“Thank you,” she whispered back to them both.
They kissed her, little presses of their lips to her forehead and the back of her head. Keir added one more to her shoulder and then another to her ear. “I expect you to make up for missing me on kisspalooza due to the foul taking you out of play,” Keir whispered into her ear before getting out of her bed.
Persistent apparently was Keir’s middle name. She would have to let him go first for tutoring, and a kiss, next time or she might never hear the end of it.
How bad was it that she was already planning on kissing the boys again?
Chapter 13
TESS WAS STUCK BETWEEN heaven and hell. What else would describe having the minions of hell hammering on her skull while two handsome angels sandwiched her between them with their warmth and caring? Even once Kade and Keir left, she still had a Prince Charming and then there was her darkly beautiful Lucifer with his heart of gold.
Devil or angel or royalty, it didn’t matter. They were all tempting.
War kneeled down beside the bed first in the spot the twins had vacated. Tess opened her eyes slowly, testing how dim it was and finding her headache wasn’t worsened. He had a kind of sweet, minty smell she had noticed earlier in class. It reminded her of the tiny hint of freshness of a Tic Tac, nothing overwhelming and only noticed if she was close.
“Hey, you should go too,” Tess suggested. “Ruby knows you’re here but I’m pretty sure she expects you home soon.”
“I’ll wait for the doctor and then I’ll leave if he says you don’t need to go to the ER,” War said. “I want to go upstairs and talk to your sister and brother about the phone call and let them know your mom is okay and you’re going to see her tomorrow to check up on her.”
“Just that?” Tess said, worried he would mention something else she had written down and get the twins worried. He might not realize how easily they could get worked up. Their mother had them all on high alert with this new admission.
“Yes, I think they need to hear something and you probably aren’t up to talking to them right now with your headache.”
Tess nodded, slowly. “Yeah. Just don’t mention anything else. The rest didn’t really make sense, anyway.”
Bastion snorted a soft laugh. “You’re not fooling us but I agree your younger siblings don’t need to know anything more right now.”
She attempted her best to glare at him, shifting her head so she could look up. Moving made her wince.
“War, upstairs. I’m going to give Tess a little talk and massage while we wait for Doc Abrahams.”
She wasn’t sure a massage was a good idea, although her neck did feel like it was almost creaking it was so stiff.
“Thanks,” Tess said to War. He smiled at her and then got up to do as instructed. She appreciated it was him. Although all of the guys had treated her well, War seemed to exude reliability. He had broad shoulders and wasn’t afraid to use them to support others.
“Well, Princess Pumpkin. It’s just you and your prince. There’s still a couple of hours until midnight,” Bastion said.
“Lame,” Tess replied. “There’s nobody here but me and I’m hurting too much to appreciate your banter. Come rub me,” she ordered, rolling onto her stomach.
Bastion chuckled. “Yes,” he said and crawled into her bed, going for the far side that Keir had occupied. He put his hands on her shoulders, fingers moving around her neck. They were big and warm and felt intimidatingly firm. She wasn’t sure she was ready to have her muscles tortured into compliance.
He didn’t move his hands at first, just letting the heat from them radiate into her neck. It felt a bit like a heating pack but somehow nicer. There was that aspect of human touch that a pack couldn't replicate.
“You’re tense,” he said. “I personally think it’s mostly stubbornness. If you had listened to us earlier and taken it easier, the headache might have been avoided.”
“Does your massage come with a lecture?” she snarked.
“The advice is part of the treatment. If we work through what is on your mind, it might help ease some of this tightness from your shoulders.”
Of course, he made perfect sense. She had to hate-love it.
“Fine, commence the flagellation,” she muttered.
Bastion shifted a tiny amount, bringing his mouth closer to her ear. “Pumpkin, you say the most titillating things when we’re alone but that kind of activity will have to wait until you aren’t concussed.”
His voice had dropped to a deep, dark whisper in her ear that sent a shiver along her skin. Bastion knew exactly what he was doing to her, chuckling again, although he seemed to be all talk so far. Boys would talk big but few of them ever delivered fully on their bragged skills, whether it be driving like they belonged in the Indy 500 or kissing a girl to curl her toes. That was okay, her imagination could make up for it and right now it was going into overdrive.
“So, I’m using the headache excuse?” Tess teased, not letting him know what she was really thinking. Guys also had easily bruised egos. Bastion hadn’t done anything to deserve her poking at his self-confidence. She found it sexy and didn’t want to discourage it.
The warm hands on her shoulders started moving, slow strokes of his thumbs along the muscle between her neck and shoulder. It didn’t hurt. He made patient circles that relaxed the tension a tiny bit with each deep breath she took and the soft whisper of his hands against her skin. It was like he was brushing her with a feather, except nothing ticklish in his light touch as he had given her skin enough time to acclimate to his touch and warmth.
“It shouldn’t have happened,” Bastion finally said when she thought he wouldn’t reply to her easy teasing. “That was messed up even for Drake. That coward is too scared to confront Kade but he’ll take his hate out on the new girl with a limp dick move like attacking you from behind?”
