Page 7 of Bailey

I felt a blush creep onto my face as Boone, Caleb, and Ethan turned and started back towards us, dicks swinging as they walked. What is it with these men and their oversized dicks? Is it even statistically possible for none of them to have a small dick? I side-eyed Pike, the only one who’s dick I haven’t seen yet. Maybe he’s the one in five. I guess only time will tell. Pike caught me looking at him and grinned at me.

“It’s bigger,” he said confidently.

“I didn’t ask. I’m going to finish dinner. You go get cleaned up.”

He saluted me playfully, “Yes, Ma’am.” I shook my head and went back inside to finish dinner.

“So since you have such a full house, I think I’m going to go ahead and move to Anna’s now,” Matty announced after dinner, setting his packed bag down as he entered the living room. I was relaxing with a book about plants since my guests insisted I let them clean up the kitchen.

“What?! I’m not ready for you to leave yet, and like hell you’re leaving me alone with them. Don’t do this to me, Matty, please,” I begged, sitting up and tossing the book aside. Matty came and sat down on the couch beside me and took my hands in his.

“Bails, you knew this was coming before I knew you knew this was coming. It’s time. I’ll be back tomorrow and every day after to check in on you until I’m sure you can live without me for more than a day,” he promised teasingly, coaxing a smile to my face.

“Ugh, fine, but I still don’t like it. And I’m going to miss you,” I told him, pulling him in for a hug. I squeezed him tightly and tried to hold back my tears. My baby brother was leaving the nest, and I wasn’t sure how to process that. My entire life has revolved around taking care of him. Maybe having five strangers in my house is a good thing. They will keep me distracted from Matty’s absence. Matty started making dramatic suffocating noises, so I released him.

“You’re going to be ok, Bails. I’m going to be ok. You’ll see. This is a good thing. Maybe now you can focus on what makes you happy.”

“You make me happy,” I argued.

He rolled his eyes at me, “You need to get a life, B. Lucky for you, five guys are more than willing to help you with that. Promise me you will give them a chance and won’t shut them out. Keep an open mind and see where it goes. You might be surprised.”

“I promise, but I’m not sure what to do about them, Matty,” I whispered, showing my vulnerability.

He ran a hand over my hair and pulled me in for another hug. “I know we’ve only known them a day, but they seem like pretty upstanding guys. Let them take the lead. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to. They can take the lead, but you call the shots, Bailey. Just try to have some fun.”

I leaned back to look at him. “You’re the best little brother in the whole entire world, and I hope you know how much I love you,” I told him. I leaned forward and planted a loud, smacking kiss on his cheek.

“Ok, that’s enough of this,” he said as he wiped his cheek and stood. “Why do you always make things weird?” he asked, making me laugh.

“Come on, I’ll walk you out.” He grabbed his bag, and I followed him through the kitchen, which went silent as we passed through and outside. I wrapped an arm around his back as we walked to the gate. Once we reached the gate, Matty turned and hugged me goodbye.

“You’re the best big sister in the whole entire world, and I love you too,” he whispered. I swallowed past the lump in my throat as he stepped away from me and walked through the gate. I secured it closed behind him and waved as he walked down the road. I stood there trying not to cry until I couldn’t see him anymore. Composing myself, I walked back to the house.

When I entered the kitchen, four pairs of eyes turned to look at me. I froze briefly under their stares. “Right, I’m going to bed. There are three bedrooms upstairs you can use. Two of you will have to double up unless you take the couch in the living room instead. Make yourselves at home, and I’ll see you in the morning.” I didn’t give them a chance to respond as I quickly left the kitchen. I went down the hallway towards my bedroom and stopped to check on Gray, who was peacefully sleeping, before closing myself in my room.

Once I was safely behind the door, I let out a sigh of relief. Usually, I slept with the door open, and maybe once everyone went to bed, I’d open the door, but for now, I needed it closed. I took off my bra and shorts and climbed into bed. I listened to the less-than-quiet house as I tried to get used to the sounds of five other men living there. I was certainly out of the frying pan and into the fire now.

