Page 93 of More Than I Can Bear

Until they did.

Kaine…

Oh fuck.

My head jerked up, my eyes scanning Freya, seeing how soft and flushed and wet she was right now, but she seemed to sense my concern and then smiled slowly.

“Everything’s alright,” she said, wrapping her arms around my neck. “Everything’s gonna be fine now.”

People had been telling me that for some time, but right now it felt like it was the first time I could believe it. I held her close, shoved my face into her neck so she wouldn’t see the moment I broke, even if I knew she could feel it down the bond. My breaths came out in ragged sobs, not due to exertion, but this:

Freya was mine.

She was mine, she was mine, she was mine, that kept playing out in my head, but it didn’t make it feel any more real, and that’s when I felt her hands rubbing my shoulders.

All yours, she told me, in the secret place we shared.Just like you’re all mine.

I held her against the wall, time seeming to stand still, until my legs started to quiver. When I put her down, I checked her over, then Adam and I washed her clean before towelling her off and putting her back to bed. She rolled towards River as soon as she was close to him and we watched her.

“Everything’s going to turn out for the best,” Adam said, giving my shoulder a squeeze, the little bastard knowing I hated platitudes like that. But maybe, just maybe for once he was right. A stopped clock is correct twice a day, right? He just shook his head, as if he’d heard my thoughts and then jumped on the bed beside them.

The way he snuggled into her back, pressing his face into her hair? It was tantalising. He was doing it right now, but… We had a whole life of that ahead of us now, that’s what I realised and that was enough to have me stepping forward. I lay down on the bed and stared at the ceiling, unable to believe what’d just happen, sure I’d never be able to sleep after such a thing, but it came for me anyway. I dropped down into a velvety warmth, the darkness behind my eyes never feeling so welcoming.

An insistent buzz, then an outright ring, over and over, not letting me fall back into sleep. I groaned and so did someone else.

“Hello?”

Whoever it was, whatever it was, they were sorted now, and while I wanted the details, I wanted sleep more. I rolled over and buried my face in the pillow, then dropped back down into darkness.

Chapter47

Adam

“Hello?”

I was barely conscious of answering the phone. I’d gone to bed with an achingly hard dick and a mate who’d passed out from orgasmic bliss, so I was forced to listen to River and Kaine’s snores for a bit before sleeping.

Still worth it.

But right now while I blinked as I stared out the windows, watching the sun rise over the Adelaide CBD, what I didn’t expect to hear was a familiar masculine voice coming down the line.

“Adam Farrelly! Long time, no speak.”

When I’d started in the SANFL, Kaine had insisted I get an agent, just in case I made it into the national draft. Billy Franklin was the guy we’d settled on and he’d shopped me around to a bunch of clubs apparently, but it came to nothing. We rarely spoke now. I wasn’t earning enough money to warrant his notice, so I felt he kept me on the books just in case.

Which made me wonder why he was calling now.

“How’s it going, Billy?” I got up when River snorted, then shifted on the bed. I padded out of the bedroom and closed the door behind me.

“Good, mate! Look, I know I’m ringing you at the arse crack of dawn, but I’ve got big news. Big news!”

“Right, so yeah, I was meaning to ring you,” I said. “I’ve already told the club I’m—”

“They want you in the draft.”

“What?” I froze still, adrenaline rushing through me. My face felt numb, my hands too as they shook, trying to keep a hold of the phone.

“I got the call just this morning. All that media attention, some would say it was a bad thing, but apparently not in your case. You got the attention of several scouts and they want you in…”

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