Chapter 12

12

When Reed had returned to our table, he’d acted like nothing was wrong, which was good, but also worrying. Pushing his feelings down too much would lead to an explosion.

Yes, I knew from experience.

The twins cuddled me extra hard when we finally returned to the room after dinner. I lay between them on the bed, their heat surrounding me and their purrs filling the night.

They were both sound asleep, still not able to handle their liquor very well.

I, however, couldn’t sleep. My chest hurt and I wanted to go for a swim, but we weren’t home, we were in a desert, devoid of water.

For over an hour I tried to let the twins’ purrs lull me to sleep, but that was not in the cards tonight.

Extricating myself from between them, I leaned my head through the open doorway between the shared rooms and saw Grant was still awake. He leaned back against the headboard, his phone in his hand as he scrolled through something.

I tiptoed into the room to avoid waking Reed and crawled up the middle of Grant’s bed.

He set his phone down on the side table and opened his arms and spread his legs a little wider so I had room to lay down against his chest with my legs between his. “Can’t sleep?” he asked softly and stroked my hair.

“No,” I whispered and rubbed my face against his shirtless chest. He smelled so good. Like a campfire. “What about you?”

“Same. I may have lied a little bit when I said I wasn’t nervous about the tournament.”

I chuckled softly and looked up at him. “You’ll do great. I’m sure of it.”

He set his hand against the side of my face and rubbed my cheek with his thumb. “You’re so beautiful.” Leaning forward, he pressed a soft kiss to my lips.

“Do you want to sneak out?” I asked.

“Sneak out?” he asked and arched a brow.

“Well, I didn’t get dessert and I saw that the place downstairs has cheesecake slices for sale.”

“Sold,” he said as he put a shirt on, and we both quickly and quietly slid sandals on, and exited the room.

We waited for the elevator hand in hand, smiling at each other like we were naughty kids on our way to do something we weren’t supposed to. The elevator arrived and it was empty as we climbed on and hit the button for the ground floor.

He pushed me against the wall of the elevator and kissed me deeply, his hands gripping my hips and my hands gripping his shirt. Someone got into the elevator on the next floor, but Grant didn’t stop kissing me, blocking me from view of the other person with his body.

We finally made it to the ground floor and only then did he stop kissing me.

Swinging our joined hands as we walked, we smiled at each other and ignored anyone around us.

At the display counter, I squatted down and debated for a minute about which cheesecake to get, but finally decided on the strawberry.

Grant got the caramel and chocolate one and we took our desserts over to one of the small booths in the seating area.

“Delicious,” I said around my bite.

“Try?” he requested and opened his mouth.

I stabbed a forkful and carefully fed it to him. He did the same for me and I felt that pressure and pain in my chest ease.

We watched some of the people walking around, or stumbling in a lot of cases, as we ate our treats. Grant grabbed us drinks and sat beside me with his arm around my shoulders.

“I’m sorry that we’ve been so busy lately,” he said and squeezed me. “I think planning out the hobby dates will help us ensure that we make time for each other like we should have been this whole time. I hadn’t realized how little we were together until we were talking about this trip and what it would be like if you didn’t come. We take for granted that we see you at work and that we have drinks together at Silver’s. Yes, we are together often, but we aren’t really spending quality time together and that’s going to change.”

“It’s not all on you guys,” I said. “I’ve been so set in my ways that I didn’t really think about it either. It’s that trap that married couples fall into, you know? And I wasn’t feeling neglected or anything, but it would be nice to do more things like this. More one on one times, so I can get to know you guys better. It’s weird to feel like I know you, to have this connection, but know so little about your past.”

“We aren’t exactly open books about our pasts, so not your fault.” He chuckled mirthlessly. “We’ve all dealt with some traumatic shit and take for granted that we know each other’s, but you don’t know.”

“You guys know all about my past now,” I said and shrugged. “But I don’t have as much to tell.”

“You sell yourself short a lot, Kass. You’re amazing and you saved so many lives all without proper credit.”

“Sharks will never be seen as heroes,” I said and sighed dramatically. “Yet another curse of my life.”

He squeezed me again and kissed the side of my head. “You’re a hero in our eyes. We just can’t tell you that or it’ll go to your head.”

I leaned my head against his shoulder and said, “I lived so long convinced I was going to be alone, but then you guys showed up. Now, I’m worried again. I knew it was too good to be true.”

He tilted my chin up with his finger and shook his head. “No, Kass. You don’t have to worry.”

“He’s your packmate,” I whispered.

“If he chooses to go back to the werewolves, he’s not just abandoning you, he’s abandoning us, too. We can’t go with him there and we aren’t going to accept a mate who is assigned. We all left behind archaic families who wanted to do the same thing and we all refused. We agreed that what we wanted was free will, to find the lives we wanted and live them how we wanted.”

“Is that why you guys have been so upset with Reed, too?” I asked.

He nodded. “He’s hurting our friendships, our pack bond, but we also don’t like seeing him hurt you.” He gripped my chin between his finger and thumb and said, “No matter what he decides, Jong-hyun, Jong-min, and I aren’t going anywhere. You are the one we want to be with and that hasn’t changed.”

Tears sprung to my eyes, but instead of letting them fall, I kissed him, then lay my head back on his shoulder and watched people with a smile on my face, the bond between Grant and I thrumming strongly.

“There you are,” Jong-hyun said sleepily, rubbing the back of his hand against his eyes as he sat beside me. “I got worried when you weren’t in bed, but then saw Grant was gone too and thought maybe you’d be down here.”

“How’d you know we’d be down here?” I asked.

“You were staring at the cheesecakes with drool practically dripping down your chin as we headed towards the elevators.” He took my fork and ate the last bite on my plate. “Oh, that is good.”

Reaching over, I set my hand palm up on his leg and he immediately linked our hands.

“Are you still worrying we might leave with Reed?” he asked.

“She was, but I set her straight,” Grant answered.

“I just want to make sure that I’m not the reason you’re splitting up,” I admitted. It was hard to admit, but I knew I had to be open and honest with them, especially right now.

“My sweet flower, we are all very certain of one thing, you are our future. Reed just needs a minute to realize it, but even if he doesn’t, you are my future. My brother and I may be total opposites, but you are exactly what we need and want. Have no doubt about that.”

“Min said that you have been threatened by Mother. How bad is it?”

He smiled and I could see the adoration in his eyes. “She threatens, but only because she knows we do love you and she wants you happy.”

“I should visit her more,” I said and looked down at our joined hands.

“She would like that, but she also knows you are busy and they are thankful for us helping. Plus, you do not cook well so you would only cause trouble.”

My mouth dropped open as I looked up at him. “I burnt one dish! One! She’s never forgiven me.”

He and Grant laughed, making me relax again.

“Thank you,” I said to both of them.

“No, it is us who should be thanking you,” Jong-hyun said with a shake of his head. “You leapt into our world and showed us what love is supposed to be. Showed us a future we hadn’t truly thought was possible. Thank you , Kassidy, for existing.”