Page 10 of Duke
LENNON
I breakout in a cold sweat as my mind tumbles and turns in an attempt to understand why I’ve had such a violent reaction to opening my own bedroom door. I hadn’t realized Juliette was playing a part in my nightmares, and all I’d wanted to do was process that information by myself whenboom,I’d been hit with a wave of terror so strong, it’d sent me stumbling backward before I could mentally grasp what was happening.
“Stella Bella. Baby, what’s wrong?” Duke’s voice is immediately in my ear, his capable arms wrapping me tightly in a cocoon of safety. Despite the shivers rolling through my body, he makes me feel secure, the same way he had the day he rescued me from the Cabot Hall bathroom. He’d called me baby then, too—only this time, it’s no mistake or slip of his tongue. Our relationship has definitely veered into different territory since then.
I open my mouth to speak, to attempt to explain my bizarre behavior, but words fail me. All I can manage is to breathe. In. Out. In. Out. My eyes crash shut, unable to look into the yawning chasm of that room a second longer. “I can’t go in there. I—” My forehead pinches a painful line right down the center as panic rises within me, and all I can do is fervently pray that he’ll hear the anxiousness in my voice and act on it. “D-Duke…” I stutter out his name as the walls close in on me and my breaths accelerate.
Relief washes over me as he lurches into action, and we take three steps back in rapid succession. Once we’re safe inside Bear’s room, he flings the door shut with a resounding bang.
Mason and Bear rush forward, and I feel rather than see the quick jerk of Duke’s head, warding them off. “Take a minute, Lennon.”
I nod, sagging against his chest, allowing him to support me as I stare straight ahead at the closed door. After several minutes have passed, all three have grown restless. Their heavy, anxious breaths and the creak of the hardwood flooring as they shift in place reminds me of their presence, but to their credit, they don’t say or do a thing, allowing me to grapple with the agony inside my head.
Now that I’ve calmed, I’m able to dredge up a few words, though the way they climb and crawl from my throat gives me the chills. “Something happened to me in there.” I bring one fisted hand to the middle of my forehead, rubbing it there, as if that will bring back the memories that’ve been stolen from me. Slowly, I turn in Duke’s arms giving him a quick glance before meeting the worried gazes of Mason and Bear. I rest my head under Duke’s chin and whisper, “My brain wants to shut the fuck down.” I clench my teeth together, mildly afraid they’re going to think I’m fucking crazy. I don’t have the mental energy to deal with any of this while confusion runs rampant through my thoughts. “I need to know what happened to me. I want to talk it through with you, I do… but I’m also really, really fucking overwhelmed.”
Mase shrugs, then turns matter-of-factly, and strides over to the bed, climbing to the far side. I watch the expanse of muscle shift and bunch across his broad back as he systematically pulls the sheet down so we can get in. With a glance over his shoulder, his eyes find mine. When the rest of us don’t immediately move to join him, he murmurs quietly, “Is this not what we’re doing? You’re exhausted. So are we.” He points at Duke and Bear. “I don’t know about you fuckers, but I’m not letting her out of my sight. She may have thought she was heading to her room to be alone, but before she shrieked, I was only moments from following her.”
There’s a loud exhale from Bear. “Yeah. Me too.”
Duke gives a surprisingly silent answer, but one that warms my insides as much as hearing from Bear and Mason that they were going to come after me. He presses his lips into my hair and holds me tightly against him. Mason eyes the possessive hold Duke has on me and gives us a wicked grin. “So, it’s settled, then. If none of us are comfortable being apart from Lennon right now, that means everyone’s getting into bed. Together.”
Duke pulls back so he can look into my eyes. There’s still a hint of hurt in them from the earlier Juliette nightmare discovery, and I know we need to talk. All of us. But now’s not the time. We’ll think more clearly in the morning. I blink, realizing he’s been studying me as I waded through the mess in my head. His eyebrow quirks at me in question.
I know what he’s asking and appreciate that he’s letting me lead… but I’m surprised he doesn’t realize how desperately I need all of them. “Please?” I catch the corner of my lip with my teeth, connecting with each of their gazes in turn. “I don’t know how well I’ll sleep anyway, but I’d rather not be alone. And I definitely can’t stay in my room. I don’t even know if I can step foot inside. Not yet. Not now.” I give myself a shake, not wanting to spiral farther.
“You don’t have to,” Mason assures me from where he’s already sitting in the bed, knees casually drawn up and waiting for the rest of us to come to the same conclusion he did several minutes ago. “You’ll sleep right here. With us.”