The hands on her shoulders tightened almost painfully and she whimpered, trying to shift to ease away from Bastion’s outrage.
“I can’t say it’s the first bottle I’ve gotten hit with, although this one may have hit the target the best. At least, it wasn’t still full of beer,” she said, distracting Bastion with a little dark truth about herself.
His hands froze but didn’t tighten more. He swore, soft and sharp at the same time, biting it off like he hadn’t meant to say it out loud, even in a whisper. “That’s fucked up, too, you know,” he said. “Please tell me it wasn’t your mother.”
“It wasn’t,” Tess said. “She’s neglectful but not physically abusive. That distinction goes to the father figure not in my life any longer.”
“I hate that we didn’t protect you. All of us were there and we were useless as tits on an ass.”
Tess laughed and then groaned, clutching at her head. There was that headache, still simmering under her scalp. “Don’t make me laugh,” she whined to Bastion. “What the hell is tits on an ass, anyway?” she said, repeating his bizarre simile.
“Tits on a male donkey,” Bastion said. “Useless.”
He started massaging her gently again, a little more squeeze, letting his thumb push a little firmer against her muscles as it made circles.
“So, who wants the nickname ‘tits’ or ‘ass’?” she asked, trying to push Bastion further from his anger. She also was feeling nervous having revealed a piece of what had torn her from her family.
“Kade and Keir should have that privilege as the matched pair,” Bastion said, barely taking the time to think about it. “Then, you can call for tits and ass to come over.”
“Like a booty call, figuratively and literally at the same time,” she joked back.
“They probably would let you if you propose it to them like that,” Bastion said.
His massage was getting deeper but she felt herself relax into it. Bastion had magic hands, everything she needed but didn’t know she had been missing. The massage was one of the first she had ever accepted from a guy. It was unhurried and purposed to soothe h
er not seduce, completely different from the touch she was used to from her ex-boyfriend.
Anything that didn’t end with trying to get his parts into slot A was a step up, to be honest. Bastion might talk sexier but he wasn’t going to do anything to get into her pants tonight. He cared about her, not just his own gratification.
Maybe he wasn’t that into her? A little worry nagged at the back of her mind that Bastion was talking to her like he did all girls, a hot teasing that would never go anywhere because he didn’t like her that way.
You’re a plain Jane, Tessie. Why don’t you wear makeup when I take you out?
She asked Bastion about it before she could think better of blurting out her a hint of her thoughts. “How many girls have you used your magic fingers on and kept their clothes on?” she asked, keeping her voice light and playful.
Oh God, what was she doing asking him something like that?
The hands on her shoulders didn’t stop their massage this time, still rubbing out her tension. Bastion moved closer though, pressed right up against her back. “None,” he whispered to her.
“Guess I’m a friend girl, then?” she said, feeling disappointment that was hard to keep out of her tone.
“You’re not another Cinderella,” Bastion said. “I would like you to stick around more than one night.”
Okay, that made sense, although why Bastion was going through a bunch of one-night stands was unclear. The guys had said they made a pact not to stay with any girl that didn’t accept all of them but it seemed kind of crazy extreme to not have girlfriends at all.
“Still sounds like friends,” she mumbled, turning her face into the pillow so Bastion could get a really tight spot on the back of her neck.
He dropped his hand from her shoulder to her hip instead. She made a moue of disappointment he couldn’t see in the pillow. The massage had just been getting the last of her tension. It had finished too soon.
She smothered a gasp against her pillow as he yanked her up against him, pressing hardness she hadn’t been paying enough attention to notice earlier against her ass. She had been way too distracted by his hands touching her and what they were talking about and her own thoughts. What was pressed against her now definitely was big enough to demand her full attention.
“Bastion,” she squeaked out.
“Hmm...” he mused back to her. “Any further questions? Or does this clear up how I feel about you?”
She felt her face heat with embarrassment. He was so blatant compared to earlier when they had played footsie around the topic.
“Okay, so the friends with benefits thing is still on and you’re holding back because I’m hurt, not lack of interest?” she said, rolling her hot face off the pillow so her speech wasn’t completely muffled.
“Yeah, I thought it was obvious when I caught you kissing your students instead of teaching them that I wanted the same kind of lessons. What made you think otherwise?” he said, grinding a bit against her.
“You know it’s kind of weird,” she said, pushing back. She hadn’t been with anyone since breaking up with her ex a few weeks ago, even too busy to take care of matters a hormonal adolescent had by relieving them herself. Bastion was setting her on fire with just a little bump and grind.
“We’re weird?” Bastion said, although he didn’t sound as insulted as that implied when repeated back to her.
“Group dating. I can’t wrap my mind around it that quickly.”
He stopped pushing up against her. “Say the word and we’ll back off,” he told her. “I thought the attraction was mutual.”
“It is mutual,” she said. “I just, it’s still going to take time to sort out that four hot guys all want to date me and they’re all cool about it.”
