my attention to the right, my head swimming when I move too fast at the sound. Spots dance in my vision and nausea rolls from my gut up into my throat. I breathe through the worst of it, inhaling through my nose and exhaling out my mouth.
When I’m no longer in danger of tossing my cookies like a basket toss, I can’t help but smirk at JT—not even going to question my cradle-to-grave bestie being here—passed out in a recliner-style chair.
Too bad you don’t know where your phone is because look at that photo op. *points repeatedly* You could kayak down that river of drool.
I roll my lips in to hold the laugh my inner cheerleader is trying to get out of me. She may have jokes, but it doesn’t take away from how it feels to be surrounded by these people, my mishmash of a family.
My heart does a toe touch inside my chest when I look down at the weight causing the mattress to dip.
Mase.
My left hand is sandwiched between both of his, making it look like a toddler’s compared to his baseball-glove-sized mitts. His face is turned in my direction, as if even in sleep he was unable to look away.
Mentally I curse out Liam fucking Parker for the dark, bruise-like circles I see under Mase’s long, envy-inducing eyelashes. Though sparse, in every flash of memory I have of being here, he’s been by my side. It’s wrong. He should be in bed, recovering after a hard game, not running himself to the brink of exhaustion worrying over me.
That’s just who he is—my boyfriend, my protector, my Caveman.
Not gonna lie, his Neanderthal tendencies do make me all swoony at times—don’t judge me—but the issue at hand is when those protective instincts cause him to have blinders to everything that isn’t me. They’re the reason he didn’t see Liam go after him because he was too busy checking on me when I was fine.
Hold up! *makes T with hands* Can we take a second to wonder how the douchemonkey even got into the Alpha house?
Miss IC has a point, but my mind is too muddled to make the math compute on that issue.
So what’s a girl to do when she falls in love with an alpha man with zero sense of self-preservation? I’ll tell you: you pull a page right out of his own damn book—though the way my face feels like I took a frying pan to it has me rethinking that strategy.
Except…
The longer I look at Mase…
I can’t say I wouldn’t do it again.
His standard ball cap must have dislodged from sleep and is resting somewhere by my knee. His dark espresso-colored locks are disheveled, and I can’t help but reach out to run my fingers through it.
Though my touch is featherlight, he stirs under it, his hands reflexively squeezing around mine. I’m about to snatch my hand away from his head when those same eyelashes I was coveting minutes ago lift and I get a peek at my favorite shade of green.
“Hey.” I whisper so softly it’s more mouthing the word than speech.
It takes a few seconds for the veil of sleep to clear and the realization that I’m awake to set in. When it does, he jackknifes in his chair, causing my hand to fall from his hair and a pout to form on my lips.
“You’re awake.” His whisper-shout is full of disbelief.
“I’m awake,” I agree. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”
A frown pulls at his brow, a V forming between them as his eyes dart around, his lips twisting to the side like he did something wrong. “I shouldn’t have fallen asleep.”
“Are you crazy?” An amused lilt enters my voice. “You needed sleep.” I scan his tired but handsome face and sigh. Even exhausted, he really is too gorgeous for words. “You still do if these bags are any indication.” I run a finger over the puffy skin.
Rough callouses brush along my knuckles as he cups the back of my hand, holding it against his cheek, nuzzling into my touch.
“Is that your subtle way of telling me I look like shit, babe?”
“No.” I fight another smirk. “I’m just saying they are big enough to fit the entire contents of my backpack.”
His lips twitch at the reference to my infamous school bag. The guys have taken to teasing me that it weighs more than I do.
“How are you feeling?” His gaze runs over me, taking note of my injuries. I can only imagine the