Page 74 of Tangled up in You

“How much colder can it get?”

“Oh, honey, it can get a lot colder here than back home. The temps mixed with the rain is why it’s going to be so icy,” he answered.

“That’s fucking stupid.”

We laughed at her bitter words and I left to go do something about the heat. Poor girl. She really did want to go home.

Digging through Micah’s duffel made me nervous. He was such a neat freak that I was scared to tumble anything up too much. Finding the joggers, I neatly packed everything back up and adjusted the heat. Grabbing my phone from the charger, I pulled up the weather app and walked back out into the living area of the suite.

“Fuck.”

“What’s wrong?” Aiden asked from the second bedroom.

“It’s calling for snow now.”

“Snow?” two excited squeals shouted back from the bedroom.

Right. Micah had probably never seen snow either.

“Yes, snow.” I climbed back into the bed with them and dressed Layah in the joggers.

“We might be here longer than we thought,” I warned her.

“But with snow?” Her hopeful look pulled on my heartstrings and I found myself always wishing for the damn stuff.

“Maybe, little love,” I answered.

Aiden kissed her head and patted her butt. She was sprawled out across him, her legs on his legs and her torso across hisstomach and chest. She was petite and Aidan was part giant or something. He had always been fucking huge.

“Why don’t you get some sleep, baby? We can talk more about snow in the morning.”

“Can we all sleep in here tonight?”

Micah placed his hand on her back. “Wild horses couldn’t drag me away.”

I added mine on top of his. “I’m staying tonight and every night of our future with you.”

Aiden joined us and kissed the top of her head again. “Cuddle puddle, baby.”

Laying in the bed was hard with all of us. We couldn’t really move and I imagined poor Aiden felt like a sardine shoved into a can with us surrounding him.

“Back home, we’ll need to figure out the sleeping situation. I am so uncomfortable,” Aiden said, voicing my thoughts.

Micah laughed and wiggled in his spot. “I’m so hot. Laying beside Aiden is like sleeping beside a furnace.”

“It reminds me of my second night in the foster home. I was so scared and confused. I didn’t sleep the first night and the second night I kept waking up screaming. Ms. Hester was trying to help, but I was so scared I couldn’t even process what she was saying,” Laylah said.

“I remember. You were scared the men who killed your mom were going to come back for you,” Micah said.

“I was. Even though I knew it had been a random thing, I was so scared that night,” she added.

“I remember we were all sitting in my room, just staring at each other. I finally said I was going to sleep on the floor of your room and they followed. I guess that night was the start of our bond,” Aiden said, voicing his own thoughts.

“Ms. Hester looked amazed when you finally settled and went to sleep and even more amazed when we slept on your floor the next week and a half,” I said.

Laylah rubbed her hands up and down whatever parts of us she could reach. “I love you guys.”

“We love you too, little one,” Micah answered.

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