Page 31 of After the Rain
“Damn, daddy,” he whispers quietly enough that I don’t think Nash heard him, but I definitely did. Judging by the way his back is shaking with laughter, I think it’s safe to say that Rain did too. I smile wryly down at him, and he smiles back.
“Oh boy,” he mouths silently at me before turning back to the counter where the kettle has now finished boiling. “Tea?” he asks the room. At three sounds of agreement, he busies himself with making the tea. I’m a little shocked to see that not only is Corey still eyeing my brother with open attraction, but Nash seems frozen to the spot as well and can’t seem to drag his gaze away from Corey. Nash. My oldest brother. Mystraightbrother is looking at Corey with something that looks decidedly like want in his eyes.Oh boyindeed.
Twenty-Three
Rain
Nash and Corey disappear upstairs so Nash can do his doctor thing and check that Corey is OK. He’s also, at Corey’s request, going to run his blood tests to make sure he’s clean and safe. The fact that Corey is convinced that Dom was fucking other people behind his back just makes me cringe even more.
I feel like I can breathe for the first time since Corey replied to my IG message. That he’s here, and safe, and relatively OK, if exhausted and a bit grubby, is such a relief. When they leave the room and I’m left with Aidan, I feel myself crumple. Within seconds, Aidan is there, holding me up and scooping me into his arms. I wrap my legs around his waist, and he sits me gently on the kitchen countertop. I wrap my arms tightly around his shoulders and cry quietly into the crook of his neck. He rubs my back with his giant hand, and my fingers pull at the bun on top of hishead until it cascades down around his face, and I can breathe in the scent of his richly scented shampoo and run my fingers through the silky locks.
“It’s OK, baby,” he murmurs into my ear. “You’re OK. I’ve got you.” I nod, and he continues to soothe me with his soft words and even softer touches. Eventually, I pull away and try to avert my red-rimmed, puffy eyes, but he’s having none of that. He grips my chin and forces me to look at him. He takes a deep breath, and I follow his lead before we both exhale together like we’re blowing out a cake full of candles.
“It’s all just… a lot. I was so worried about Corey, and I’ve been so happy with you and being here and everything, but I don’t think I’d realised quite how worried I was until he was here safely.”
“I get it. You’re amazing and strong, and you don’t even know it half the time, but above everything, you care about other people.”
“I definitely care about Corey. We never got to really become too close because they kept us apart, but you’ve seen him. I’m small, but he’s like, delicate. I can’t believe he’s been sleeping rough the whole time I’ve been here, safe with you.” Tears fill my eyes again, but before my tears can fall, Aidan leans and presses the gentlest kiss on my lips that I think I’ve ever experienced.
“Well, he’s safe now. That’s all we can do. We can’t go back in time, no matter how much we wish we could. He’s here. You both are. And you’re both safe. It’s Christmas soon. We’ll all be at Mum and Dad’s. We’ll have a great day, and then in the new year, we can make some longer-term plans.”
Not for the first time today, I thank my lucky stars for this amazing man.
A few minutes later, Corey and Nash return to the kitchen. Corey seems flustered, and Nash looks like he’s chewing glass.
“Everything OK?” Aidan asks.
“Yep,” Corey says at the exact moment Nash says, “Nope.”
They eyeball each other before Corey relents.
“I’ve got some bruising and stuff—”
“Stuff?” Nash interrupts but bites his tongue, clearly struggling to abide by his privacy constraints as a doctor.
“Yes, stuff. But Nash has kindly given me a prescription for pain relief, taken some blood and some information about a counsellor, which, I promise I’ll look into, just not yet.”
This last sentence, he speaks directly to Nash, who reluctantly nods after a pregnant pause. He gathers all his kit and mumbles a curt goodbye and informs us he’ll see us in a coupleof weeks at the pub for Christmas Eve Eve drinks, which is apparently a thing, before he walks out without another word.
Shortly after Nash leaves, Corey asks if he can take a shower and get some sleep. He was more interested in that than in any food, so we settle him into the room that was mine before I basically moved into Aidan’s room last week. With a promise that we’ll talk later, I leave him to it and head downstairs.
Aidan is there to wrap me up in his arms and squeeze me until I feel the tension leave me. Pax is at his side, and Aidan tells me he asked Archer and Cole not to come in to meet Corey just yet, as he needs a bit of time to settle in. I’m certain they were lovely about it. There’s something about the Foster family that is just good, deep down, good in their marrow.
“What do you need, baby?” Aidan asks. I take a deep breath, knowing exactly what I need. I need to move, and then I need him.
“I’m going to go to the studio for a while, if that’s OK?”
“Of course it’s OK. You never have to ask. It’s there for you.” I cup his face and gently rub his cheek with my thumb, the way I love to do.
“And then later…”
“Later?”
I lean in and whisper in my most seductive voice, “Later, you can make love to me in our bed.” This is the first time I’ve referred to anything in or about the house as ‘ours’, even though Aidan does it all the time. I hope he realises that the way he just stepped up and solved this issue with Corey means so much to me, and I want to be here with him, properly. Like really and truly properly.
“I would love to do that, inourbed.” Ah, so he caught it. Good.
“Free Bird” by Lynyrd Skynyrd plays through the speakers in the studio as I twist and bend my body around the pole. I feel the stretch and burn in my muscles as I rebuild my strength. I’m nowhere near as fluid and weightless as I used to be after so many injuries and weeks away from dancing. But it’s coming back even after only a couple of sessions out here. My right arm is always stronger than my left – a hazard of pole dance – but I can see muscle definition returning to both.
