I took my time as I went into the hallway. Noise from downstairs reached me, and I followed it, taking my time down the stairs. I came to a kitchen, where Koen was at the counter chopping something up, while Bryce dug through the cupboards.
“I’m going to have to go to the store to get medicine,” Bryce said, voice muffled by having his head buried in the cupboard.
“You don’t have to do that much for me,” I said.
Bryce jerked back and looked over me. His eyes took me in before he frowned. “We will, so get over yourself. Besides, I need to pick up a couple of things. I’ll go now.”
“Don’t pick up NyQuil again. She has the flu, not a cold. She needs pain and fever relievers. Get ibuprofen.”
“I know what to get,” Bryce grumbled. He grabbed a set of keys and tucked them into his pocket. “Come on, Maddie. Let’s get you comfortable on the couch. You can cuddle up and take a nap while Koen works his magic in the kitchen.”
“What is he cooking?” I asked.
“Soup,” Koen answered as we walked out of the room.
“No vegetables,” I called out.
“Yes, all the vegetables,” he called back. “And you’ll like whatever I give you.”
Bryce chuckled as he got me situated on the couch with the remote and more blankets than I knew what to do with. “Let me take your temperature real quick,” he said before running off.
I was dozing off when he returned and shoved a thermometer into my mouth. After he pulled it out, I coughed, glaring at him. “Warning next time,” I said.
He only raised his eyebrows as he looked at the thermometer. “You have a really high fever, Maddie.” He patted my head. “Get some rest. We’ll take care of you.”
Bryce went to pull away, but I grabbed his hand. “Don’t leave me by myself,” I said. “I don’t like being alone.” My heart twisted as I thought about my mother. During treatment, she had caught pneumonia. She never recovered from it, her body too weak to handle it. I didn’t want to go like that. Tears burned at the back of my eyes, and I blinked hard. “Please,” I said, having no trouble begging when I needed to.
“Maddie, the store is only a block away. I’ll be back in less than twenty minutes.”
“That’s forever.” I moaned dramatically. “A lot can happen in twenty minutes.”
“Go, Bryce, I’ll take care of her,” Koen said.
Bryce used that opportunity to run out the door.
“Once he gets back, you can take some medicine and then get some food.” Koen held out a plastic cup of water.
I eyed it. “Afraid I’ll break it if it’s glass?” I asked.
“Yes.” His response was short, and he waited patiently for me to grab the cup.
The water was cold and felt amazing against my throat. I didn’t even realize my throat was sore until I drank the water and it soothed it.
“Get some rest. I’ll finish your soup.” He leaned forward and kissed my forehead before disappearing back into the kitchen. I stared after him and then reached up, brushing the same spot he’d kissed. I liked it. I liked it a lot.
I was half asleep with the TV on a random movie in the background when Bryce came back.
“Sweetie, I need you to take this so you can eat,” he said.
I peeked one eye open, seeing the medicine in his hands.
“I’ll pass. You can give them to Koen instead.”
He chuckled. “Unfortunately, it doesn’t work like that. Come on, sit up now and take them.” He leaned closer. “You better hurry before Koen decides to come make you.”
That got me moving, and I quickly grabbed them, needing to drink half the cup of water to get them down.
“Happy?” I asked.
Bryce’s smile was huge as he said, “Very much.”
“Soup’s ready,” Koen said, coming in and placing the bowl down on the coffee table. “It just needs to cool down a little.” He also placed a bag of tiny crackers next to it.
Koen took a blanket and put it over my legs and then a flat pillow. He then put the bowl down on top of it. The steam rose from the soup, the scent making my mouth water. It smelled so good, even despite all the vegetables in it.
“You added too many vegetables,” I said.
“I can always add more,” Koen said with a warning.
I sighed and scooped up a spoonful. “No, this is perfect.”
“That’s what I thought.”
Bryce chuckled as he settled onto the couch next to me, opening the bag of crackers and putting it next to the bowl. Koen grabbed my cup of water and disappeared. He was back a moment later with a fresh glass.
