Darkness (24 page)

I felt the tension ease out of both of us and Carter shut off the water. He left me standing there with a rag wrapped around my throbbing thumb while he rushed off for my aunt’s first aid kit. He sat me at the table and doctored my injury.

“I didn’t even feel it,” I confessed.

His eyes flashed up to mine for a quick moment then back to my bandage. “I don’t think you need stitches, just be careful with it.” He put the kit back together and left the room again to put it away. When he returned he went back to getting our food together.

“You totally spaced just now. You almost cut through your thumb. Thankfully it wasn’t any worse.” I stared down at my bandaged injury and felt it throb like it had its own heartbeat. “I feel like you’re looking for someone to blame for all that’s happened to you and I don’t think your head is clear enough for you to be going through this house yet.” He sighed and I looked up, meeting his stare. “Just give it some time, okay? Someday this won’t hurt so bad and the answers will find their way to you.”

“Can we go eat in the living room?” was how I responded. I know, I’m a total jerk. But to admit that all he said was right would’ve sent me into another fit of crying and I didn’t want to put either of us through that.

When we were settled on the floor in front of the TV with our food in front of us I whispered, “Thank you.”

He shot me a hint of a smile and bumped me with his shoulder in an “anytime” kind of way.

We watched a couple shows. I tried to ignore the fact that the stuff saved on Lilly’s Tivo would never be watched by her. I picked at my food, only taking a couple bites. My thumb hurt like hell and I wanted to go to bed and make it all go away.

Carter took our dishes to the kitchen. “You okay?” he asked as he settled back down beside me.

I shrugged. “Nothing a root beer and a bag of Fritos can’t cure.”

He bounced off the floor. “I think I can hook you up.” He rushed off through the kitchen and out the front door. I waited a moment and heard the door open and close again and he strutted in all proud of himself with the bag of loot from our gas station stop that morning.

We cozied onto the couch. I wrapped an afghan, that smelled way too much like Lilly, around us and we munched on the goodies from the bag.

I was startled awake by the sound of the train whistle in the distance and the crinkle of the chip bag under my thigh. I stretched and noticed it was dark out, really dark. The TV was turned down low and Carter was passed out with his head on the arm of the couch. I cleaned up our mess of wrappers and soda bottles and covered Carter with the blanket. I checked all the doors and windows as the fear of something terrible happening creeped up in me and when I hit the foot of the stairs I turned back to the living room and gently woke Carter. He smiled a very sleepy smile at me when I asked, “Will you sleep in my room with me?” He nodded and trudged up the stairs after me. I was pretty sure he’d wake up in the morning and have no memory of how he got to my room.

We made him a little makeshift bed on the floor beside my twin size bed and he happily curled up and was fast asleep in moments.

After I got ready for bed I sat in my window seat and stared out into the night. I felt tears prickle my eyes. I couldn’t help the thoughts that flooded into my head. I missed her so much and sitting on the top of the stairs earlier, staring down at where she had died, where she had taken her last breath, made my heart hurt so bad. I shook my head and wiped my tears away and focused on the sounds of the crickets in the night. There was a breeze on the night air and I watched as shadows danced across the ground between the trees. I thought about the last time I’d stayed in the house and how I thought I’d seen someone out in the trees. I wondered if I’d been right, and if I’d only gotten lucky that I wasn’t here the night she died. I also thought about how rude Lilly had been to Oliver both times she’d met him and wondered if she sensed something in him that I couldn’t. Or if it was just pure fear of him taking me away from her. But he hadn’t taken me from her and he never would. She’d been taken from me and I would have never expected that. I yawned and wiped the tears from my eyes again, then turned to slide off my window seat.

“You okay?” Still curled on the floor, Carter was facing me with wide blue eyes.

I’d jumped when he spoke and nodded in response to his question. “Tired,” I answered as I slipped under the covers of my childhood bed. I flipped the light off and stared up at the ceiling for a few minutes, then I scooched to the edge of the bed and hung my uninjured hand over the side. Carter slipped his fingers between mine and squeezed. I tugged on his hand a little and within seconds he was snuggled close next to me. I rested my head on his chest and he wrapped an arm around me, still keeping his other hand clasped to mine. His body ran quite a bit warmer than Oliver’s. Actually he ran quite a bit warmer than me as well. It felt nice to have the comfort of a warm body beside me to protect me from the darkness. It felt good to have my friend there with me.

I was just about out when I heard the creak of the floor coming from somewhere outside my room. Someone was coming. I shoved at Carter as he scrambled to get off the bed. He landed on his makeshift bed with a thump as I whispered sorry. I huddled under my covers half terrified. The door squeaked open and Oliver whispered, “It’s just me.”

I hadn’t realized I’d been holding my breath and as he closed my bedroom door behind him I relaxed and began to breathe again. To this day I don’t know if I was more scared of someone coming in to get us or of Oliver finding Carter in my bed. Honestly, I think the latter would’ve been more terrifying.

In the dim streak of moonlight I saw Oliver kick his shoes off and drop his sweatshirt to the floor. He slipped under the covers with me and gathered my body to his. I sighed in relief as I melted against him. He kissed the top of my head and we lay there in the comfort of each other. I had my back to his chest and his arms squeezed tight around me. I stared out the window into the dark as I slipped my hand over the side of the bed and felt those familiar warm fingers slip between mine.

