In Plain Sight (A Hunted Rose)

Chapter Twenty-Five

The parade was really enjoyable, and I had fun hanging out with the guys.  Rylan, Jayce, Erik, Caiden, Graham and Kallan came over to our little group and said hi, spending a few minutes with us before they moved on to do something else.  After that one lunch earlier in the week, and getting to know the members of the team a bit better, my first thought was that they were going to go and pick up girls.  There was no trying on their part – all the girls ran to them in hordes, trying to get the attention of just one of the amazing hotties.  They each were a catch; they all had different parts of their characters and personalities that made them insanely different, yet completely the same all at once.  It showed just how in sync they were as a team – any one of them could begin a sentence and have another pick up where the other had left of seamlessly, as if it were completely natural.

 I hung up the phone laughing.  I had been dropped off at home by the guys, but not ten minutes after I closed the front door behind me, Cameron had called me and started talking to me.  That had been a half an hour ago.

I walked to my bedroom and pulled the covers loose before going into the en suite to wash up.  I finally began to settle down for the night, taking a quick shower before brushing my teeth and putting some lotion on.

I tossed and turned in my bed, trying to get comfortable, but it just didn’t seem possible.  First, my pillow wasn’t in the right position, and then my sheets didn’t feel right against the bare skin of my legs, the old t-shirt of Liam’s that I slept in only going down to mid-thigh.  I had ended up kicking the sheets to the end of the bed, down by my feet.  

When I had gone to bed, it was a little after eleven at night, but after I looked at the clock once more, I saw the number slowly turn to a two and some zeroes, and I blinked when I was able to comprehend the fact that it was two in the morning, and I still hadn’t fallen asleep.  I had laid my head back on the pillow, trying to close my eyes and block everything else out when I heard it. 

It sucked, because just then I had found a position I was comfy in.  With an exasperated groan I sat up, listening to the hinges of my back door squeak as it was slowly pushed open.  I was at my bedroom door in an instant, silently tuning into the minute sounds the door was making as it opened. 

I looked around the room for something, anything I could use to defend myself and my house.  The only viable option was the heavy brass lamp on my simple black nightstand.  Quickly unplugging it from the wall outlet, I padded out of my room and into the kitchen.

I saw a figure slipping into the house from the back door, but the darkness made it so I was unable to distinguish any of their physical features, leaving me only with the knowledge that it was a man, from his height and build.  In hindsight, it would have been better to turn on the light so that I could see who it was, but I was tired, and cranky from no sleep and the fact that I had had to get up right when I had finally found a position where I was content. 

All of this combined to create my next embarrassing, and kind of stupid move.  I hoisted the lamp above my head and then with an “Ah!” I started to throw it as hard as I could at the man entering my house. 

But… he caught my arm before I could hit him with the brass monstrosity I called a lamp.  His hand snapped up and grabbed hold of my forearm, instantly stopping any forward motion I had been making, and avoiding any contact of the heavy metal with his body.

“Rosie-girl,” sounded a patronizing, and very familiar voice, “I thought you would be happy to see me.  I didn’t think you would attack me.  By the way, a lamp is not a good weapon, even against me.”

“Liam!” I couldn’t help but squeal.  I dropped the lamp on the floor carelessly, and I heard the light bulb break, and the metal most likely dent, but at the moment I didn’t care.  I attacked Liam with a tight, bone-crushing hug and shoved my face into the crook of his neck, where it met with his shoulder, and inhaled his familiar comforting scent.