Return to the Darkness - Ripley Proserpina Page 0,3
on, Lace.” Colton’s smile was huge. “We are ten miles from the largest mud pit in New Mexico. People are lining up.”
I rolled my eyes at him. “Thanks for thinking of it, Thorn.”
“Always.” He smiled. “And it’s not Doc Holiday’s. It’s just a big house. Six bedrooms. We can rotate who sleeps with you.” He raised his eyebrows. “Put you in one room and we move in and out of it with you. On like a sleep schedule. If you want.”
He was good with the details. “This may fall under the concept of TMI but—”
Oliver returned, interrupting. “Good timing. I love TMI. Please distract me from whatever my father has done to once again drag my family, this time including the three of you, into some kind of hell. TMI. Go for it.”
I continued on. “I will get my period sometimes. And I’m a human being. Sometimes I may not want to have sex. Like I might have a headache. Or a stomachache. Or I’ll be mad at you. Like, the schedule sounds great, but you would have to build in allowances of some kind. To be fair. Or if you go out of town. Equality or something.”
Colton raised his hand. “I don’t object to having sex with you during your period.”
Oliver shoved his shoulder. “Fuck, man.”
Nope. That didn’t work for me. “I realize we haven’t faced the particular problem yet, but I’m going to put it out there that during that time of the month, I am objecting to having sex. That’s a hard no.”
Thorn nodded fast. “I’m getting on this. The schedule will be made. It will be adjustable and meaningful. It will work. And after we find their dad, we’ll figure out permanent living situations. It did not go well the last time the four of us tried to live together. But we didn’t have you then. We also had less money, so we had rooms we had to share. That was an issue. If we bought a big house, it could probably work. Or put you in an apartment where we all stay with you for periods of time.”
That felt less like family. My chest tightened. How was any of this going to work?
Thorn waved his hand. “Forget that second one. I always want to be with you, even when it’s not my turn. We have to make one house work. We’ll figure out how everyone can be happy.”
Aaron leaned on his hand. “I think as long as none of us have to share a room with you or Colton, it’ll be fine. I don’t know how Lacey does it.”
Thorn groaned. “I get it. I snore. Fine. Feel free to sleep across the house.”
Oliver stared at me. I could almost feel his gaze on my face. Turning to him, I lifted my eyebrows, but he only lifted his in return. “What’s really going on?” he asked.
“Nothing,” I said, leaning back in my chair and crossing my arms. “I just want to get some things cleared up.
“Lace. We’ve been apart ten years, but I still know you, and it feels like you’re trying to push us away. So in answer to the unspoken announcement of needing space, I’m saying too fucking bad. I don’t want space from you. I don’t care if you don’t want sex, this isn’t about that. I want to go to sleep knowing you’re safe. So whether that means you’re in my arms, or Colton’s, or Thorn’s, or my brother’s, doesn’t matter. It’s going to be someone’s. So suck it up, buttercup.” When he finished, his face was flushed and he was inches away from me.
Unfortunately, his voice had also become louder as he spoke, and we were getting some pretty interested glances from nearby parties. Well. Fuck them. Yeah, I was sleeping with four guys. I met the gaze of one the lookie-loos and held it. She looked away first.
The combination of embarrassment and outrage that Oliver thought he could just assign meaning to what I said made my blood heat. I could actually feel it rising from my neck to my face.
“Uh oh,” Thorn said. “You should back up.”
I opened my mouth to put him in his place, when a voice over the loudspeaker called, “Flight to Santa Fe now boarding at gate 4B.” At those words, I was hit with a flood of fear and anxiety. For some reason, I thought I’d have more time. I thought that we had hours of this layover and I’d have time to prepare