by Kaitlyn Hoyt
“I think so,” I tell him. Nothing feels different, except now I know how hungry I am. My stomach growls. Loudly. Colton and Liam laugh at me as Colton places a second plate of toast in front of me. I eat this one just as quickly as the other. I start to feel better after eating a little. I sip on the water and lean forward to rest my head on the table. I’m sure there is some table etiquette that I am breaking, but I’ve already done this so many times that I don’t care anymore. I reach up and pull my hair out of the bun and let it fall around me.
“Come on, Ryanne. I’ll take you upstairs.”
“No, no. Stay and socialize. I’m not that tired,” I tell Colton sleepily. I hear a couple people laugh, but I don’t move. Keeping my eyes closed and covered by my hair, I wait for his reply. He doesn’t respond, but I feel his arms wrap under my legs and around my back. He lifts me easily into his arms and cradles me against his chest. “What part of stay and socialize don’t you understand, mister?” I tell him in a light tone. For once, I am glad that he didn’t listen to me.
“The part where you said you weren’t tired,” he answers as he walks out of the room, carrying me.
“I can walk.” I don’t really want to walk, but my stubborn side makes me say it. It is a pride thing. No one can say I didn’t try.
“Let me do this for you, Ryanne.”
Well, if it means that much…I snuggle closer to him and close my eyes, falling asleep before he even reaches the stairs.
Chapter Twelve
I wake up the next morning to the sound of Colton humming next me. I can feel him lightly running his hand through my hair. “I like waking up to you humming.” I open my eyes and stretch my legs out but don’t get up. I am really comfy.
I turn so that I can see his expression. He is watching me. Propping himself up on his elbow, he taps me on the nose. “Did you know you talk in your sleep sometimes?”
“Oh no, what did I say?”
“Nothing major. Just something about gorgeous green eyes. You could have been talking about anyone though,” he says with a very amused smile.
“I was probably talking about Jensen Ackles. He has some nice eyes,” I say while trying to hide my laugh. I bite my lip and smile up at Colton.
“I don’t think you were talking about him. I think this guy’s name rhymed with -olton.”
“Michael Bolton? I don’t think he has green eyes,” I say. Seeing the look on Colton’s face, I scramble out of the bed. Everyone gives me that look before they tickle me. “Ha, I don’t think so.”
He gets out of the bed and stalks toward me, staring at me the entire way. I can’t break away from his gaze. I’m sure I look gross, with my messy hair and large sweatshirt, especially after yesterday’s events, but the way he is looking at me would make anyone think otherwise. I start to have trouble breathing the closer he gets to me. When he finally stops in front of me, I crane my neck and look into his “gorgeous green eyes.”
“You know—” Colton starts but is interrupted when someone knocks on the bedroom door. We both turn and look at the door. “Go away,” Colton yells as he leans down and rests his forehead against mine. I giggle at his reaction.
“I’m coming in!” We hear Emma yell from the other side of the door. Colton sighs and takes a step away from me as Emma opens the door. She barges into the room and walks over to me. “Sorry, lover boy, but I need Ryanne to help me with something.” She grabs my wrist and starts pulling me out of the room.
“Can this wait? I really need to take a shower,” I tell Emma as she forces me into their room. Natalie is standing against the wall. She stares at Emma when we come into the room.
“You seriously went and got her? You didn’t wake her did you? She needed to sleep,” reprimands Natalie.
“She didn’t wake me. I was already up. I was about to get in the shower though,” I say, while turning to glare at Emma.
“You were not. You were about to—”
“Is there a reason why you dragged me over here?” I interrupt her sentence. I was very aware of what was going to happen.
“Natalie likes Liam,” Emma bluntly states.
“I do not like Liam. Liam’s just…Liam. Nothing more,” Natalie says.
“Read her mind,” Emma demands. I look over at her; she is completely serious.
