Page 58 of Devour

“I want you to have the couch—”

“Thank you,” he interrupted with a grumble.

“—but I want it, too.”

He did a fantastic job of appearing very annoyed, which could have convinced anyone but me. I crept over to him with a wide grin.

“Down.”

I plopped my butt onto that carpet so fast he couldn’t hide his amusement.

“You can’t sleep on the couch with me,” Eli explained.

“Then I won’t. Just cuddles.” Not my fault he turned me into a snuggleslut.

Eli arched his brow like he didn’t believe I could behave, but excuse me, sir, I was not the one who initiated the last two chomp and humps.

“Go ahead, then.”

The couch wasn’t very wide, so I snuggled up nice and close to his chest, then hubby pulled the comforter over the both of us after. Definitely a win-win. Simply lying down next to him got me an itty-bitty bit fuller, but hubs wrapped one arm around me while the other he buried in my hair while rubbing my scalp. Sigh. He only started doing that recently, and it definitely did something for me. Not the sole reason I came here, though.

“What’s on your mind, hubs?”

Yeah, he kicked me out—even though he said he wouldn’t—right about the time the realization we wouldn’t be leaving here tonight settled in his mind. Hubs didn’t kick me out often, but when he got too stressed, it was always an instant mental barricade.

“I’m thinking how awful being here is, since this is the last place I want to be. That this is pretty much my personal hell, but—”

“But?” I nestled closer and hubby squeezed me hard, his fingers digging into my back. Sigh.

“Turns out hell can be tolerable so long as I’m with my favorite demon.”

“Aww, hubby, you can always count on me to make the intolerable tolerable.”

He responded with a doubtful hum, but he could not hide his amusement.

Despite hubs kicking me out, I had my ways. So even if I didn’t know his exact thoughts, I could figure out how he felt. And even though he remained stressed, anxious, and annoyed, he also became the tiniest bit more relaxed, content, and… I didn’t know that last one. Smelled it on him many times before, but still hadn’t riddled out what that one meant exactly. Not a negative emotion, at least.

“Get some sleep, hubs,” I whispered. “I’ll move after.”

By the time the holiday special ended, hubby had fallen asleep, which was my cue to untangle myself from him and brave the loneliness of the cold recliner. Not that I wanted to leave this warmth, but hubby was perhaps the one being in existence who could get me to do anything I didn’t immediately want. Before I could do more than shift from his arms, the floorboards creaked, and I shot my head up like a prairie dog to glare over the back of the couch.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you,” Mary whispered. Due to the layout of the house, leaving the bedrooms meant she had to cut through the living room to get to the kitchen.

“I wasn’t asleep.” My response sounded a lot meaner than I intended, but it wasn’t often people got the better of me. I should’ve heard her coming.

Mary’s lips rolled inward while she fought the urge to speak her thoughts. “Do you want to come outside with me? I can’t sleep, either.”

“Sure. Why not?”

After creeping out from the nest, I grabbed the leather jacket I wouldn’t need, because I didn’t want to freak Mary out by standing in the snow without one. She led the way through the kitchen and opened the door, stepping out into the walkway. The snow had piled high since the last time I stood here, but an overhang left a small semi-circle with only a dusting that drifted this way on the breeze.

“Eli asleep?” she asked, reaching into her coat for a lighter.

I raised a brow at her question rather than her drug of choice, but she felt the need to defend herself to me, anyway. “Don’t judge. It’s the holidays and we’re all stressed.”

“No judgment here,” I said with a smile. “More like I’m heavily considering shaking your cousin awake and sending him out here with you instead. That guy is stressed.”

“Yeah, Eric mentioned Dylan and Greg were being assholes to you guys.” She offered to share, but I declined with a smile. Would be wasted on me, anyway. “Wish I could say that surprised me,” she said with a long exhale.

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