Page 88 of Storm

“I’m telling you what it feels like whenever I’m around you, I feel tortured because I’m constantly second guessing if I’m crossing a line, not pushing hard enough, or pissing you off. I want to know that I can be all in with you without holding myself back.”

I poke him in the chest. “You understood that perfectly!”

“Or we can talk about my dismal Spanish skills.” He gives me a dark look, and I bite my lip in response.

“Sorry.” I grab his hands and pull them into my lap to squeeze them tightly. “You don’t have to hold back with me. I just want to make sure you know I don’t want anything fromyou.” He opens his mouth to argue, but I stop him. “I’m not talking about relationship things; I’m talking about monetarily. It’s important to me that you know it’s not who I am.”

He sighs and pulls me against his chest, hugging me tightly. “I don’t think that and I’m not sure I ever really did, to be honest. Sometimes I can be a real fucking idiot, Miriam. I compared you to people from my past that you are so far above. It wasn’t fair, and I was a dick because of it.”

“A bit,” I tease. He kisses me again, then moves away to stand up. I grab his arm to keep him next to me. “Why are you learning Spanish?”

The look he gives me is priceless. It’s as if he’s second guessing everything he just said and I’m a complete moron. Pointing to my stomach, he dips his head like it’s obvious. He speaks slowly so I’ll understand.

“So I can teach my son.”

Emotion is clogging my throat as I whisper, “Say it in Spanish.” He looks unsure, but I dip my head in encouragement.

“Para poder enseñarle a mi hijo.” It comes out choppy and a few words aren’t pronounced perfectly, but I don’t give a shit. I hiccup back a sob, bringing my hands to my heart and wordlessly let him know how moved I am at this very moment.

Richard moves closer, bringing his mouth close enough to hover over mine, his eyes searing into me before he whispers, “Te amo, Miriam.” After a soft kiss, he shifts lower and presses another to my swollen belly, murmuring, “Y a mi bebé.”

I burst out in tears, startling him by my reaction. Waving it off, I try to control myself, but I’m useless. Loud, ugly sobs explode from deep within my chest, and I pull him up so I can bury my face against him. His arms go around me slowly and I vaguely hear my bedroom door open.

Someone asks a question, but it’s only Richard I can hear at the moment. “I don’t know, but I think she’s alright.”

Turning my head, I keep a fist to my mouth to muffle my sobs and see the rest of them staring at me with worry. It only makes me cry harder because it’s not until just now that I realize they’re all really here for me. Not just Gabriel, but me as well.

After the shit news at my appointment, it’s like everything just got a million times better and I don’t have to bear this alone.

“Snacks!” Ezra calls out before spinning around and running from the room. Tatum hurries over and crawls onto the bed behind me, wrapping his body around me and hugging me tight.

When Kevin approaches, concern etched across his face, Richard disentangles himself from my hold as Tatum pulls me back to the head of the bed. Piling pillows behind my back, I fold myself against Kevin as he settles on the other side of me, then half laugh, half cry when he asks, “Fuck, Rich. What the hell did you say to her?”

“That I was learning Spanish.”

I wail louder, hating everything about me right now and how pathetic I’m acting, but I can’t control it. They start questioning him, but it’s drowned out by my crying, which gradually turns into laughter the longer I go on.

“Christ, Miri. I’m not sure if I should be worrying right now.” Tatum is leaning over me where I’m laying on Kevin’s chest, watching me carefully.

“I-I’m fine,” I choke out, my breath shuddering out as everything I’m feeling ebbs. Finding Richard still sitting at the end of the bed, I mouth, “Te amo,” to him. Kevin and Tatum don’t catch it, but Richard’s frown slowly turns up into a sinful smile. Like there’s a secret between the two of us, he immediately brushes off every bit of concern he had and stands up.

“Should we just do a movie in here? I’ll grab the remote.”

I chance a look at Tatum, his brow raised, waiting for me to explain. Giving him a wobbly smile, he huffs out a laughand shakes his head. “I guess we’re getting back to our regular evening programming.”

Snorting out a laugh just as Ezra returns, I giggle when I see how much food he’s hugging to his body. He must have emptied the pantry with every saltyandsweet snack from the pantry.

With my hands out, he rushes over and drops them at my feet in the center of the bed. Kevin’s disgruntled disapproval draws my attention and I glare at him. “I get to eat whatever I want tonight. Fuck today, I want to snack and eat my emotions.”

“Noted,” he says seriously, then settles against the headboard with one arm thrown over my shoulder.

Richard’s found something cheesy to put on and looks at us all gathered on the bed. Tatum and Kevin are on either side of me and Ezra is picking through the food to find the perfect first bite.

Using my foot, I shove the food toward Ezra and clear the space between my legs, then hold out a hand. Richard only hesitates a moment, but must decide to say fuck it because he crawls up the bed and lies on his back between my spread legs. Ezra’s glaring at him, obviously jealous, but keeps his thoughts to himself. Using my thigh as a pillow, Richard gets comfortable and starts the movie.

Ezra bounces on the bed, shifting all of us with his weight as he curls up on the other side of my leg and throws his leg over my ankle for contact. I thread my hand into Richard’s hair and my other one finds Tatum’s. We weave our fingers together just as I lean my head against Kevin’s shoulder.

I only worry briefly that my bed won’t be able to handle the weight of all of us, but figure if the legs give out, we’ll be protected by the soft mattress underneath us.

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