“I will not read her mind. Though I think Liam likes her too, I’m not going to meddle and you shouldn’t either. Let things play out like they should. You don’t want to change anything,” I tell Emma. Then turning toward Natalie, I say, “I do think Liam likes you, but I know that he won’t say anything. If you like him, you’ll have to be the one to initiate it. He likes to keep to himself and doesn’t often open himself up to people. Though he won’t tell anyone, I think he’s been hurt before, so just make sure you know what you’re doing.” Both girls nod at me. “Ok, now I’m going to go take a shower because I feel gross from yesterday.”
Morning, I stop walking and bend down to pick up Olive. I haven’t been able to spend much time with her lately. “Good morning, Olive.” I walk across the hall, holding her.
Feeling better? I enter my room and look around. Colton isn’t in the room. I glance toward the bathroom and find Colton in there, shaving. “Much better, thanks.” I place Olive down on the ground and walk over to the armoire and grab my “Bazinga” t-shirt and jeans shorts and walk into the bathroom. I put my clothes on the toilet seat and hop onto the counter. Colton smiles over at me but continues shaving. I reach over and grab my toothbrush. As I brush my teeth, I continue to watch him. Occasionally, he will look over at me, but neither one of us say anything.
I finish brushing my teeth at the same time as he finishes shaving. I put my toothbrush back in the holder and turn toward him again, finding him already looking at me. He walks over so he is standing in front of me.
I reach out and run a finger across his now-smooth jaw line. He places his hands on either side of my hips and moves closer to me. I move forward and firmly place my hands on his neck, tracing his jaw line with my thumbs. His breathing hitches as I scoot closer to him. I chuckle as I lean forward and kiss his jaw. He moves his hand to my back and pulls me even closer to him.
I like it when Colton forgets to shave, and he has slight stubble on his face, but there’s something about the smoothness of a clean-shaven man. I don’t know where this confident Ryanne came from, but I’m glad she finally surfaced.
“Ryanne…” Colton says, his voice lower than usual. I lean back so that I can see him better. He reaches forward and grabs onto my hand and places it on his heart. “Do you feel that?”
Under my palm, I can feel his heart racing. “Your heart beat?”
“We’re going through that can’t-get-enough-of-each-other relationship phase right now, Ry.”
“Ugh, I hate those couples,” I mumble and crinkle my nose. My eyes move up to his when I hear his deep laugh.
“Being around you makes my heart race, and I know yours does the same.” Colton smiles at me and continues, “Sometimes it’s so loud that I think people in New Hampshire can hear you.”
I hit his chest. “The sound of my heart beat does not cross state lines.”
“What I’m trying to say,” the grip on my waist tightens, “is that this is completely new to both of us. I’ve never felt this strong of a pull to someone before, and I don’t want us to get ahead of ourselves here.”
“I trust you,” I whisper.
He reaches up and traces my lower lip with his thumb. I part my lips as I stare up at him. As he is watching my mouth, I flick my tongue out and brush it along my lip. He exhales and shakes his head, taking a small step back. “You’re beautiful, Ryanne.”
“I’m a mess right now.” I don’t know how he can think I look beautiful at this moment. The hand on my lip falls to my side as he takes another step back.
“You’re always beautiful.”
“I think those gorgeous green eyes of yours need glasses,” I tell him. He disagrees with me
but doesn’t say anything because he knows that I’ll have a retort.
“Take your shower. I’ll go keep Olive company.” He helps me off of the counter and walks out of the bathroom.
Closing the door behind him, I quickly undress and step into the shower. Letting the hot water cascade down on me, I let my mind wander. Dravin attacked me with truth serum, and I puked my guts out, but Colton stayed with me. In sickness and in health, I guess. Even this morning, when I was in desperate need of a good scrubbing, he still wanted to kiss me…to be near me. How did I get so lucky?
After I finish rinsing the conditioner out of my hair, I turn the water off, grab a towel off the rack, and step out of the shower. I clean the steam off the mirror and run another towel through my hair. I scrunch the ends a little even though I know that it will curl anyway. When my hair is dry enough, I get dressed and walk out of the bathroom. The room is empty, so I make my way downstairs.
“Hey sleeping beauty, feeling better this morning?” Logan asks me. I smile over at him; I’ve grown to love that nickname.
