“But we managed to calm him down,” Kaydon added.
“Bet he gets a bonus if you make it to port alive,” Seth said, laying down next to her, tangling his fingers in hers.
Adria looked at her surroundings. There were fresh sheets, and she was in new clothes.
“You were pretty out of it, but we got you showered and cleaned up,” Bryson said.
Adria remembered the night before. The feelings of pleasure and safety overtaking her senses.
“Last night was…” she trailed off.
“We know,” Kaydon said.
A nagging thought entered Adria’s mind.
“Have you guys done that before?”
Seth looked hurt, and Bryson answered, “Never.”
She shifted. “You all just seemed to know exactly what to do.”
Bryson gave her a smirk. “Because we’ve talked about it a few times.”
Kaydon pulled her chin to face him. “You are the first woman or man we have shared between all three of us.”
Seth pressed his face into her belly. “And the last.”
CHAPTER 38
S.S. DOMINION
Adria woke up under a pile of limbs, the gentle rocking of the ship having lulled her into one of the deepest sleep she’d had in years. The narrow bed barely contained the four of them, but somehow, they’d managed.
Through the small porthole window, morning light danced across the metal walls of their cabin. The last few weeks on the ship had been so easy, she didn’t want it to end.
Bryson’s eyes found hers, and the two shared a brief moment of solidarity. Today was their last day on the ship.
Elena had made it out of Mexico, Eric had made it to the Port of Santos, and later that day they would be joining him, and eventually she would meet X.
Every one of them understood the importance of today going smoothly, but she felt that Bryson was more uneasy than the rest.
Adria hadn’t quite put her finger on why. The four of them had spent so much time in their room, she hadn’t gotten a chance to talk to him alone. Adria was hopeful when they settled at X’s, she would finally be able to get him one on one.
Kaydon hadn’t self-harmed once on the trek. A fact that Adria rewarded him for regularly.
“Can we just stay here forever?” she said to Bryson.
Bryson ran his fingers through Seth’s hair. “We can’t leave Eric all alone.”
He meant it as a joke, but it felt like a bucket of ice water had been dumped over her. A day hadn’t gone by that she hadn’t noticed his absence.
Adria couldn’t shake his words from before she had left,You’re in good hands.
Did he not feel like he had a purpose with her anymore?
Adria knew she was going to find a way to show him how far from the truth that was. Her life would never be complete without Eric. He was beyond family. Better than a big brother or a father figure; she could not, would not, imagine her life without him.
Pulling an oversized t-shirt over her head, and the cotton caught briefly on her unruly hair, she made her way above deck.
