“I will. Thank you.” I agreed. She was the only woman in my life I trusted enough to confide in, and I was so grateful to have her to turn to.
“The women of this family need to stick together. We’re very heavily outnumbered.” She laughed, and she wasn’t wrong.
We finished cleaning up while chatting about the rest of our days that day. I found her so easy to just chat idly with, which was odd, because for me, idle chat was a very new concept. Even with the guys, we tended to only talk when we needed to. They weren’t huge talkers, any of them, and tended to stick to the topic at hand. I loved that about them, and didn't need more, but sometimes it was nice to just gossip with another girl.
We were just dishing out some cookies and popcorn, along with coffee and hot chocolate for everyone, when the front door crashed closed, startling me. I automatically looked over to Keira anxiously, but she just smiled.
“It will just be Kade.” She told me, instantly making me feel like an idiot. Of course it was Kade; who else would it be? The place was locked up so tight, no one was getting in without keys and a half dozen security codes.
“Damn it! I missed dinner.” Kade groaned as he walked into the kitchen in his usual work outfit. He looked tired, having been working round the clock to find Hailey, the little girl that had now been missing for almost five days.
“There’s leftovers in the refrigerator for you son. Don't worry. We wouldn't let you starve.” Keira told him. He smiled, as he rounded the counter and kissed her cheek in greeting.
“Thanks Mom. I didn’t have time for lunch and I’m famished.” She smiled lovingly up at him, then grabbed the tray she had laden with goodies for everyone and hurried out for the media room.
“I see how it is.” I said playfully, resting my hands on my hips as I spoke. “You text me, telling me to eat, but it’s ok for you to not bother with lunch.”
“That’s because you need regular meals to keep you going, Love. In case you hadn’t noticed, I’m a fairly strapping lad. I can afford to skip the odd lunch.”
“Strapping lad?” I giggled. He stepped into my space and swept my feet from the floor, lifting me so our faces were level and I had no choice but to wrap my legs around his waist to hold me in place.
“I missed you today, so much.” He whispered, his lips so close to mine I felt them lightly brush when he spoke.
“Missed you too.” I pressed forward, needing the kiss he offered, pressing my lips against his, then allowing his tongue entrance to take things deeper. The kiss was dizzying it was so intense, and by the time I pulled back, my head was spinning.
“Good day?” He asked as he settled me on the counter, then went to pull a plate of food and a bowl of salad from the refrigerator.
“Could have been better, but I got through it. You?”
“Oh no no!” He scolded as he looked up at me. “What does, ‘could have been better’ mean?”
“It was fine, just scary and I got some shit from the girls over dating all of you. It’s not a big thing. I stood up to them, and I really don't give a crap about their opinions.”
“I don't want you being a target for bullying because of us, Livy. You should have just kept the whole thing quiet.” He sighed.
“Screw that Kade!” I snapped, annoyed. “I am not going to make what we have some dirty little secret. I love you guys, and I am proud to tell people I’m with all of you. I can take care of myself if it comes to it, but I doubt it will. They’re all mouth, and I can totally deal with that.”
“Well, look at you all loud and proud. What happened to that timid little thing who arrived here all those weeks ago?” He said with a huge smile.
“Trust me, she’s still in there, but I seem to have a little better control of her nowadays.” I sighed. He was right. In so many ways I was becoming a lot more confident, especially when it came to standing up for my guys and what we had, but in many other ways I still felt like that timid, broken girl who had hidden in her seat under the dining table that first day. I wanted to be stronger in all ways, but my emotions still largely ruled my life and they were unpredictable and hard to control. Some days were darker than others, and I had to fight hard just to keep the guys from freaking constantly that something was wrong. So many things still scared me, like loud noises, busy places, strangers touching me, and the feeling of being watched. I knew my behaviour could be erratic, and I hated the way the guys sometimes seemed to be walking on eggshells around me.
The nightmares didn’t help. They hadn’t really lessened much, and the guys still had to lie with me each night, taking it in turns. Flashbacks were less of an issue, but still happened pretty regularly, and then there was the foreboding wait for these memories I had been warned would likely return to me sometime soon.
If I thought about it all too hard, that alone was enough to trigger my anxiety, but I pushed past it. I was doing ok for that day, having defeated a couple of bullies and survived my first day of high school. I decided to take that as a victory and deal with the rest as Cole had told me right at the beginning of this whole journey, one day at a time.
