Caleb

Chapter Sixteen

Elaina ~

The pounding in Lainey's head seemed to pull her from sleep as she slowly blinked her eyes open and tried to remember how she ended up in her bedroom.

Leaning forward she pushed off the bed, only to find she wasn't laying on her bed at all. She pushed off of a hard body and slowly realized that she was laying against Caleb's firm chest. He was sound asleep with his arm folded behind his head as he leaned against the pillows and headboard.

Caleb slept in my bed last night...with me...did we...

Lainey wasn't under her comforter, but there was a blanket that had been pulled over the top of her that she promptly lifted, shooting her eyes down at her body to make sure she was clothed.

Oh thank God.

She let out a sigh of relief once her eyes fell onto her t-shirt and shorts.

"Don't worry, nothin' happened." Caleb said without opening his eyes.

The gravel in his deep voice perked her ears and made her thoughts go fuzzy. He opened one eye and took a peek at her, lifting his mouth into a lazy smile.

"Mornin'"

She felt the vibration of his deep voice beneath her hand that was still firmly planted on the center of his chest. The sensation caused her to quickly remove her hand from his shirt with a sudden uneasiness that settled in her gut as she desperately tried to remember how they had ended up in bed together.

Footsteps coming down the hall grabbed her attention, but the clinking of a spoon against a bowl put her at ease, knowing full well it was James who was about to enter her room. He ate more cereal that any human being she'd ever been around and left cereal bowls all over the house, which drove Lainey crazy.

"Help me remember...last night...did we? I mean...we didn't..."

"No we didn't, Lainey. And if you think I would have slept with you when you were drunk and passed out, you obviously don't know me very well." Caleb corrected her.

"I didn't mean that, I'm sorry. It's just that you slept in my room all night. In my bed." she said softly with a hint of embarrassment in her voice.

"That's because your drunk ass fell asleep on him." James said as he entered her room with a mouth full of cereal.

"And you asked me to stay." Caleb said from beside her.

"I did?" she asked.

"Yes ma'am." The side of Caleb's mouth curled into a smile as if he were trying to reassure her that he hadn't minded her request.

"And what about my clothes? Did you dress me too?" she asked, standing from the bed.

"Nope, that was all you...which is why everything you have on is backwards." Caleb said with a grin.

Looking down at her shirt, Lainey flipped the collar and saw the bright white tag sticking out beneath her chin.

How. Embarrassing.

Marcus and Pierce appeared in the doorway next, probably following the sound of Caleb and James who were laughing at her backwards clothes and lack of recollection of her night out.

"I don't remember coming home at all." she said, rubbing her forehead as if the physical action would force the memories to populate.

"Well Pierce had to carry you out of the club so you didn't get into a fight, and Marcus had to carry you up to the house from the car because you couldn't walk up the steps." James said with a grin as he took another bite of cereal.