Page 67 of Finding the Forward: Part Two
Her eyes blinked open. “Grif.”
“Hi, Kitten.” The look on her face warmed me right up as she threw her arms around my neck and kissed me until my toes curled. I was taking her to bed tonight. It didn’t matter how many blowjobs Dean earned while she was gone.
If AJ climbed in with us at some point…
Though Verity and I needed to have that talk. If not tonight, tomorrow. I had to tell Coach Atkins the truth. Soon. I’d felt a little weird while playing tonight, despite scoring three goals. The last thing I needed was to collapse during a game.
Her hand raked through my wet hair, and she frowned. “You’re wet.”
“And I’m hard. I got two shutouts while you were gone.” Dean pulled her from me, spun her around, and kissed her.
“You’re wet, too. Wet and cold.” Verity’s frown deepened as she cupped his face with her hand. “Why are you all wet?”
“We walked through a snowstorm, Little Alpha.” Jonas snapped a kiss.
“You all need to shower and change before you get sick. What if you get sick and we can’t get you to the doctor because of the storm?” Verity scolded, putting her hands on her hips.
“Wanna put me in the shower and warm me up?” Dean wrapped his arms around her.
“We’ll do that right now. No one’s going to get sick. I’ll take care of Dean, you take care of Grif,” Jonas told her.
She nodded as she climbed off Dean. His face grew stricken, but I wasn’t about to relent, and I sent Jonas a silent look of thanks.
“I promise to spend time with you later.” She kissed Dean, then came over to me. “I’ll make us a bath, Tiger. Thank you, all of you, for the thoughtful rooms for me and my sister. It means everything.” Verity kissed me on the cheek and padded off toward the bedrooms.
I sat down on the couch and took off my wet shoes and socks. “What happened?”
AJ motioned for us to come closer, and they sat down and started removing their soaked footwear.
“The heat’s been off in their place and the pipes burst. It’s flooded. Most of their shit’s ruined. We tried to save what we could, which is why there’s plants everywhere, mountains of laundry, and a game system in a bowl of rice,” AJ replied.
“As you should.” Jonas nodded.
“Oh, and don’t throw away the weird baggie on the counter. It’s apparently special.” AJ shrugged. “Starter?”
I nodded. “It’s for sourdough bread.”
“The rooms aren’t finished.” Distress wafted off Dean and Jonas put an arm around him.
“Is that why the table is full of junk food?” My eyes flickered over to the table, which was piled high with tempting treats.
While Dr. Arya’s nutrition plan made me feel better than the Knight’s one, it wasn’t any more fun.
AJ nodded. “Mercy’s idea of emergency supplies. We’re apparently snacking our way through the snowstorm. We’re fine supply-wise, even with them. But I wanted them to be comfortable. Be gentle. That was their home.Theirs.They made the rules and no one’s going to yell at them for not doing something good enough, for not being enough.”
“Oh shit. That makes sense. I knew they were proud of their place, but I didn’t think about the other implications.” I stripped off my wet socks, the warm air putting feeling back into my toes.
“Anyhow, just be conscious of things. We’ll need to show them that they’re safe with us.” He turned to me. “I wonder, if on some subconscious level, Verity wanting to wait also had to do with being wary of being in someone else’s house again.”
Jonas put his bare feet up by the fire. “Coming from a shitty home, I feel that. Thanks for the heads up.”
Shit. She’d lost everything, including her sense of safety. That tugged on that deeply buried part of me that liked to be secure. We’d love her, show her she belonged here, too.
AJ grabbed the empty bowl and cups off the table. “There’s leftover food if anyone’s hungry.”
“I’m good.” I kissed him. “Thanks for taking care of them.”
“Absolutely. Go spend some time with her. I’ll check on you two in a bit?” His hand stroked my damp hair. “Obviously, you can have your privacy, but if you need reinforcements, I’m here.”
