By day four, Gianna had reduced his pain meds enough that he wasn’t knocked on his arse by them quite so much, and he was able to get up and about. He was still slow, and obviously in pain, but progress was being made, and I couldn’t have been happier. Well, actually, that’s not entirely true, because I was craving some one-on-one time with my man more than I thought possible. He was right there beside me, but there was always someone else too.
It was selfish of me to want him all to myself when everyone else had been as scared for him as I was. The guys seemed to have a rota for their visits so that someone was always with him. It warmed my heart to see just how tight their friendship, and their family were again.
And if it weren’t his friends, then it was Zay. Watching the two of them together melted my heart every single time. I hated begrudging my little brother because of the attention he was getting from my boyfriend, but I haven’t been able to stop myself.
“It is. It’s time I got my girl all to myself for a while.”
His lips find the sensitive skin of my neck, and he trails kisses down my skin until he’s at my shoulder.
Butterflies flutter wildly in my stomach at the thought of it being just the two of us.
“I want to take my time with this body and be confident that no one—namely your little brother—isn’t going to storm in and catch me with my face between your thighs. That kid has already seen more than he ever should. That might just tip him over the edge.”
Sadness and concern wash through me for my little brother. As the days have passed, he’s gotten stronger, shown signs that he’s going to be able to put everything he and Alex went through behind him. But it’s still early days. And he’s still very attached to Alex, which makes this sudden decision to leave, no matter how much I might want to, hard.
“He’s not going to like you leaving.”
“No, I know. But Mum and Blake think it’s probably for the best before he gets too attached.”
When his eyes meet mine in the mirror once more, I find the same unease over this situation swimming within them.
“We can come back tomorrow to see him. But a night to ourselves is long overdue.”
I nod, because there’s no way I’m arguing. We need some privacy, and more than anything, we need some time to talk.
He still has questions about what happened—I see them swirling in his grey depths whenever I look at him—and we have plenty to discuss for the future, starting with the bomb he dropped on me the other day about Zay going to Knight’s Ridge. Obviously, I want him to. Attending that school could open up so many doors for a bright kid like Zay. But at the same time, I don’t want Alex, Stefanos, or anyone to offer up some charity just because Zay got tangled up in their dark underworld. Maybe it’s deserved after what he went through, but accepting something so huge isn’t something I’m used to, and I know Blakely isn’t going to take too kindly to it either.
We work for every penny we have. It’s how we’ve been forced to live for years. It’s why everything feels so up in the air right now.
With all this over, do we just go back to our old flat and return to our old life? Or do we need to pull up our big girl knickers and accept that we’ve landed on our feet here and accept all the offers of help we can get?
I gasp when he tugs the bottom of my towel, making it fall from my body, leaving me standing naked before him.
“So beautiful, Vixen.”
Closing the space between us, he cups my breasts as I rest my head back against his shoulder, watching us in the mirror.
“So fucking hot.”
With just his hands on my breasts, my chest begins heaving in only a few short moments, heat blooming between my thighs.
“Alex,” I moan.
Nuzzling my neck, he rolls his hips, grinding his erection against my arse.
“Sounds like my girl might have missed me,” he groans.
“You’ve no idea.”
I don’t hear the warning—I’m too focused on Alex’s hand as he begins descending my body—so I shriek in fright when someone starts knocking on the door.
“Alex?” Zay shouts. The sound of his voice is akin to someone throwing a bucket of ice water over us.
“See. Time to go home,” Alex says as I rush to wrap my towel back around my body in case my little brother decides to barge in.
Alex attempts to rearrange his hard-on in his sweats, but it doesn’t do much good.
“Yeah, bud. I’ll meet you downstairs in a few, yeah?”