I blew on the spoon and tried it.
“So good,” I said and sighed in contentment. “I wish Felix was half as caring as you guys.”
“Who’s Felix?” Bryce asked in a neutral tone.
I wrinkled my nose. “My ex. He’d never take care of me so well like this. He might swing by and drop off some medicine, but that was about it.” I frowned into my soup. “I never really had someone take care of me when I got sick.”
There was a moment of silence until Koen spoke. “Your ex was a dick.”
I giggled at that. “He had a big one.”
They groaned. “We really, really don’t want to hear about your ex’s dick.”
I pouted. “Koen brought it up first.”
“We said he was a dick,” Bryce said. “Now if he had one or not is questionable. No man would ever be able to leave you alone.”
I pursed my lips at that thought and glanced down at my bowl, more interested in picking out the carrots than responding. “If that were true, then why hasn’t that been the case?”
“Maddie?” Bryce asked, leaning into me. “What’s wrong?”
I shook my head, my throat clogging from the influx of emotions. “Nothing.”
“Don’t lie to us,” Koen said. “If you want us to mind our own business, then tell us that. But don’t lie to us.”
I bit my lip and blinked furiously before sighing and looking up. I forced myself to meet both their eyes, taking in their concern. “I’m not a stranger to people leaving. My mother, my father, my sister, and Felix.” I shrugged. “I expect it now. People don’t stick around.”
“We will,” Bryce said.
I shook my head. “You can’t say that.”
He grabbed my free hand and pulled it away so I’d stop gripping the pillow and threatening to spill the soup. “I did, Maddie. We don’t make promises like that lightly. We like you. We enjoy your company, and we aren’t the type of people who turn our backs on others just because times get tough. We’re here now, and we plan to be here in the future. You aren’t getting rid of us so easily.”
Darn him and darn his darn words. I blinked furiously, but the tears fell.
The soup disappeared from my lap, and then the pillow. Koen was in front of me, his hands on my knees, rubbing them slowly. “You aren’t a burden to us. We like taking care of you. You make us feel like dreams are possible and that magic could still exist. You make us think that no matter what life throws our way, as long as we follow that silver lining, we’re going to be okay. You do that to us, and all you do is smile and throw jokes around like confetti.”
I giggled. “I like confetti.”
Koen smirked. “I know you do.” He rubbed his hands up my thighs and back to my knees, giving it a gentle squeeze. “You fight, Maddie. You’re a strong fighter, but even you need someone in your corner to coach you when you get knocked down. You’ll get back up. I know you will because you’re the type to do that, but we’re still going to be there to support you and help keep you on your feet.”
I couldn’t look away from him. There was so much sincerity and truth in his words that I practically drowned from it. I responded with the only response I had in me to give.
“Okay.”
Chapter Twenty
I woke up to two little furnaces curled up around me while I was stretched out on a cloud. I tried
to wrack my brain to remember what happened. There was yummy soup, emotional words, and then lots of snuggles with a blanket. I didn’t remember much after that.
My body still felt hot, and I was a little fuzzy. Not to mention that my mouth tasted like death ten times over. I winced as I ran my tongue over my teeth. Every part of my mouth feeling grimy. Getting out of bed proved to be a challenge. The twins were determined to stay attached to me, so the moment I moved, so did they until they felt me again. The trick was to get the two of them to find each other in the bed and cuddle with each other instead of me.
So each move I did was calculated to get them together. It probably took me about five minutes to get out of bed. I stared down at them, the urge to squeeze them tight for being so adorable washed over me. It was a battle of pure willpower to turn and leave them sleeping. That alone should have given me the key to the city for my success.
My legs felt a small breeze, and I looked down only to realize I was in a t-shirt and boxers, none of it my clothes. It took me a moment to dredge up all the memories. Oh yeah. I bit back a groan at how ridiculous I was yesterday. In my defense, I was completely delirious and it really did feel nice not to have any clothes on.