My eyes flick over Bear’s drawn expression, the careful way he moves his body. Does he care if we invade his personal space even more than we already have? I may have been out of it earlier, but I hadn’t missed how he wasn’t the one to pick me up and bring me in here. He hadn’t argued when I asked Mason to help me shower, even though we were inhisroom. And even though he says now that he was going to follow me, the fact is that he wasn’t the one to respond to my cries either. He’s trying hard not to let on, but I can tell he’s in pain and not himself. If he’s fighting… technicallytonight… he’s screwed if he doesn’t get some shut-eye soon.Never mind that he doesn’t seem physically in a place where he should be even considering climbing into a ring. I don’t want to think about how that would work. He needs rest, but the look in his eye tells me he wants me here with him.
So, that leaves Duke. Not being in the know about my nightmares has thrown him. Funny, he doesn’t seem the slightest bit upset with me—not that I knew what the hell I’d been saying in my sleep—and he’s fine with Bear, too. Instead, he’s pinned his utter dismay on Mason.Why?My gaze flicks from one to the other. The truth hits me quickly and with the force of a sledgehammer—there’s so much more between them than simple physical attraction. There are feelings involved. Maybe Duke overreacted a smidge, but to be fair, it’s been a doozy of a night for all of us. I hate that Mason protecting Duke from something I said could ruin their fragile connection. I lift onto tiptoe and press my lips to the curve of Duke’s jaw. “Stop placing blame. Get out of your fucking head for once and lie down with us.”
“She’s right. Don’t overthink it, man.” Mason pats the mattress beside him, his dark eyes fully trained on his best friend. “I know part of what’s racing around in your head is that you’re pissed off that I kept things from you.” He scrapes his teeth over that full bottom lip of his and shrugs. “I made a judgment call. I didn’t do it to hurt you. It’s not like I thought to myself, Oh, lemme just hide info about Lennon and Juliette from Duke for shits and giggles. If you want, you can give me hell over it. We can fight it out. But not now. That’s for another day.” He crooks his finger, staring directly into Duke’s eyes. “Come on. We stick together and give Lennon the support she needs.”
Duke grasps the back of his neck as he presses his firm lips together. He’s wavering, even if he’s still ticked. I can feel the way his body has relaxed against mine. He’s slowly being won over, just needs a little more prodding so he can tell himself we convinced him it was okay.
If a little cajoling is what it takes, I’m good with that. I let out a tremulous breath, pressing another kiss to his neck. “I need you. I need all of you. Please stay with me.”
Duke draws in a ragged breath and nods as he finally relents. “Fine.”
Mason winks at us, but the command in his voice leaves no room for argument. “Duke, get the fuck in the bed. Lemme be your fuckin’ big spoon. And you can be hers.”
“I don’t care where you sleep so long as I have Lennon beside me,” Bear growls, but he shoots me a small smile and pulls a pair of joggers out of his chest of drawers before ducking into the bathroom.
As we watch him go, Duke begrudgingly climbs onto the mattress, his eyes cautiously trained on Mason. “You’re fuckin’ bossy,” he grumbles before flopping onto his side with his back to him. He holds out his arm to me, and I follow, settling in beside him and snuggling into the warmth of his embrace.
Mason finds a way to extend a protective arm around both of us, his hand sliding to my hip and squeezing to let me know he’s there. “Should’ve been doing this all along,” he mumbles. When I glance over my shoulder, I understand why those words came out a bit muffled—his lips are pressed against the crook of Duke’s shoulder.
My eyelids are beginning to droop while waiting on Bear when he finally joins us. He takes his time, plugging his phone into the charger at his bedside table, then sits on the edge of the bed and messes with his shoulder before he lies flat on his back. We’ve situated ourselves in a way that will keep his injured shoulder from being jostled too much. I almost have to laugh, noting that considering the size of the bed, we certainly aren’t making the greatest use of all the space. We’re kinda lumped together in the center. A freaking cuddle puddle. And, oh god, does that make me smile despite our shitty night.
None of us are in a state of mind to deny each other physical contact, as is evidenced in the way we’re linked across the bed, arms and legs and hearts intertwined. I’ve rested my cheek against Bear’s chest with my hand on his stomach and my leg hiked up and hooked over his thigh. Duke’s front molds to my back, with Mason curled up behind him, like they were always meant to be that close. I wonder, briefly, what it would be like to see us bound in this way. I wish there were a way to have a snapshot of this moment in time when we’ve come together like this—because I needed them.
Several minutes later, it’s difficult to tell who is asleep and who is awake, but apparently, my emotions choose this moment to catch up with me again. I try so damn hard to keep myself from giving in to tears, but I’m simply on overload. My chest jerks between Bear and Duke, my cry muffled as I try to contain it.
Exhaling, Bear whispers, “I’m so fuckin’ sorry we didn’t protect you from this.”
My heart pitches in my chest, throbbing hard. “It’s not your fault.”
Duke buries his face at the back of my neck, pressing his lips there. “You’re safe, baby. Anyone meaning you harm would have to go through all three of us to get to you.”