“And we’re adjusting to the idea,” Bastion corrected. “Keir proposed it. Not like we had time to give it much thought, either, but with you unexpectedly showing up at school after we had all heard about Kade’s infatuation with the Pumpkin girl from the psych on the weekend, we had to make a quick decision. Kade’s had it tough, as I’m sure he told you. Right now, you’re the first girl he’s shown interest in since it happened, and if he feels more comfortable keeping it in our protective group, then why not? Nobody’s going to know but us, and because we’re all new to you, you don’t have any attachments yet to any one of us to complicate things.”
“It already is complicated. It’s like a five-way with me in the middle,” she pointed out. He had made some valid points, too.
“Don’t overthink it. Just go with what’s comfortable and if you need someone to back off, speak up.”
“Communication is key?” She said.
“Yeah,” Bastion agreed. “Do you hate it? All four of us flirting with you? Do you honestly feel forced?”
“Overwhelmed,” She said. “I told you I just got out of a relationship and there’s a lot going on in my life.”
“I’ll talk to the others. We’ll go slower and we’ll check with you before taking things further,” he said. “And we’re here to help you with those troubles in your life. It might seem like terrible timing to you but it was the perfect time for us to have you come into our lives.”
“Bastion?” she said.
“Hmm...”
“Thank you.”
He pulled her close again but it was just a hug, reassuring warmth against her back. “Honestly, we should be thanking you, except...”
He trailed off and she was left waiting. “And...” she prompted.
He growled a little in her ear. “You just got me to say I’ll behave myself when I want to do such bad things to you, Kitten.”
Her libido reminded her that it was alive and purring. “Uh, I didn’t say stop,” she said, loving as he growled again, giving the outer curve of her ear a little lick.
“The doctor is here,” War called down the stairs, quite loudly.
She shot apart from Bastion like the doctor would be able to measure her lust by how many inches separated the two of them. Absolutely no part of her should be touching Bastion. Hands were more than friends, footsies were a kinky thing on the side and spooning was definitely something reserved for lovers. Especially, if the doctor got a look at the tent Bastion was no doubt still sporting.
“Are you feeling better?” War asked. He came down first with the doctor following after him. The doctor was dressed in nice pants and a dress shirt, but no tie. He was carrying a black bag.
“Uh, maybe a bit better,” she said, sitting up.
“I heard you suffered a blow to the head?” the doctor said.
“Uh, yeah,” she replied, feeling stupid. She couldn’t help but be nervous at all the attention. The idea that a doctor would come all the way to her house to check on her seemed unreal.
“Warrick told me what happened,” the doctor said. “My name’s Dr. Abrahams,” he added, putting his bag down on her bed. “Can you answer a few questions for me?”
“Sure,” she said.
“Are you taking any medications?”
“No.”
“Any allergies?”
“No.”
“Any surgeries or past medical problems that I should know about?”
“Not really. Nothing serious. Just the usual childhood stuff.”
“Have you ever had a concussion before? Ever been in a car accident? Ever lost conscious?”
“No to all of those,” she answered, but this time it was a lie. She just couldn't admit it out loud in front of the others. Her father had already been punished, and having to confess to being a victim a second time wasn't something she could do so easily as talking about childhood colds and drug allergies.
“She told me she has been hit on the head before,” Bastion added. “Is that relevant?”
“It is if she had a previous concussion, especially one with a loss of consciousness.”
Bastion was forcing her to admit this for her own good. She knew that but it still felt shameful. “I have had multiple concussions. One
time I lost consciousness and was admitted for a few days.”
The doctor eyed her up more closely, and then he looked over at Bastion. “Anything else I need to know about your past health?”
“No,” Tess insisted. “I swear, that’s it.”
“Warrick described your injury to me. He said that you never lost consciousness this time, didn’t vomit and then complained of a headache, but not much until a couple of hours later.”
“Yeah, that's all right.”
“Do you remember getting hit in the head with a bottle?” the doctor asked.
“Yeah.”
“Okay, I’ve got a few questions I would like to ask you alone,” the doctor said, surprising her. The guys seemed surprised as well, both of them standing in front of her so she could see the looks they gave each other. She didn't even know this doctor and he wanted to be alone with her?
“Why can't they stay?” Tess asked, uncertainty pitching a voice higher.
“I have some personal questions I need to ask you about how the injury occurred. I can bring them both back downstairs before I do an exam.”
Bastion looked like he suddenly understood the doctor’s reasoning. “We’ll be back down in just a few minutes.”
“I can make you some hot chocolate I found in your kitchen,” War offered.
“Okay,” she agreed, although sounding uncertain and vulnerable.
“We’ll leave the door open at the top of the stairs. That will have to be private enough,” Bastion said with a serious tone that didn’t leave much room for further compromise.
The doctor took a quick peek at the stairs, probably to see how far up the guys would be and the likelihood that their conversation would be overheard from down here to up there. “It sounds like a plan, lads,” he said and waited for them to leave.
After the guys had gone upstairs, the doctor gave her the usual spiel that she had heard a hundred times before about confidentiality and its limits. He noted her understanding and then he moved on to what he really wanted to ask her.
“Well, Tess, it seems you have two protective young men to watch over you. I still think it's important to have a professional assess you any time you have a head injury. Why didn't you want to go to the hospital? From what Warrick told me, this was an assault.”
Impetuous (Victory Lap Book 1) Page 19
