“You just made it easier on us,” Baxter snorts, poofing up a pillow before lying on the mattress with a tired groan. “Now that you’re here, we can finally sleep.”
Well, hell, that makes it sound like none of them were able to sleep without me. It certainly makes me feel better, the same problem troubling me into restlessness. It’s with that realization that Ryan’s words fully register, and I read between the lines with a parted mouth.
Their bet was how long it would take for one of them to come steal me away from the clutches of my best friends.
And Rayne was certain he’d cave after an hour.
Oh, my heart.
“There’s the light bulb,” Caiden snickers, depositing me oh so very gently onto the mattress, cautious of my arm. At least one of us is. Doesn’t hide the fact that he had the longest time out of the four of them, though, and so I do the only thing I can.
I glare at him.
“What? What’s that look?” he asks, suddenly unsure.
“You bet four hours? Four whole hours?” I grumble, desperate to cross my arms but thwarted by my bum arm. Fucking Toby, the goddamn goose’s ass.
Biting his lower lip, Caid holds out his hands in surrender and promises, “In my defense, I have a competitive streak a mile wide and I really wanted to win. Since your best friends promised to keep you safe and sound with movies and snacks, I was led to believe they would occupy you longer than three hours. I would have nabbed you from your bed much sooner if I thought I would have survived those three nutcases.”
And just like that, he breaks through my faux irritation, and I can’t help but laugh at the look of alarm on his face.
“They’re the best kind of crazy imaginable,” I promise, crawling my tired body toward Baxter before I lie down beside him.
With careful movements, he turns me on my side before slotting himself at my back, his warm chest pressed snugly against me. He slides one of his legs between mine before sighing into my hair, cuddling me to his body like he’ll never let me go.
Caid disappears for a long moment, long enough for Rayne to turn on a movie on a projector I didn’t even realize they’d set up, the ceiling becoming the screen for the evening. Rayne then sneaks into the space on my other side, lying on his side to face me with a sleepy look on his face that battles against his urge to remain awake.
Ryan says nothing as he slots himself into a space beside Rayne, leaning over him to press a kiss to my forehead before he whispers, “Try to get some sleep, trouble. It’s been a rough day and you need the rest.”
I smile as he kisses me once more, pulling away, only to lean in for a proper kiss the next moment. I chuckle against his mouth, hyperaware of the two men on either side of me, enjoying how openly affectionate they are with me knowing the others won’t get jealous.
When he pulls back, Ry rubs his nose against mine before he moves back and drops to the mattress, tucking his arm behind his head just as the movie begins. Caid comes in shortly after, carrying more fluffy blankets, and pauses when he realizes we’re already bundled on the makeshift bed.
“Oh, you greedy fuckers,” he grouches, eyeing Bax, Rayne, and Ryan like they’ve brought him the deepest betrayal imaginable. Understandable when he mutters, “The mattresseswere my idea, and not one of you has the good grace to give me a spot next to our girl. Just you remember this moment. Karma and I can be real bitches when we’ve been slighted.”
Pretty sure Baxter is already falling asleep, his breathing deep and relaxed, almost like he was simply waiting for me before he could finally drift away. Ryan is yawning loudly, paying more attention to the start of the movie playing out on the ceiling than to his best friend, and Rayne’s focus is solely trained on me. I’m not even sure he’s heard a single word Caid has said, and it’s that notion that makes me smile at him.
Caiden finally finds his place behind Bax, grumbling about the injustices of the world, before settling in with his blankets. Eventually, he drifts off to sleep, arm slung over Baxter’s waist so he can reach me, his fingers resting in the crook of my elbow on my bad arm. I hear a soft snore from the opposite side of the makeshift bed, confirming that Ryan has followed after Caid and Bax.
The movie plays quietly over the next hour, warmth enveloping me on both sides, yet sleep still won’t come. I sigh gently and almost jump out of my skin when Rayne reaches a hand up between us and brushes my hair from my face. I thought he’d fallen asleep with how quiet he’s been, and my heart stalls in my chest before regaining its ability to beat normally.
“You okay, mayhem?” he whispers into the dark, only the light from the projector offering some semblance of illumination. I don’t even know who turned off the floor lamp or when, only that it’s far darker in here now than it was when I first snuck into their apartment.
I nod once, my head bumping against his hand. Then I shake my head in the opposite direction almost immediately, Rayne’s fingers brushing through my hair at the movement.
“I keep hearing it,” I admit softly. “The gunshot. It keeps echoing in my head every time I close my eyes.”
Rayne grows quiet for a long moment, right before his arm finds a space beneath Baxter’s and he tugs me closer to his body. He hugs me tightly, pressing his forehead against mine, and simply breathes with me. He doesn’t offer me pretty words or decorated sentences to make me feel better, just simply exists with me while I feel the aftermath of such a scary situation I never want to repeat.
“You saved me,” I eventually whisper, tucking my hands under his shirt and splaying my fingers over the warmth of his back.
“I tackled you into concrete and you still got shot,” Rayne argues.
“But you did it very heroically,” I counter, and a quiet laugh vibrates through him.
He presses the sweetest kiss to the tip of my nose before he says, “Seems to be our thing now, mayhem.”
Tilting my head up to look at him a little better, only the dim light highlighting half of his handsome face, I sigh deeply before I finally allow my guilt to manifest with rushed words, “I’m sorry you got shot because of me.”
