Page 156 of Make Us Yours
“I should have known you weren’t ready for that. I’m sorry for pushing you too far, Kitten,” Noah whispers next from behind me. “It won’t happen again.”
I stop chanting and shake my head, taking a few more deep breaths. “I’m okay,” I murmur. “I just need a minute.”
The doors begin to close now that Gabe has taken a step back, but he quickly smacks his hand against it, opening them fully once more. “Take all the time you need.”
My phone begins to vibrate against the side of my breast from inside my sports bra, but I ignore it as I continue kneeling there on the ground. I know I must look like an idiot right now with my shorts down and ass out, but I know I’m not entirely ready to move just yet.
After another minute or so of sitting in silence with both my boys watching me, I look up and find Gabe still with his shorts at his feet, limp dick hanging out, then I glance back and notice Noah in the exact same situation. They’ve been so hyper-focused on my state that they haven’t even bothered redressing themselves, and something about that makes my heart melt even more for them.
“I think I’m okay now,” I say, holding up my hand for Gabe to help me to my feet as my phone vibrates once more.
He quickly takes both my hands in his as Noah holds onto my waist before pulling my shorts back up. I see the pain and guilt in Gabe’s eyes instantly as he takes in the small blood smudges around my nails and the scratch marks on my forearms.
“I’m sorry,” he whispers, and I quickly wrap my arms around his neck, then my legs when he lifts me off the ground.
“You don’t need to apologize. You did nothing wrong, Pretty Boy.” I kiss him, then look back at Noah as we finally step out of the elevator with me still in Gabriel’s arms. “You either, Casanova.” I try to reassure them. “Sometimes my mind just… tricks me into thinking and feeling things that aren’t really there…”
“We’ll try harder to pick up on the signs when you get to that point,” Noah murmurs against my shoulder before kissing it softly. “Now why don’t we all go shower, and then we’ll bandage these up, okay?” I nod in response as they carry me up the stairs.
An hour later, Gabe sits me down on the kitchen island while Noah brings over the first aid kit as well as my phone. Gabriel gets to work on adding ointment to one arm before wrapping it up as I check my messages that I still hadn’t gotten to.
“What is it?” Noah asks when he notices me frowning.
“Just Julian. He asked if I was okay,” I tell them as I go to type out a reply, but my phone starts ringing instead with a call from him. “Hello?” I put the phone onspeaker and set it down beside me as I hold my second arm out for Gabe.
“This is Storm. Are you all right?”
“Umm…” I’m confused by his question once again and unsure how to answer it.
“Veronica. It is the simplest of questions. Are you all right? Yes, or no?” Julian says sternly in a way that has my back straightening instantly.
“Yes, I’m okay… Why?” My mind instantly goes to Victor as I wonder if maybe he knows something we don’t yet.
“Well, seeing as you are currently being bandaged up in the middle of your kitchen, I believed asking about your condition was the correct thing to do. Now has something happened that you may have not informed me of yet?”
I look up at the camera in our kitchen, only now remembering about all the others in the penthouse. “Oh, no. It was nothing like that. We just got a bit carried away.”
“Very well then, since all has been cleared, may I remind you all that every room in your home, excluding your bedrooms, are under twenty-four-hour surveillance. Please refrain from performing any type of intimate activity in public spaces—that includes the elevator. Thank you.” He hangs up the moment the last word leaves his lips, and we all fall into a fit of laughter.
“I swear, I keep forgetting about those damn cameras.” Gabe shakes his head with a goofy grin on his lips before kissing both my newly wrapped forearms.
“Well, at least someone got quite the show.” Noah snorts.
I giggle. “Yeah, I’m not sure how I feel about that.”
Both their faces fall instantly. “Shit… I’m sorry. It was just a joke, but we should have thought about it.” Noah cups my face, worry shining in his eyes.
“Guys, I’m fine. Everything is fine. You don’t need to keep apologizing.” I smile, reaching for both their hands. “We’re constantly having sex all over this place; I’m sure it wasn’t the first time someone got an eyeful and probably won’t be the last. Besides, if they work for Julian, I’m pretty sure they have some huge NDA contract signed that won’t allow them to speak or do anything with whatever they see.”
“Yeah, most likely,” Gabe says, returning my smile, but it doesn’t reach his eyes. I get it; they’re both worried about me and the fact that we still haven’t heard anything from Victor. They know it’s starting to really mess with my head despite me trying to act like it’s not.
“I need to get going.” Noah looks at the time on his phone, then puts it away and kisses my forehead.
“Are you nervous?” I search his eyes for how he might truly be feeling.
Today is Noah’s first one-on-one appointment with Dr. Hallaway. She knewthere were things the boys might not want to share in front of me, or maybe even be embarrassed to speak of, so she thought all of us having private sessions as well as a group session every other week would be good. Tomorrow will be Gabe’s first session alone, I’ll have mine the following day, and next week we have our second group session.
“Not really nervous, just… trying to put myself in the mindset of having to open up and talk about my feelings.” He smirks, knowing it’s the thing he struggles with the most.
