[Dallas] OMG I almost pissed myself when you weren’t answering, Had!
Tears stung my eyes as I quickly tapped at my keyboard.
[Me] I’m sorry. I turned my phone off after the pic because we were on a family vacation. And then… something happened and I just never turned it back on.
[Reba] Really makes you think about what’s important to you.
[Me] I swear, it’s not because you’re not important to me!
[Reba] No, no. Not what I meant. To almost lose someone you just found…
[Dallas] I can’t imagine how scared you were.
“What exactly did your mother tell them?” Neph asked, kissing my shoulder as he read the texts.
“I was just wondering that,” I said, wiping the tears from my cheeks.
[Me] Terrified. But we’re okay now. Trying to get back to life.
Reba’s dots blinked for several minutes. When they kept disappearing and reappearing, I knew she was trying to say something, but didn’t want to fuck it up. Or say the wrong thing. Finally, it came through.
[Reba] I love you, Hadley. You’re my best friend. I don’t care if you want to marry 80 guys, I’m never, ever going to judge you. Please, please don’t ever disappear again. I haven’t cried so much or been so scared in my entire life.
That did it. Tears tracked down my cheeks, blurring the next messages that followed. Dallas added something of the same. And then Reba some more.
[Me] Thank you. It means a lot.
[Reba] When can we get together?
[Dallas] We miss you. And I really need a hug to know you’re okay.
I nodded. The words ‘soon’ were on the screen, but I paused. Silence was now abducting humans and since we didn’t know what about certain people were putting them on their radar, it was best to keep anyone of any association away so as not to draw attention to them. I wouldn’t put my friends at risk.
I erased ‘soon’ but ended up retyping it. I wasn’t sure what else to say. Soon wasn’t defined by any specific length of time, at least.
Simms’ bubble dropped and though I waited for her to say something after I said bye to Dallas and Reba, she never did.
Bronte
Layingon the massage table with Taranis over me, kneading into my muscles, I stared at the floor, trying not to groan too loudly. He’d noted that I was feeling tense lately. And then Zilan had. When Raiden did as well, I decided that I needed a massage.
Normally, I’d just have called in our guy and he’d have booked a day for all of us, but Tara said he’d happily dig his fingers into my skin. He wasn’t professionally trained, but he was good at seeking out my knots and kneading them away. Sometimes, when he hit just the right spot with exactly the fingers and pressure I needed, I was sure that he was watching tutorials on how to do it right.
While we were all trying to live our lives as normal as possible, I continued to look over my shoulder everywhere. My shoulders were always stiff as I waited for the next bomb to drop.
Always waiting.
At this point, I didn’t think they'd come after us again. Not directly. Though I had no idea how many of their agents they sent our way, I knew there’d been a lot. A whole lot. And twelve storms took out an entire mountainside. The island still wasn’t normal since we were being rocked by harsh waves and storm clouds loomed overhead as if they were permanent fixtures.
‘Weather anomalies’ the human forecasters said. They were having fun deciding what they meant. No less than two dozen doomsday predictions were attached to the events, too.
When his finger dug into my shoulder, pushing at the knot that was right under the edge of my shoulder blade, I groaned something dirty. Taranis chuckled.
“That’s it, sugar,” he murmured. “Let me know what feels good.”
Shivers raced over me. I couldn’t help it. I could turn to goo when one of my men praised me. Seriously. It’s a problem. Because it doesn’t matter where we are, what we’re doing, or who’s around. One of them tells me I’m being good at something, and my dick is instantly trying to stab its way out of my pants.
Even the comments that aren’t necessarily praise, like just now. Taranis appreciating my moan and commenting on it was enough for me.Good pet. Moan to tell meI’mdoing a good job.