The bathroom was directly across from the room we had been tucked into. I practically dove for the door. Inside was a decent size bathroom. After desperately relieving myself, I brushed my teeth, using my finger to make my mouth minty fresh once again. A small victory on my part.
The house was quiet as I made my way downstairs and into the kitchen. No one was stirring, not even a mouse, and the clock told me why. While it wasn’t the night before Christmas, it was four in the morning. I’d be in bed too. After turning on the light, I dug around the large kitchen until I found the cups. They were on a shelf just out of my reach. I rolled my eyes.
“Sorry, Madison, there’s a height requirement to use our kitchen,” I mumbled to myself in a bad rendition of Koen as I stretched up onto my toes. I was five-five. I wasn’t even that short. “If you want to use our things, then you better grow a few inches taller. Otherwise, suffer the consequences.”
A hard body pressed against my back, and I made a squeaking noise as a hand reached up and grabbed a cup. He didn’t even grab one of the glass ones, but a plastic one. Like I was a kid or something.
“I really do hope that isn’t your attempt at pretending to be me,” Koen said with amusement as he moved away from me.
I leaned against the counter and took him in. There was something homey and wonderful about a shirtless man in the kitchen, barefoot. He wore only a pair of boxer briefs, hanging low on his waist. Koen was not fair to the woman population. His suits always hid his frame, so this was my chance to get a good long look at him.
Delicious looking bedhead. Check.
Unshaven jawline. Check.
Abs a mile long. Check.
A happy trail. Check.
Thighs the size of tree trunks. Check.
He turned to face the fridge, and I suppressed a groan.
Buns of steel. Check.
Koen managed to hit all the markers that would send any woman’s ovaries into get pregnant mode. I could hear them, saying ‘Release the eggs!’
Oblivious to the sweet torture he was giving me, Koen plopped in ice cubes from the icemaker attached to the beast that held the food hostage. He used the other feature and filled the cup with water.
“What are you doing up?” he asked as he held the cup up for me. I eyed him before grabbing it and taking a sip, loving the refreshing water. Good job, fridge.
I shrugged. “Woke up, couldn’t sleep.”
He dug through a drawer before holding out a thermometer to me.
“Seriously?” I asked.
“Yes, seriously. You had a high fever since the field trip. If it had gone any higher, we would have had no choice but to take you to the hospital.”
I shuddered at that, panic nearly throwing a coup to consume me. I quickly shoved the thermometer into my mouth, my hands shaking. It was silly how easily the mention of the hospital could send me into a panic.
“Don’t like hospitals?” Koen asked.
Of course he noticed. Nothing ever got by him.
The thermometer beeped, and he grabbed it from my mouth, looking down at the results. “Better. It’s still a little high, but it’s at least gone down some. You’ll need to take some more medicine.” He dug through a cabinet and pulled out some bottles. Koen took his time carefully getting the pills before passing them over to me. “Here, this will help with the fever and relieve some of the pain.”
“I feel fine,” I said. “Other than the fever, I mean.”
“If that were true, you wouldn’t have drunk your water so quickly. I bet it felt nice against your throat.”
He had me there. I had always been good at ignoring my symptoms until they went away. I would take the medicine, but I never let the symptoms slow me down. I never had time to deal with them.
Koen never looked away as I popped the pills into my throat, making a face at the bitterness on my tongue before washing it down with water.
“Never take me to the hospital,” I said. “If I’m sick, it’s nothing some over-the-counter drugs can’t fix. Better than wasting time going there.”
“What do you have against hospitals?” Koen asked.
“Nothing.”
“And you’re lying.”
“Really, nothing.”
Koen stepped closer and cupped my face, tilting my head until he could see my eyes. “Liar. If you don’t want to answer, then don’t tell me. But don’t lie. The mention of the hospital obviously bothered you.” His thumb traced my jaw line as he talked, and the intimacy felt so good.
