“Lie down, brat. You’re making me uncomfortable all squashed up like that.” He grabbed a spare cushion and placed it down beside his thigh, indicating I could use it.
I smirked, shuffling down until I was horizontal. “Aw, you’re being nice because we trauma bonded.”
Another eye roll. “We absolutely did not. I’m being nice because it’s two in the morning and I don’t have the energy to be an asshole.”
“Uh-huh, sure thing, trauma bestie.”
A frustrated sigh escaped him. “Brat, trauma bonds require both parties to have experienced trauma together. We did not.Youexperienced trauma, but for me…it was just Saturday night. Now shush, they’re about to reveal the killer.”
I bit my lip, keeping my thoughts to myself. The fact that being kidnapped at gunpoint and then literally executing a guy was just…normalfor him? Blew my mind. I couldn’t even beginto comprehend the kind of childhood Connor had survived, and it sort of made me understand why he was a surly grump all the time.
But then it led me into wondering whether Ethan had suffered the same upbringing. Had he also murdered gangsters and called itjust a Saturday night?
The movie finished, and Connor didn’t ask before starting the next one, which I was quietly glad for. I didn’t want to go back to bed when I was so comfy right where I was.
So comfy.
My eyelids drooped, and my blinks became longer even before the title credits started rolling.
“Are you falling asleep, brat?” Connor asked in a low whisper.
“Mmhmm,” I confirmed, letting my eyes close for another extended blink. I thought for sure he’d tell me to go back to bed if I was going to sleep, but he didn’t. He just pulled the blanket up higher over my shoulders and clicked the volume down lower on the TV.
Glorious sleep had eludedme for so long that when I opened my eyes the next morning to find the sun shining brightly into the house, I was so disoriented that I didn’t realize for at least five minutes that I was still on the couch.
More than that. I was in Connor fucking Sullivan’s lap.
Holy shit.Holy forking shit.
Trying not to breathe too heavily, I stared up into his sleeping face. He remained in a sitting position, his head back on the cushions behind, and his arms were wrapped around my shoulders because I’d somehow shifted into his lap. Not on the edge of his thigh—nope, right smack bang on his dick.
Thankfully with a cushion under my head still.
What time is it?The sun was bright and strong, and I felt better rested than I had in almost a year. No nightmares had plagued me with Connor, and as I stared into the handsome lines of his face, which was relaxed in a way it never was when awake, I felt those tendrils of our trauma bond cement just a little stronger.
“Stop staring at me, brat,” he mumbled without opening his eyes, and I would have jumped, except I was too damn comfortable.
“You let me sleep on you, trauma bestie.”
Connor’s chest rumbled, but I swear the smallest of smiles tilted up the corner of his lips as he finally graced me with the gorgeous green of his eyes. “You’re an absolute pain in my ass, but even I hate seeing the literal suitcases you’ve got under your eyes. I wasn’t going to risk waking you, not even to get more comfortable.”
Fuck. That was actually super sweet, and if I hadn’t heard it from the man himself, I’d never have believed it. “I’m not sure you understand what literal means, gangster, but I appreciate the sentiment all the same.”
Realizing it was weird to still be lying in his lap—why the heck was I so comfortable with this scary guy?—I jerked myself up and shook off any niggling aches from sleeping on a couch…and a person.
Connor stretched and reached out to grab his phone, cursing as he turned it on. “What?” I said in a panic. With his life, there was no way to guess what would upset him. But it would definitely be bad.
“You’re late for class.”
Not what I expected, but worthy of panic all the same. “Fuck! Why didn’t Ethan wake us before he left?”
I lurched to my feet, flapping my hands as I grabbed for my phone as well to confirm the time. Ethan’s class was half-over, and there was no way I’d make it.
Connor reached out and grasped my hand, slowing the rapid movements. “It’s going to be okay, sweetheart. I know the professor, and I’m fairly sure we can work out an arrangement to get you caught up.”
Shaking my head at him, I couldn’t find my usually snappy reply, because for once he hadn’t made a snarky remark about me banging my teacher. It had almost been a cute jestabout me banging my teacher, and that washugeprogress.
“I’m going to run upstairs and get ready,” I said, knowing I still had a study session and a possible makeup class. I needed to check my online schedule.