“Much better actually. Just a little hungry,” I tell him as I walk into the kitchen. Colton is standing at the stove. Liam, David, Bragden, Natalie, and Emma are all sitting at the table, eating breakfast.
I wave at everyone as I walk over to Colton. “What are you doing?” Turning off the stove, he hands me a plate with a hot omelet on it.
“Making you breakfast.” I look down at the plate and back up to him. He pushes the plate toward me. Normally, I wouldn’t have taken the food, but I am very hungry right now. I stand on my tiptoes and kiss him on the cheek.
“Thank you.”
As I sit down at the table, Emma turns to David and asks, “How come you never make me breakfast?” She shakes her head and looks over toward Natalie and says, “I knew I picked the wrong brother.” Resting her head onto her hands, Emma leans across the table and winks at Colton.
“Hey now,” I say to Emma. She just laughs at me but continues her conversation with Natalie. I start to eat the omelet because it has cooled enough. I didn’t know Colton could cook. The omelet has cheese melted in the middle with diced green peppers, tomatoes, and spinach sprinkled throughout. So simple, but so good. However, at this point, I could have eaten tree bark, and it probably would have tasted good. I finish off the omelet and place the plate in the sink.
The sink is full of dishes again, and I hate leaving a sink full of dishes. I start rinsing off the plates that are left in the sink and put them in the dishwater. Emma and Natalie come up behind me and help. The more hands we have, the quicker we’ll get this done. I can hear the guys laughing behind us. I don’t think I want to know what they are laughing about.
Emma splashes Natalie and me with water. We squeal and jump back. I smile at her and make it start sprinkling above her. Eh, we were almost done with the dishes, so I laugh and run out of the room before she can retaliate. She screams as it starts steadily raining above her. Natalie is sitting on the ground below the sink, laughing at Emma. All the guys at the table are facing them, laughing. Pulling my magic back in, I make the rain stop. She spits water out and turns toward me. In the doorway, I smile and wave at her, putting on my innocent expression. She laughs and starts shaking her head before leaving the kitchen and slowly walking upstairs. Liam gets up and helps Natalie off the ground. She is still laughing but accepts his hand and lets him pull her up. I walk back into the kitchen. “I think she forgot that I don’t need a faucet to get people wet.”
Natalie leans back against Liam’s chest laughing. He glances down at her surprised but doesn’t move. He’s trying to keep a blank expression. I don’t think Natalie realizes what she is doing. “Stay on your good side, got it,” she says once she is able to calm her laughter. She looks up at Liam, and her smile wavers a little. She mumbles an apology and steps away from him. Liam is watching her with a small smile on his face when Conner walks into the room and looks between Liam and Natalie. His face turns into a scowl. I pat him on the chest, and I walk out of the room.
Colton and Natalie follow me out. Conner walks up to Liam and whispers something to him. Natalie notices it too. I wonder what that is about…I sit on the couch and scoot over, giving Colton room to sit beside me.
“So you think you’ll be up to training today, Ryanne?” Bragden asks me.
“Yeah,” I say at the same time that Colton gives a firm, “No.”
“I’m going to train today,” I tell Colton. There’s not going to be any ifs, ands, or buts about it.
“Ryanne, you were attacked yesterday and spent the whole day throwing up. Then you slept for hours. You’re not training today.”
“Yes I am. Colton, I need to train today. You know I hate just sitting around. They’re able to get to me so easily, and I can never do anything. I just have to take whatever they throw at me and hope that I’ll get a tiny break. Sooner or later, there is going to be a time when I actually can do something, and I need to be prepared.”
“Ryanne…” I look up at him, and he trails off. He’s arguing with himself right now. One part of him just wants me to rest and get completely better, but another part of him understands that I need to do this. He’s just worried about my safety.
“I feel fine, Colton. I don’t need any more rest,” I whisper to him. “I need to train today.” I stare up at him, pleading with him with my eyes. Honestly, if he says no, I’ll still train, but I don’t want him to be mad at me. He sighs loudly.
“Fine, but if you start to feel anything bad, you will stop. Promise?” I nod. I won’t overdo it. Colton looks over to Liam, who had just sat down next to me. “You’ll tell me if you feel anything weird with her, right?”
