AllFreeNovel
Share Us
After taking stock of my body in its healing state, and knowing that at least Julian was with me so I'd be safe, I allowed myself to slip back into the darkness. For whatever reason I didn't want to be alone, even if I wasn't conscious.
Quiet voices are what woke me the final time. I knew they were with me because they were concerned about me, but I remained silent for some reason, not wanting them to know I was awake just yet.
"How did she know how to do that?" one of the twins whispered. I could never tell who was who when they spoke unless I was looking right at them. "With her magic? To my knowledge, no one’s taught her anything like that."
"Rain claims it was pure instinct on her part," Quinton whispered back just as quietly. There was a tightness in his voice that I knew I caused and that made me sad. "Says it's in her blood or some other smug shit."
That made me a whole lot less sad. If Rain was feeling proud of me and smug toward my actions, then it couldn't all be that bad.
"Speaking of Rain," Julian muttered quietly. "Shouldn't someone be downstairs keeping an eye on him and those brothers? I heard him say something about wanting to check out the basement where his sister had been buried and Tyson agreed to take him down there. Those damn brothers went along because they are following Rain around like they've been struck with some goddamn hero worship where he's concerned or something. It's all very disgusting really."
I frowned as I shifted restlessly. That sounded absurd to me. Rain didn't like most people, so why would he be okay with my new bodyguards following him around like that? This was way too much crazy for my poor brain to work out at the moment so I shoved the thoughts aside.
"They're fine," Quinton quietly assured him. "I trust Rain and if he trusts those two, then that's good enough for me. At least for now. They're not going to be a problem for today and since we've already got so many of those, I think you shouldn't worry about it for now and focus on the things you can deal with at the moment. Like getting some rest before you collapse. You've damn near drained yourself dry healing Dash, then Damien, and now our girl."
"I know, but I really need—"
Quinton sighed tiredly. "Not buts, Julian. Not right now. I'm barely holding onto my shit and you need to give me this because I can't handle anything else right now. I don't want anybody going home. I want you to stay here with me, with her, where I know it's safe."
I swallowed thickly, choking down the useless emotions that were threatening to leak out of me in the form of tears. There was so much naked vulnerability in Quinton's voice that it scared me. Had this latest stunt of mine finally broken the formidable man? Lord, I hoped not. I didn't need any more guilt heaped onto my shoulders.
"I don't want to go home anyway," Julian bit out angrily. "I don’t want to be alone and Damien isn't going anywhere at the moment."
Quinton let out a shuddering breath before cautiously stating, "You don't need to be alone. You can sleep in my bed with me if you want."
My eyes popped open wide.
"Why would Julian sleep in bed with you?" I asked in a raspy voice. "He has his own bedroom here like everybody else." If they were going to be sleeping in a bed together, I was almost positive it wasn't something I wanted to miss out on. I would need my phone so I could take a picture of it.
Quinton's face came into view as he loomed over me. There were dark rings underneath his eyes and I knew just looking at them that he hadn't slept in days. Again, something I knew to be my fault.
"How long have I been out for?" I rasped.
His knuckles went to the side of my face and he ever so gently ran the back of them down my scarred cheek.
"You scared the shit out of me, baby," he whispered in a shaky voice. "You scared the shit out of all of us. Don't you ever do anything like that again."
The fire. I needed to know if it had been worth it. "Did I at least manage to put out the fire?" I inquired in a voice that trembled. My poor, sweet Dash, that place, the kitchen in particular, had been the only place he'd had any happy memories of his father. And now the kitchen had been entirely destroyed.
"You put out the fire, baby," Quinton gently assured me, as he dropped his hand from my face. "At a great cost to yourself. You drained yourself completely dry. Not only did you exhaust yourself, but the skin covering your entire body cracked and you looked like you had aged twenty years in the span of minutes. Everyone was afraid to even touch you at first because it looked so painful. Rain carried you out of there because nobody else could stomach doing it. We brought everyone back here and you, Dash, and Damien have been in a protective sleep, healing and rebuilding your strength. You had the worst of it, yet here you are, the first to wake up."
Quinton's eyes skirted to the side. My head turned to the side on the pillow that was beneath my head and I realized for the first time that I was lying down in a very large, comfortable bed.
Dash was beside me, tucked underneath the same sheet as me, sound asleep. Damien lay peacefully on the other side of him.
Why was I always waking up from after being injured and finding myself in this bed with multiple males? That wasn't normal, I tell you.
"Why are they in bed with me?" I asked curiously, not really caring because I actually liked that they were with me and I wasn't in bed alone. "And why is Julian going to be sleeping with you?"
I just couldn't let that last part go without getting an answer out of someone.
"Julian has drained most of his energy healing you all," one of the twins said. I turned my head toward the end of the bed to see which one it was.
Abel sat at the foot of the bed, watching me carefully. Oddly enough, Addison was missing from the room and not at his twin’s side where I had expected to find him.
"I know," I replied carefully, not understanding where he was going with this. Was he blaming me or accusing me of purposely causing Julian harm? I would never do such a thing.
Then again, to be honest, I hadn't really thought much about anyone but myself and Dash when I did what I did. I hadn't worried about Julian and the limits he would go to in order to put us all back together again.
