hasn’t known us long but she’s already so comfortable with us. She’s going to fit in our group so perfectly—she doesn’t even know it.
Just when I think Rory’s asleep, she asks me, “Why didn’t he answer me, Mase?”
Hating the sad tone in her voice and being unable to fix it, I simply respond with, “I don’t know, Rory. I don’t know.”
. . .
Rory ~
“This is where you got to, brother.” A voice wakes me.
The bed dips and I open one eye, seeing Maverick’s grinning face and close my eyes again.
“Morning, Rory. How come I didn’t get an invite?” Maverick smirks. I groan and my eyes involuntarily open to ahalf lit room. Maverick’s got a stupidly big grin on his face where he’s laying beside me, propped up by one arm.
“What?” I say, lost.
That’s when I feel the hard body against me. My head moves left and up. Mason’s half-lidded eyes connect with mine.
“Shut up, brother.” Mason groans, playing with my hair. He twirls a strand of my hair around his fingers and gives me a sleepy smile.
I look past Maverick’s smug face and realise I’m still in my room at Hannah’s place but I know for sure I didn’t have a bed companion when I went to sleep.
I mentally shrug and close my eyes. Twins chuckle but I ignore it, happy to doze off again.
“Rory,” Mason teases. I grumble and ignore him. He uses my hair to tickle my face and I smack his hand away.
“You better tell the guys we’re taking a mental health day,” Mason laughs, talking to Maverick.
“No one’s taking a mental health day. We’re all going to school.” I hear Alec scold the twins and my eyes pop open.
He’s leaning against the door frame, his arms crossed. His hazel eyes are framed by a pair of black glasses.
