“Quill!” Before I can stop him, his arms shoot out and he hugs me awkwardly from behind. “Thanks, man. That means a lot. And I, uhm, feel the same way about you.”
“Yeah, well, fuck you too,” I growl, trying to repress the smile that’s tugging at my lips.
I guess Piper isn’t asleep after all, because her arms squeeze me too, and she whispers, “Thank you, Quill.”
“I prefer your hugs to Josh’s,” I comment, and Josh quickly withdraws his arms, blushing.
“I should really see my family, though,” he hesitates. “It’s been a while, and I miss them.”
I roll my eyes. “Well, fucking make up your mind.”
“Don’t mean to cut in on all the lovey doviness,” says Logan, his voice drenched in sarcasm, “but I suggest Josh return with me. Then I’ll send him right back whenever he wants. It’ll be different this time. You won’t be in hiding. You can live a fairly normal life. I’ll set things up so you’re safe, and I’ll be checkingin on you regularly, to make sure you’re taking good care of my stepdaughter, Quill. You hear?”
“Yes, sir,” I grin.
Piper lets out a long, happy sigh, snuggling into me. “Oh, Quill. Everything is turning out so well. I have a family, and a best friend, and I have you. I’m so happy.”
I bury my face in her hair, every part of me singing out with the joy of having my own Piper in my arms for keeps.
“Me too, my little cricket,” I breathe into her curls. “Me too.”
Epilogue
Piper
“Wake up, my lazy cricket.”
I groan as the words slip into my consciousness, disturbing me from my very deep slumber. I wish Quill weren’t such an early riser. Or at least, that he’d let me sleep. Though I know his caffeine addiction is what pushes him to wake me up.
Why can’t he leave the room to make his coffee without having to drag me along?
No, I don’t want him to do that. Neither of us can bear for the other one to be out of their sight, not even for a minute. We can barely stand to not touch each other. My subconsciousness has been feeling Quill’s hand on my arm while I slept, and I know I’d have awakened if he’d left my side.
Maybe it’s unhealthy to be so co-dependent, but I’m far past caring about that. As long as it works for Quill and me, who cares?
Still, maybe if we put a coffee machine in our room, that would allow me to sleep just a little longer…
No, that wouldn’t work either, since I’m aware coffee is only part of the equation. Quill can only wait so long until he has to wake me to make sure I’m real. To make sure I’m his. To remind both of us of it.
He has yet to avail himself of my permission to do what he wants to me in my sleep. He’s okay with pretending to force me when we’re awake, but he says he needs to see the signs that I’m secretly okay with it, and when I’m sleeping, he can’t.
It frustrates me, especially when I could really use an hour ortwo of extra sleep.
“No one needs to sleep ten hours,” whispers Quill in my ear, as though reading my thoughts. He probably is. “It’s ten a.m., you lazy little cricket.”
“Go away,” I groan, my words muffled in my pillow. I feel him tug on it, so I lift my arms up to hold it in place.
God, he’s like an annoying puppy.Myannoying puppy. I bite down on a smirk, my sleep more of a pretense at this point to provoke him. I wiggle my butt at him, hoping it’ll give him some ideas about how to wake me up properly.
Then I jump, startled, when instead of doing what I’m hoping for, he brings his fingers to my armpits and digs in.
“Quill!”
A second later, he’s climbing on top of me, straddling me while continuing to attack my armpits and my sides.
“Quill! Quill, stop!”
By the time he lets up, I’m wheezing. Then he reaches around me to cup my breasts, tweaking my nipples.
