“Show off,” Davien teased from his reclined position a foot away.
I gave him a smirk as I helped Mia flop into the spot next to him, exhausted. Davien dragged the sheets up around her.
“No, I need to get home,” she mumbled around a yawn even as she snuggled into the pillow, eyes closed.
“Five minutes,” Davien coaxed, hoisting her over to his side of the makeshift bed with an arm hooked around her waist.
She grumbled something unintelligible, but didn’t fight him, already half asleep. Her free hand drifted across the short expanse to locate mine. It was tugged to her, along with my arm and the rest of my body until I was all but on top of her, until she was tucked between us. Her head nestled beneath my chin, curls tickling my throat and cheeks. Her breath warmed the hollow of my collarbone in soft, steady exhales. There was no mistaking it, she was asleep.
In our bed.
With us.
Over her, I briefly met Dav’s gaze. Neither of us said a word, but the verdict was clear — this was the goal.
This was the gold standard.
Chapter Thirteen — Mia
Something wasn’t right. For one, I was pinned to the mattress by two enormous weights. For another, the normally smooth surface of my ceiling was a glittery spray of stucco and there was a large, glowing square of light stamped across it from the window, an alarming fact when my window was tiny and never got that much sunlight. Plus, it was in the wrong spot. So was my bed. So were the walls. And I was too close to the ground.
Realization plowed into me with the force of a mac truck. The impact scattered the hue of sleep fogging my thoughts and slammed me straight into a horrifying reality.
“Oh my God!”
Like uncoiling cobras, the arms and legs winding possessively around me unspooled, leaving smears of sweat across my naked skin with their withdrawal. Both men flopped over onto their backs, abandoning me entirely to this new nightmare.
“Get up!” I shoved Davien’s chest, then Nero’s. The assault barely seemed to register to either of them. “Get up!” I yelled again, louder.
Not waiting for them to do so, I scrambled over Nero’s legs, desperately searching for the clothes they’d tossed all about the room the night before.
I’d fallen asleep.
How could I have been so stupid? My parents were probably frantic.
My phone. Where was my phone?”
Panties located and yanked on, and top a twisted mess around my neck, I sprinted into the kitchen, almost certain I’d set it on the counter while Davien and I were making supper. I breathed a sigh of relief when I spotted it. That sigh turned to gulps of horror when I turned the screen on to hundreds of missed calls and text messages from nearly every single person I knew asking if I was okay. I didn’t need to hear or read any of them to know they were scared to death for me, but I skimmed through the first dozen, heart seizing as mild concern became frantic pleas to call them.
“Oh my God!” I choked, pressing a shaky palm to my mouth.
“Mia?” Davien appeared in the doorway, naked, sleep tussled and gorgeous. “What’s wrong?”
I blinked at him, my terror melting into outrage. “It’s morning!” I shoved the phone into his chest in passing as I jogged back into the living room for the rest of my clothes. “My parents are out of their minds with worry. They probably think I’m dead in some ditch, or worse!” A sob caught in my throat as I yanked back the tangled remains of the blanket in search of my shorts. “I am a horrible, selfish human being. I should have called them. I should have … where are my pants?”
Sitting up, looking as delicious and beautiful as Davien, Nero grabbed a wad of denim from somewhere beneath the coffee table and held them out to me without a word.
I stuffed my feet into them, nearly losing my balance but getting them on in the end.
“Why did I fall asleep? How could I be so stupid?”
“Hey.” Dav took my arm lightly, stopping my frantic assault of their living space. “You are not horrible, stupid or selfish. Now, calm down. We’ll get you home, you’ll explain what happened and—”
“Explain what?” I choked, staring up into his face through a wall of tears. “What am I supposed to tell them?”
“The truth?” Nero supplied not unkindly.
I turned to him. “That I’m sleeping with two men to pay back what we owe a vicious mob boss?” I shook my head. “They would be devastated and ashamed, and disgusted, and they will never forgive me. I can’t tell them the truth. You know I can’t.”
“Then maybe it’s time we reevaluate your place here,” Nero countered.
I didn’t have time to dissect his meaning. Whatever he was saying could wait until after I begged my parents for their forgiveness.
“Text us,” Nero said when Davien pulled the Mustang up in its usual spot down the block and parked. “We’ll come get you.”
I had a feeling I wouldn’t be seeing the light of day for a long time. It didn’t matter that I was a twenty-two-year-old woman. My parents meant the world to me. The thought of betraying them or hurting them destroyed me inside.
“Mia?”
I looked away from the familiar row of homes to the man watching me from behind the wheel. He must have been speaking though I hadn’t heard a word.
“I’m sorry?”
“Do you want us to wait?”
I shook my head. “I’ll be okay.” I licked my lips. “I don’t know what I’m going to tell them but … I’ll text you when I get to work.”
It was still early enough that no one would be looking out their windows as I sprinted up the cracked sidewalk to the front door of my parent’s house. My heart beat a million miles per hour, a frantic tempo of a caged animal anticipating the end. I willed my breath to slow, my head to stop spinning, my lungs to stop aching. I begged whichever supreme being was listening to please, please let me get through this. But there would be no changing the disappointment and fear my parents were feeling. I knew it the moment I pried the door open and stepped inside.
Twelve pairs of eyes swing in my direction. Heads turned, conversation hushed for a fraction of a second before exploding in a rush of frenzied movement. Neighbors and friends, people I had known my entire life lunged forward in a collective herd. Hands grabbed me and arms pulled me into suffocating hugs. Blessings were whispered and shouted in varying languages. No one gave me time to explain, to even speak. All they knew was their relief at my return.
“Mia!” Mom appeared from amongst the crowd. Her arms swung around my neck in a choking vise that littered my vision with gray dots. “Where have you been, you stupid girl?”
“I’m sorry,” was all I could manage.
She squeezed harder before releasing me and stepping back to take me in. “Are you hurt?”
I shook my head, emotion and regret a jagged lump in my throat.
She exhaled and stepped back only to be replaced by my dad. His embrace was lighter, but it still trembled with his deep exhale. With an all-consuming inhale, he pulled back to search my face, to stare into my eyes.
“You’re okay?” he asked quietly.
I nodded, the concern and relief coming off him triggering the tears I’d fought so hard to keep at bay. “I’m sorry, papa.”