I leaned into him until my head rested against his chest.
“I’m stressed,” I said into his warm, hard chest. His nipple was dangerously close to my mouth and if I were brave enough, I would have used this opportunity to relieve some of that stress.
“I know.” His arms wrapped around me.
“I’m tired.”
“You can go back to sleep. It’s Saturday, so you don’t have anything to do.”
I shook my head. “It’s Halloween.”
“And you’re sick.”
“I’m feeling better.”
“Maddie, you still have a fever. You aren’t doing better. You have the flu, that’s easily a week-long recovery, if not two. It doesn’t go away after a day.”
I pulled away from him. “Then maybe I don’t have the flu. Maybe it’s just all the exhaustion and stress finally hitting me hard. So to pay me back, my body held a civil war and beat my butt until I had no choice but to lose out on a whole afternoon and evening.”
Koen seemed to think about that. “You really feel better?”
I nodded. “Maybe a little hot, and my throat is dry, but I feel fine.”
Stepping back, Koen looked me over slowly. “Fine, sleep for the rest of the morning and afternoon. In the evening, if you really are feeling better, we will all go take the twins out trick-or-treating. If you still feel bad, you can stay and rest. The kids will be fine with one of us.”
Shaking my head, I said, “No. I want to be there too.”
Koen’s scowl was pretty darn scary when he wasn’t getting what he wanted. “Why are you so determined to be there? It won’t be the end of the world if you have to stay in.”
I blinked back tears and glared at the floor. I blamed being sick for the sudden overwhelming amount of emotions that hit me. “Because I don’t know how many Halloweens I have left with them,” I admitted.
“What do you mean?”
“What if Olivia wins?”
“She won’t.”
I shook my head. “You can’t say that unless you’re completely sure. If there is even a one percent chance that she wins, you can’t be sure. Not like that. Not like it’s an easy final answer that has no chance of being wrong. This isn’t a simple question with only one simple answer. Only math works l
ike that. Everything else is subjective.”
Koen grabbed my hands and tugged me toward him. My eyes met his, and his look sobered me, calmed the storm brewing inside of me. “Olivia will not get those twins. They will not leave you.”
“But you can’t be sure. I’ve never been good with chances, that’s why I like numbers. It’s not a maybe with numbers, it just is. If there is a small chance I lose them, then I want to do Halloween with them. I want to do as much as I can with them because I know once Olivia gets them, I won’t be able to see them. They’ll be gone.” I took in a wheezing breath. “Just like my mom, my dad, my sister. Now it’ll be the twins. It makes sense. There’s a pattern in my life and people leaving me is that pattern. I don’t trust words or promises; I trust patterns because they’re called that for a reason. They happen over and over again. That means I’ll lose the twins.” A sob escaped me, and Koen pulled me into a tight hug. “I can’t take anymore loss. I can’t lose the twins.”
“And you won’t.” Koen’s voice was steel as he answered me. “Even patterns can be broken. Especially when it comes to life. The unpredictability of our lives makes it a lot easier than you think. And we’re here. We’ll be by your side every step of the way.”
I nodded into his chest, not sure if I really believed him or not. It’d have to be one of those seeing is believing type of situations.
“Come on, let’s get you back in bed. If you’re that desperate to take the twins trick-or-treating, then you’re going to need all the rest you can get.”
“I’ll wake the twins if I go back to bed.”
He was quiet for a moment before finally steering me out of the kitchen. “The couch then. Bryce invested a lot of money into getting that couch.”
Koen got me settled with a pillow, blankets, and fresh water on the coffee table. He made sure I was lying down before he sat at the other end. I didn’t understand what he was doing until my feet were in his lap and he was massaging them.
I moaned. “You’re good at that,” I said.
He chuckled. “Thanks. I used to give my mom foot rubs a lot growing up. She worked two jobs and one of them was as a waitress, so her feet were always bothering her.”
Scalding Hot Chocolate Page 20
