Butterfly

chapter ten

zeus

When Aponi fell asleep still standing, Anton and I decided to call it in for the night and that she would be up and better tomorrow. She was adorable standing there with a little bit of drool hanging from the corner of her mouth, it made her look even younger than she actually was. Anton gently lifted her and crossed her legs and arms behind him before holding her closer with his hand on her bottom and her back. He started to walk upstairs and I went to find Nikolas so we could all get some sleep in our new room.

The clubhouse had an old attic that was in pretty decent shape that I had been wanting to fix up, but I've never had an opportunity to until now. I knocked out all of the walls before adding new ones to make a bigger bedroom—enough for Anton, Aponi, and me—an extra bedroom for Nikolas, a mini-kitchen, and a huge bathroom with a walk-in shower and a bathtub big enough to fit four men comfortably. Aponi didn't know any of this, of course, because I wanted it to be a surprise, and waking up with two men in a new room should be a big enough surprise.

Nikolas was sitting with Levi at our corner booth with a few of the quieter guys; they were all sitting and nursing their beers while chatting about everything and anything. Levi saw me approaching and slid out of the booth with Nik sound asleep in his arms. I picked him up, Nikolas immediately clinging to with a surprisingly strong grip considering he is asleep.

When we arrived upstairs, Anton was changing Aponi's clothes into sleepwear, consisting of a tank top and boy-short underwear. When he looked up, he smiled softly at the sigh of his son asleep with his little thumb in his mouth, sucking softly. I opened the door to his new room and laid him in his crib after changing his clothes. Turning on his monitor, I left the room and entered ours to see Aponi in the middle of the bed, her head in Anton's neck and one of their legs intertwined. I stripped to my boxers and slid under the covers next to Aponi's warm body, sighing contentedly.

anton

Waking up with a beautiful woman that I think I love is something extraordinary, and it leaves me feeling breathless as I stare at her. I consider myself a lucky man that out of anyone that she has met, she chose me and my best friend.

I look over her bed-head hair and see Zeus also looking at her while softly running his index finger up and down her thigh, kissing the back of her head every now and then; he sighs and closes his eyes before gently grabbing her waist and pulling himself even closer to her than he was before. He falls back asleep soon, and not long after Aponi stirs before her eyes flutter open and I find her staring up at me with a sleepy innocence that I haven't noticed before. She looks carefree and untouched by the cruel world that she lives in; it's refreshing to know that she isn't always burdened by the weight of what she's been put through.

"Good morning," she whispers with a hint of a Russian accent peaking through her husky voice that I can never get enough of. It almost always makes me feel guilty that I love her voice because she almost died obtaining it. She softly smiles and sweetly kisses behind underneath my ear, awaiting a response.

"Morning, sweetheart. How'd you sleep?" She murmurs a response before looking behind her at Zeus and sighing. "What's the matter?"

"How am I going to get up with my koala latching onto me?" Her question is answered when Nikolas' monitor goes off; I smirk before reaching for it and holding it close to Zeus' ear. He shoots out of bed and speed walks to Nikolas' attached room and returning with the now silent baby. He notices that Aponi and I are awake and smiles at us before attending to my child. Aponi, who is now much more aware of her surroundings, looks around the room before getting up and wandering around the entire apartment. Zeus and I follow her, watching with a curious gaze as she walks around in awe of everything.