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“Shut up, idiot!” I laughed.
“Am I crushing you?” he asked as he lifted his weight from me a little.
“A little but I’m happy to go this way,” I joked.
“I love this side of you. I mean, I love everything about you, but this side of you is so playful,” he told me as he leaned in and kissed the end of my nose.
“I guess I was like this more before,” I shrugged. “I changed a lot after…well, you know. I keep trying to find the old me, but I’m not sure she’s even still there.”
“Maybe the old you isn’t still there, not completely anyway. You’ve been through so much. That shit changes you, but that doesn’t have to be a bad thing. I’m not who I was ten years ago, neither are the others. We found a new version of us. It’s not perfect. Infact, it’s pretty messed up in some ways, but what we went through made us stronger and wiser and we chose to use that to change who we are. You can too.”
“Like Evie 4.0,” I joked.
“You can be whoever you want to be, Evie, but whoever you are, know that I care for you very much and I always will. I won’t use the ‘L’ word, but believe me when I say I want to. You’re amazing and you were made for me.”
“I feel the same,” I admitted. “Whoever Evie 4.0 is, she wants the four of you in her life.” I pulled him closer, not caring about being crushed, and wrapped my arms around his neck, then I kissed him to cement my words. I didn’t know what was next for me, but I did know these four men were going to be a part of it.
CHAPTER 11
EVIE
Kailan and I had fallen asleep pretty fast after we both got cleaned up. Not only was I exhausted, but I was also incredibly relaxed after what we’d shared, and when I returned to my room from the shower to find the sexy man in my bed, offering cuddles, I couldn’t resist.
Sleep came fast then, wrapped tightly with my back to Kailan’s front, his arms banded tightly around me, as if he dared anything, including my nightmares to try and get through him to me. That was probably why I was so deeply and peacefully asleep when the shrill ring of a cell phone had me leaping awake with a start.
“Kailan?” I gasped instinctively. His arms were still around me and I grabbed them as I tried not to panic.
“It’s just your cell. Where is it?” Kailan asked sleepily as he pressed me closer to his body protectively.
“I…I don’t know. What time is it?” No light was peeking through the small gaps in the blinds, which meant it was still dark outside, and therefore way too early for a phone call.
“Really fucking early,” he groaned. He kissed the top of my head, then released me to sit on the edge of the bed.
As the fog of sleep cleared from my mind I started to think clearly. Apart from the guys, the only people who had that new cell number were my family. If they were calling me at such an ungodly hour, something had to be wrong. Images from my earlier nightmare played on a horrifying loop in my mind and panic filled me.
“Something’s wrong,” I whispered as I turned to look at Kailan. “Why would anyone call me so early? Something has to be wrong.” I tried to stand, but tripped over the sheets I was wrapped in and ended up laid out across the bed again.
“Easy, darlin’. I’ll find it,” Kailan soothed as he jumped up and hurried over to the dresser beside the door, where the ringing was coming from.
As he grabbed the cell I stood a little more slowly and wrapped my naked body in the sheet from the bed. I needed to get dressed, but first I needed to know what was going on.
“It’s the burner your brother’s have,” Kailan explained as he handed me the still ringing phone. My hands shook so barely it was almost impossible to hit the green button to pick up the call, but finally I managed.
“What’s wrong?” I demanded as soon as I answered.
“Evie? Where are you? Are you safe?” Kade barked all at once.
“I’m fine. I’m home with the guys. What’s going on? Are you all okay?”
“She’s safe,” I heard Kade tell the others.
“Kade! Talk to me before I lose my damned mind!” I cried panicked. Kailan came to my side and wrapped his arm around me, pulling me against his warm naked body and soothing me a little. I was shaking hard against him and it was getting harder to talk as my panic got higher and higher.
“Put it on speaker,” Kailan told me, and I just handed him the cell, my hands shaking too hard to hit the buttons required.
“I don’t want you to panic, Evie. Everyone’s safe, but something happened at our place. Someone breached our security and got onto the property.” Kade said more calmly.
“Oh God!” I sank back into Kailan, and he eased us both down to the edge of the bed as he held me tighter. “Livy and the kids?”