My heart was still coming down from its marathon sprint when Carter’s warm fingers slipped from mine and a soft snoring came from where he lay. Seconds later Oliver nuzzled my neck and whispered, “You smell like him.”

He kept his voice low. “It would have been nice if I’d had a warning. I smelled your blood when I got here and I panicked.” He began carefully peeling the white gauze away. “Thankfully the guy I sent to watch over you, Marvexo, was able to fill me in a little.” The light of the moon caught in his eyes as he stared down at me. “Tell me what happened.”

“I…” My voice faltered in the dark and I had to clear my throat and start again. “I cut it slicing tomatoes.”

“Did you?” My thumb was free of its dressing and there was something to Oliver’s voice. I couldn’t place what it was…
It couldn’t be…no. Carter’s here with us. He wouldn’t…would he…?

He was propped on his side beside me in my little twin bed and he nuzzled my neck again. Kissing me lightly.

“I, uh…” I began.

“Yes?” His let the
S
linger and I felt urges start to surface.

“I thought I’d be in trouble,” I breathed.

He chuckled, all sexy and quiet. “Like I could ever be mad at you. I was angry that I couldn’t protect you. That’s all.”

I felt little pricks on my neck as he kissed up and down it. My hands slipped up into his hair. He took hold of my wrist, the one with my naked injured thumb.

His lips brushed mine and lingered. “You smell like him,” he whispered again. His leg slipped between mine and caught me right where it counted. I gasped a little and I heard a very quiet rumble come from his chest.

He started by leaving delicate kisses at the base of my wrist and working his way up my thumb to where I unknowingly tried to slice it off my hand. Instead of running his tongue across the wound, he stuck the whole thing in his mouth and began to suck. With every pull he moaned quietly and pressed himself against me. I bit my lip to stop myself from making any noise as I arched into him. His tongue swept across my thumb and he pulled it out of his mouth with a pop. My nostrils filled with his bonding scent and it was very clear that if we’d been alone nothing would’ve stopped us this time. His breathing was heavier than usual as he settled beside me and curled his body against mine. “I love you,” he breathed into my ear and good chills ran across my body. I settled in against him with my body humming for more. It took a long time to fall asleep that night. But when I finally did, it was the best sleep I’d had in weeks.

Chapter 32 - Kisses in the Sunshine

I woke to light pouring in through my bedroom window. The sunshine warming my body was a welcome change to the darkness I’d been waking up to in Oliver’s room and in my mind and my heart. I stretched and searched the room with my eyes, peeking over the side of the bed. I was alone. Both Oliver and Carter were gone. My door was open halfway and I could hear muffled voices rising up from the first floor.

I hit the hall with three options: option one, head downstairs for breakfast with my two favorite boys. option two, have a shower. Or option three, torture myself with the mysteries of the room at the end of the hall. I chose option one. I took the stairs at a leisurely pace. I was hoping to catch the conversation in the kitchen without being detected. Who was I kidding? Oliver probably knew I was up the moment I opened my eyes.
But then again, maybe not…
As I stepped off the last step I heard Oliver saying, “We’ve gone over the security footage. It wasn’t my brother. But that doesn’t exclude him from being involved.”

I slowly crept into the kitchen and surprisingly made it halfway across before Oliver turned and noticed I was there. He smiled that sexy crooked smile of his and slowly closed the space between us. He wrapped his arms around me. “Good morning.” He nuzzled my neck, kissing it lightly.

“Ugh! Get a room,” Carter joked.

Oliver’s eyes lit up as he shot a look at Carter. “We had one. You were in it.”

Carter shook his head and laughed it off while I looked at Oliver in surprise. It was an unusual Oliver comment. He smiled, somewhat wickedly, and kissed me long and slow. His bonding scent started to get strong again and a thought hit me.
He’s jealous
.
I put both hands on his nice firm chest and pushed back. He didn’t release me but looked questioningly into my eyes. “Feeling a little territorial?” I asked and caught a glimpse of surprise cross his face but it was gone as quickly as it had appeared. “Knock it off,” I murmured.

He hugged me again and asked about my thumb. I felt those feelings that only he caused shoot through me as I thought about the previous night. I steadied myself and pulled my hand up so we could examine it.

“He has magical spit.” I said flatly. I pulled my thumb away and buried my face in Oliver’s chest but not before seeing the look of surprise on Carter’s face. For some reason I was feeling awkward and I couldn’t place it.

Once I’d finally settled at the table with some toast and a box of nothing special dry cereal, I spoke up about what I’d overheard.

“It wasn’t Oscar?”

I saw them glance at each other before Oliver reached out for my hand and answered. “We went over the security footage several times and it definitely wasn’t him.” He squeezed gently. “On a good note,” he continued. “We can go back to the apartment now.”

“Apartment?” As in singular? I could see where this was going.

“Well, yeah.” He pulled his hand away and slipped it into the front pocket of his black sweatshirt. “I figured you’d come and stay with me. It’s safer there, you know, with the closet…”