“Correct,” Liam replies.
“Esh, someone’s paranoid,” I mumble under my breath. Colton squeezes my arm and leans down.
“You’re in perfect tickling position right now,” he warns.
“Psh, I wasn’t talking about you…” I smile sweetly at him hoping to avoid any tickling. Thankfully, he just laughs at me and turns his attention back to whatever David is saying. I look past Colton and see Conner and Larkin sitting at the kitchen table. I make my way over to them.
“Hey guys, whatcha doing?” I ask.
“Oh you know...just…doing stuff,” Larkin says.
“Doing stuff? That’s the best you can do?” I say through my laugh. Larkin is usually way more creative than that.
“I panicked. I didn’t have enough time to think of something. Gosh, woman. Come back in like five minutes, and I’ll have something mind-blowing to say.”
“You panicked? Wow, what happened to Larkin?”
“Shut up.”
I laugh again and turn toward Conner. “Hey, where’s Madison? I miss that little girl.”
“She’s staying with our parents. I talked to her the other day actually. She said that next time she sees you, she wants to play dolls.”
“It’s a date,” I tell him. I do miss her. She seems pretty cool for a youngin’. After a couple seconds of silence, I lean toward Conner. “So what were you talking to Liam about?” I smile at him, giving him my angelic look, hoping that he’ll trust me enough to tell me. I’ve pretty much mastered the puppy dog eyes. I know that I’m being nosy, but I am a girl. I am entitled to being nosy every once in a while.
“You know something, don’t you?” Conner asks me.
“Know something about what?”
“I know what you’re doing.”
“And what am I doing?”
“You’re trying to get information out of me without actually giving anything away,” Conner says.
“I don’t think I’m smart enough to think of something like that,” I tell him. “I think you’re reading too much into things.”
“If you’re going to get any information, though there isn’t any, you’ll have to go through Liam.”
“Ugh, you suck,” I tell him but smile sweetly at him. Contradictions are my specialty. I stand up to walk b
ack into the living room, when I feel the pull of my visions. I open my mouth to warn someone, but I’m already falling.
Chapter Thirteen
Running through the forest, I look back and see the men chasing after me. I open my mind and try to read their thoughts, but there are too many of them. My steps falter as I try to get control again. I push them back and focus entirely on running without tripping. I enter into a clearing and stop. This place looks familiar, but why?
Realization dawns on me. This is the place where I’d been attacked by the gorgoths before…in the dream world with Liam. How did I get here? I start running again but stop when I see the man standing in front of me. I turn to the right: another man. Left: another. I’m completely surrounded. I spin in a circle, counting the men as I turn. Nine to one. That’s not fair at all. The man directly across from me smiles and takes a step forward. The rest of them spread out to cover the open area.
I take a couple steps backward as he moves closer to me. I can’t go too far because the other men are circling around me. He jumps for me and slams into a shield that I put up. “Did you think I’d go easily? Give me a break. Have you guys not learned anything?”
I run toward him and drop the shield. Doing an aerial cartwheel, I call my magic into my limbs and stop in front of him. Easily, I reach out and kick him in the jaw, knocking him unconscious. He falls limply to the ground. I step over his body on the ground and spin in a circle, arms outstretched. “Who’s next?” I challenge.
All the guys start running for me at once. I call my magic to me and push it under me. When the wind picks up, I jump in the air and fly above everyone. All the men slam into each other, grunting in pain as they realize what I’d done. I flip a couple times in the air before landing in the grass behind them.
Slowly all the men, minus the still unconscious one, get up and face me. “Oops,” I say as I pretend to study my nails. “You really should pay more attention to where you’re going.”
Making another group effort, they all start running toward me again…and run straight into my shield. When they all fall to the ground, I walk toward the ones in front of me, keeping eye contact with every step I take. I stop in front of the biggest guy and watch as he stands up. I make sure it is obvious when I look at what he is wearing as he growls at me. “Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. Black is definitely not your color.” He grunts and punches the shield. It doesn’t budge. “I’d go for more earth tones if I were you.”
