“Ibit him,” I say with shock at Ty’s indifference at the factI bit his friend like a fucking dog.
“He’sfine,” Ty shakes his head. Looking at him, I see the smirk on his face, and indents on his face that look like his fingers.
“Did you fall asleep on your hands?”
Ty laughs softly, “Yeah. I did.” My eyes drift to the desk and the chair’s on its side, papers and pencils strewn everywhere like he threw them down as he was trying to get to me. My heart skips a beat at that.
He stayed.
He gave me my space while being right there.
“Do you want to talk about it?” he whispers against the crown of my head.
“No, not now,” I say honestly. “I’m just so tired.”
“Yeah, it’s been a big day. And you were only sleeping for maybe an hour.”
“I’m sorry,” I say softly, because if I only slept for an hour that means, he’s only been asleep for maybe half that.
“Stop saying you’re sorry.” The words aren’t aggressive, they aren’t mean, they’re honest and true. “You have nothing whatsoever to be sorry about in this situation.”
I yawn, twisting into his arms again, and he gently lays back. His arms start to move away from me, giving me the space that I needed before, but now, now I don’t want him to go. My fingers stay threaded into the soft fabric of his shirt while my face curls into him deeper.
I can’t let go.
Not after that dream.
I don’t think I’m going to be able to let him out of my sight anytime soon.
“Stay,” I whisper.
“Are you sure?” he asks so softly I almost don’t hear it, but I can feel his arms slowly wrap back around me.
“Please, stay.”
“Okay,” he whispers. “Yeah, okay.” The bed moves and dips while he gets comfortable.
And it’s like we’re back in that clearing, when we thought it all went to shit, but it was really just the beginning of hell.
We’re back to those fifteen year olds who were holding onto what they could feel slipping through their fingers. His arms wrap around me like a shield and pull me close.
“I’ve got you, Rox. Nothing’s getting in here,” he says those words like a vow and my eyes close as he turns on his side, cradling me while his back is between the door and I. “I promise.”
A sigh leaves my body like it’s the first breath I’ve been able to release freely in years.
And in a way, it very much is.
“I’ll be in later, do you have someone at ten?” Ty’s whisper pulls me from sleep. I breathe in through my nose and his body goes rigid.
“No, I’m free until one,” Asher whispers back.
“Can you take my ten, it’s a quick one. A wave outline on the ribs. Should be less than an hour even with prep and clean up.” Ty drops his tone so his volume is lower and I do my very bestnot to squeeze my thighs together because,goddamn, did he grow up deliciously.
“Got it,” Asher whispers back.
“When she wakes up, we’ll head over.”
“No rush.”
