Page 13

“Well, they say dogs take after their owners,” Jensen smirks, wriggling his eyebrows at Pete.

Pete sticks his middle finger up at him and tries not to smile. “Haha, fucker, very funny.” He pushes back from the table and picks up his dishes. “I’ll help tidy up, and then I should probably get going.”

“I’ll drop you down in the jeep,” Atlas says. “It’s better equipped for this sort of weather than your car.”

Pete nods, “Sounds good to me. I’ll come and grab my car at some point tomorrow or something. I don’t need it for any reason before then.”

We all clear the table and get both of the dishwashers going. Well, the guys do. Not only will the guys not let me help, but Runa outright refuses to get off my lap. She even growled at me until I stopped trying to clear the plates and stand up.

It was pretty funny, actually.

“I think it might be a better idea for you to sleep up in your bed tonight unless you really want to sleep in the front room with everyone,” Trick suggests, as he comes to stand next to my chair.

I frown slightly. “I want you all with me, but I do really want my bed, it’s a lot comfier than the couch.”

Trick nods. “That’s what I thought. We probably won’t manage to get everyone in your room comfortably, but at least Luc should stay with you so that he can keep a proper eye on you.”

“Okay,” I say, a yawn overtaking me.

Atlas chooses that moment to walk in from the kitchen and smiles, “Do you want to walk up to bed, or would you like to be carried?”

“Carried, please?” I ask, then glance down at Runa, who is watching me closely. She waits until Atlas is standing right by me before she jumps off my lap and wanders through the kitchen, no doubt to one of her favorite sleeping spots.

“She is such a weird cat,” Trick mutters, staring after her for a second. He leans down and kisses me. “Get some rest, Sweetheart. We can take it easy for a few days.”

“Good,” I reply. Looking at Atlas, I raise my arms up and smirk. “Up, please.”

He chuckles as he scoops me up effortlessly. “You are enjoying this far too much. Are you ever going to walk again?”

I shrug. “Well, you do call me Princess. I mean, really, this is your fault.”

He looks down at me as we walk into the kitchen. “I love how you managed to work that.”

“It’s a gift,” I say with a proud smile.

Atlas chuckles as he briefly sets me on my feet so I can say goodnight to everyone, and then he picks me back up, and Luc follows us up the stairs.

Once we’re in my room, Atlas says, “I’m just going to take Pete home, and then I’ll be back.”

“Uh huh,” I mutter, another yawn overtaking me.

Luc pulls me into his arms as I wave sleepily at Atlas, and he smiles.

“What do you want to watch?” Luc asks me as he steers me toward the bed.

I put my sleep stuff on before we went back downstairs, so fortunately all I have to do is crawl into bed.

“I don’t mind, watch whatever you and Atlas will want to watch. I’m going to be asleep within moments,” I reply, snuggling under the covers.

Luc chuckles, “Alright, one of our favorites it is. I don’t have the brain capacity to watch something new right now.”

“Reruns sound good,” I murmur.

He kisses the top of my head. “Get some sleep, Firecracker. I’ll wake you up in a couple of hours.”

“Okay,” I mutter, at least I’m pretty sure that I do.

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