“How long has he been here?”
Then again, maybe not.
“We came back the day after Christmas.”
“A week?” he hisses.
He doesn’t give me time to answer before he’s storming off in the direction of my room. He’s too fast, and I’m not able to grab him before he wrenches my door open.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Tug snaps as soon as the door swings open. “You’re here?”
“Don’t wake her,” I hear Max say from my spot in the hallway. “We can talk in the hall.”
“I think we’re going to need a little more privacy than that,” Tug snaps before grabbing the front of Max’s t-shirt and shoving him into another room.
I ignore whatever is going on with those two grown-ass men and close myself into my room. After brushing my teeth, I change into my pajamas and join Mia on the bed. Unlike earlier, when she didn’t want to have a damn thing to do with me, she turns in her sleep and rests her head against my chest. Finally, everything is right in my world.
***
A knock on the door startles me awake, and if it weren’t for the sun trying to infiltrate the room through the curtains, I’d kill the motherfucker standing on the other side.
I know who it is before I climb out of bed, so I take a few minutes to get myself under control. I’m frustrated every morning when I wake up with a cock ready to take on the world. And even though Mia had a rough night last night, burdened with nightmares that made her whimper and cry out in her sleep, my dick still won’t behave.
She whimpers when I slip out from under her, but quiets when I press my lips to her temple and promise her I’ll be right back. Before standing, I squeeze the tip of my dick until the pain causes it to get the message.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not all sexed up and ready to fuck a broken girl who is years away from any sort of intimacy, but my cock doesn’t understand a gorgeous woman sleeping on top of us all night without getting a little action. He’s bitter, and I’m embarrassed.
I could blame nature, but the erections I get around her are all one hundred percent due to her and have minimal impact from natural causes.
“What?” I hiss the second I pull open the door.
“How is she doing?”
“She’s fucking sleeping, Max.”
Even though I don’t think the fucker deserves it, I push open the door wide enough so that he can see her resting form on the bed. Her forehead furrows when the light hits her face, so I close it a little.
“I want to see her,” he insists.
“I said she’s sleeping,” I repeat, anger growing exponentially every second I have to stand here and repeat myself to a grown man.
With more anger than I’ve seen Max display, he clenches his fists and puffs his chest out like he’s going to punch me in the face. I raise an eyebrow at him in challenge, wondering if kicking his ass would be just what I need to let off the steam that’s been building since I saw Mia’s reaction to him being alive in the hospital.
What sick fuck, regardless of what he had going on, lets his family believe he’s dead for ten years?
“I want to see her,” he seethes, spittle forming on his lower lip.
“Nothing has changed in the last seven hours, Max. Let her rest,” I say with more patience than I feel right now.
Mia wouldn’t be impressed if I kicked his ass, and the sound of her low whimper behind me is the only thing that saves me from rearranging this dick’s face.
“Why is she upset?” Max questions.
“Because she’s fitful when I leave,” I answer. “Let me get back to her.”
“This isn’t healthy,” Max whispers with resignation in his voice. I watch him as the anger drains from his body. He slumps forward, shoulders bent, leaving him looking defeated and broken. “She needs to face what’s happened, so she can begin to heal.”
“And she’ll do that when she’s ready,” I remind him, not for the first time. The man is driving me crazy, but I also need to take a step back and try to picture how I’d respond if it were my sister. It’s difficult to do since I’m an only child, but I have cousins I’d go to the ends of the earth for, so I sort of get where he’s coming from.
“She won’t ever be ready if you continue to coddle her. You’re only letting her get lost in her head.”
Mia’s whimpers grow louder, and without a word, I step back and close the door in Max’s face.
“Shhh, Sweet Mia,” I whisper as I climb right back into bed with her.
She doesn’t waste a second before wrapping her arm around my stomach and resting her head right back on my chest like I never left to begin with.
Max’s words filter through my mind as I run my hand up and down Mia’s back, but even though I know he’s speaking the truth, I can’t help but feel like I’m exactly where I’m meant to be.
Chapter 6
Mia
Pretending to be asleep is easier, so when Ryan climbs back in bed, I settle on his chest with every intention of sleeping the entire day away.
The comfort he provides is my happy place. It’s where I can imagine a different life, one without trauma and pain. It doesn’t last long. Ryan is too perceptive, and I’m not a very good faker when it comes to sleep. I blame it on my body being in a constant state of apprehension while I’m awake, and he easily picks up on that fact.
“Ready to get the day started?”
Instead of verbally responding, I nuzzle his chest. He chuckles, the vibrations bouncing against my cheek, and I can’t help the smile that tugs up the corners of my lips. I itch to press my lips to his t-shirt, but I don’t. He already holds me every night, I don’t want to pressure him into being more.
As we lie there silently, I think about what my life has become, starting back to a couple of years ago when things turned sour with Jason. I was in a rut long before I was abducted, and like a light bulb going off in my dark existence, I realize I’m the only one that can change things. I’m the only one who can rise out of this bed and be a different person today from who I was yesterday. Max talks a big game about Ryan not coddling me, but at the end of the day, I know my brother wouldn’t force me to act the way he expects either.
With renewed determination, I sit up on the side of the bed, refusing to look back at Ryan for reassurance. He’s a crutch I’ve leaned on too much the last week, and since today is a new year, I decide I also need to be a new me. Cheesy, I know, but changes need to be made, nonetheless.
“Shower?” Ryan asks as I head to the bathroom.
I nod before closing myself inside to take care of normal bathroom business. He opens the door when he hears the water in the sink as I begin to brush my teeth. When I’m done, he wraps my arm in the plastic bag, and I’m counting down the days until I can be self-sufficient enough to manage a damn shower on my own.
Once the bag is secure, I stand by the door with an eyebrow raised. Instead of the irritation I expect, Ryan winks at me and leaves the bathroom.
“I’ll be right out here if you need me,” he says before I can close myself in the bathroom alone.
I still tremble as I wash. Tears still leak from my eyes when I once again pour too much shampoo in my hand for my bald head, and I expect it’ll be a while before I get used to using the correct amount. It may take longer than it should since I avoid looking in the mirror. I can’t stand to see the yellowing bruises all over my body. It’s bad enough that I still ache in dozens of places where I was hit and kicked hard enough that my muscles ache.