Chapter four

Surprisingly,Ifellasleepquickly. Unfortunately, I wasn’t sleeping for long before I woke up from another nightmare about my parents. I lay in bed and listened to the sounds of the house while I tried to go back to sleep. After what felt like an hour, I gave up with a sigh. I got up and almost left the room without pants again. I needed to start remembering them now that I had company. I slipped on loose pajama pants and tiptoed to the kitchen.

As quietly as possible, I made myself a cup of hot tea and then took it outside to drink on the porch. The sky was just starting to lighten, so I must have gotten more sleep than I realized. I sat on the porch swing and sipped my tea, thinking about the day ahead and what needed to be done. I jumped slightly as the screen door opened, and Boone came outside with a blanket wrapped around him and over his head like a cloak.

“Is everything ok?” he mumbled sleepily as he sat beside me, causing the swing to bounce slightly. He immediately took over the movement of the swing, so I folded my legs under me.

“Fine. I just had a nightmare and couldn’t get back to sleep. It’s normal,” I said to him. I felt him looking at me before I watched in my peripheral as he slowly reached for me. I would find it funny how they all make exaggerated slow movements when they’re about to touch me if it wasn’t necessary.

One hand gripped my far shoulder, and the other crossed my lap to grab my outer thigh. He dragged me towards him until there was only about an inch of space between us and moved the blanket so that it was now wrapped around us both. “Do you want to talk about it?”

We sat silently as I debated whether I wanted to discuss it. I never spoke about my nightmares, mainly because the only person around was Matty, and my issues weren’t his burden. I took another sip of my tea and decided to try this open-minded, don’t shut them out thing Matty suggested. I shifted slightly to get more comfortable, which caused me to cuddle into Boone a little bit. I was aware of his arm around my shoulder but ignored it as I began to speak.

“I had a nightmare about the day our parents died. It’s one of my recurring nightmares.” I took another sip of my tea as I organized my thoughts and what to say. Boone said nothing as he patiently waited for me to continue, his thumb lightly stroking my upper arm. “I was ten when the outbreak happened. Matty was just a baby still. I don’t remember what day of the outbreak it was. I was so young that I didn’t realize anything was wrong until it entered our house. My mom must have been bitten because I awoke to terrible sounds and my father shouting. I rushed out of my room and ran down the hall to my parent’s room. Matty’s crib was still in the room with them, and I remember standing in the doorway watching as my father held my mother off as he stood protectively in front of Matty’s crib. Matty was crying, my dad was shouting at my mother to stop, and she was making these animalistic sounds as she kept lunging for my father. It’s weird the things you remember. I couldn’t tell you what color the walls were, but I’ll never forget the sound her teeth made snapping together as she tried to bite my dad.”

Boone pulled me a little closer, and I didn’t resist, enjoying the comfort his presence brought. “I must have made a sound because my parents looked at me standing in the doorway simultaneously. My dad yelled at me to run to the garage just as my mother turned towards me. Now, he was holding her back instead of pushing her away. I did what he asked and ran through the house quickly. It felt like an eternity as I stood in the garage shaking while I waited for Dad and Matty to come out. Finally, they got there, and Dad handed Matty to me as he locked the door behind him. I could still hear Mom banging against the door on the other side.

“I remember Dad radioing to someone and the garage door opening as Mom began to break through the door. Dad put us in the back of a truck and told me he loved me and to take care of Matty. Then he returned to the garage while Uncle Jordan yelled at him to be with Mom. The memory is fuzzy and sounds like I’m hearing everything underwater except for one clear statement. My dad said that Mom was his life's love, and he couldn’t leave her. He chose to abandon his children to die with her. The last thing I saw was all the blood as he hugged her. It’s the kind of thing that you can never unsee or forget. If anything, I think it’s gotten sharper with time.”

Boone didn’t say anything immediately, and I began to fidget nervously as the silence stretched. Maybe telling him was a mistake. “I’m so sorry you had to go through such a traumatic experience,” he finally said softly. “It makes sense why Matty said you don’t do love when at such a young age you learned to associate it with your parents dying.”

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