Savage Vandal (82 Street Vandals #1) - Heather Long Page 0,53
sofa. Despite how entertaining Freddie’s arrival was, Jasper’s mood seemed to sour until I focused on the movie instead of him. Kestrel made popcorn and got more beer. I was ready to sleep by the end of the second movie, it was a fight to keep my eyes open.
After days of being with only one of them doing almost nothing, it was exhausting just hanging out and watching the movies. As it was, Jasper walked me up and we had to go through what I guessed was Rome’s room, but Kestrel followed us and he stripped off his shirt as he headed for the bathroom in there, giving me an eyeful of the tattoo on his back with massive wings flowing off a bird’s body, its talons outstretched. I couldn’t make out more because he didn’t turn on the light before he closed the door.
Jasper opened the door to my room and followed me in. I frowned at him, but it felt almost rude to chide him considering the afternoon. Well, day I supposed. I actually had no idea what time it was or whether it was day or night. That was…aggravating, but I bit back those complaints. At the dresser, I pulled out the last of my clean T-shirts and panties. I’d finish washing the ones I had soaking in the bathroom and hang them up.
Aware of him still in my room, I took my time changing for bed and washing out the stuff in my sink, then washing up before I let myself back into the bedroom. Jasper was absent, and I let out a breath. Of all of them, he seemed the most unpredictable.
It wasn’t until I crawled into bed that I realized the stack of laundry in the corner was gone. Also, the sheets on the bed had been changed and there were fresh pillow cases. Huh. The door opened while I was still processing that, and Kestrel shuffled in wearing a pair of gray sweats and a T-shirt while carrying a sleeping bag and a pillow.
He shut the door, then dropped the stuff down in front of it. The dark hair on his face had begun to fill in the harder angles and softened his expression. He gave me a long look. “Do you need anything before you sleep? Meds? Water? Heating pad?”
Surprise flickered through me. “You have a heating pad?”
“I can get one. Do you need it?”
I opened my mouth. I should say no. I was pretty relaxed at the moment, and that was helping the cramps. In fact, I’d kind of forgotten about them over the last few hours of movies and beers and popcorn. Not to mention all the Chinese food. “Please? And I can get a cup of water.”
“Just stay there, I’ll get you a thermos. It’ll keep the water colder, and you can fill it more than that puny cup.” He shot me a quick smile, and then he was gone again. It took me a full minute to process the devastating effect that smile of his had on my system.
The flutter in my gut had nothing to do with cramps. I was still turning that over in my head when he came back in. The door hadn’t locked either time. He plugged the heating pad in before he held it out to me, and I was careful of his fingers when I took it.
“Ice water in here.” He set the screw-top reusable water bottle down. “And I got these.” He held up a couple of different kinds of pain relievers. “Doc said you might need them if it gets too uncomfortable, and he’s coming back tomorrow with different supplies for you.”
“Thank you.”
He nodded. “Get some sleep, Sparrow. I’ll be down here.” By down ‘here,’ he meant right in front of the door. I curled up into the pillows and hugged the heating pad against my stomach and turned it up.
“Do you need the light?” I asked.
“Nope, I’m good. Sleep, Sparrow. I’ll be here if you need me.”
I snapped off the light and lay there for a long time. His breathing never evened out. I kept waiting for him to go to sleep, but I finally drifted off before he did.
The next few days followed a new pattern. One of the guys was always in my room again, at night. Like Kestrel, they would sleep on the floor in front of the door. Apparently, they didn’t want me taking any more sojourns out of the room without them.