Everlasting Bonds - COMPLETE

Chapter 56

POV: Lark

Greyson's soft breathing greeted me as I woke and the memory of our night together flooded back in.

I rolled over onto my side to look at him. The light from the half-closed shutter was starting to leak through, casting his face in a geometric design of shadows. He was so beautiful. I leaned forward, slowly as not to wake him, and pressed a kiss to his nose before rolling out of bed.

I looked around the room to find my clothes and went to put on what I had worn the night before. As I was about to leave, Greyson's favorite black sweater caught my eye and I couldn't resist scooping it up and putting it on.

A scent drifted up that was both familiar and unfamiliar. I brought the material closer to my nose and inhaled deeply. It was the cologne. It didn't smell like his usual mahogany and citrus aroma, though that was certainly present.

There was a second scent that clung to the piece of clothing. A mixture of cinnamon and patchouli caused the hair on the back of my neck to rise. I looked over to Grey's sleeping form and he looked so at peace that I couldn't wake him up to ask.

I'd probably sound crazy anyways.

I took the sweater off and chucked in the dirty laundry hamper before grabbing his NYU sweatshirt and heading downstairs to find something to eat.

I rounded the corner into the kitchen to find Aidan and Colt eating breakfast. Colt having his usual black coffee and peanut butter toast, whereas Aiden's plate was piled with hardboiled eggs, yogurt topped with granola, toast with strawberry jam, and oranges. I placed a kiss on each of their cheeks before heading to the fridge to grab out the carton of milk.

"Good morning Lark", Aidan muffled out in between bites. "You're up early".

I raised an eyebrow at him. "I'm usually up early Aid", I said before pouring my honey nut cheerios into the bowl.

"Yeah, but we just figured you were going to sleep in today. Seemed like you had a late ni-". His words were cut off by a sudden grunt caused by Colt's elbow driving into his stomach.

"I was thinking we should move you in today", Colt started. "We all have the day off and we might as well get you settled in as soon as possible".

I took a bite of my cereal and looked at them. They were acting suspiciously.

"So, what do you think? I could call a moving crew if you want, or we can do it ourselves. It's not like you have a huge place to pack up anyway", Colt asked again.

"Yeah... let's put a pin in the moving questions for a moment Colt", I said quickly before pointing my spoon at Aidan. "What were you saying about me having a late night?".

A blush spread across his face that shocked me almost enough to throw me off my questioning. Why would he be blushing?

"Oh my god", I exclaimed as I put the pieces together. "You heard. You guys heard didn't you. I thought you said the rooms were soundproofed, Colt!".

Aidan buried his face in the mountain of food he was still climbing, and Colt was doing his best to hide a knowing smirk. "Yes, we heard, and yes I did say the rooms are soundproof. Obviously, they are not completely soundproof", he said after taking a long sip of his coffee.

I put my head in my hands and let my hair fall around me like a curtain. I didn't think I could be so embarrassed.

I felt my chair swivel around before large hands brushed my hair out of my face and pried my hands from my eyes. Colt and Aidan stood side by side in front of me like a wall of beefy emotional support.

"You have nothing to be embarrassed about Lark", Colt consoled as he rubbed one of my shoulders.

"Seriously it's not a big deal and no one is going to make it a big deal either", Aidan said.

"My, my, my, look who is awake early after her night of hedonism? I hope you are getting a filling breakfast Lark because it sounded like you had your work cut out for you last night", Luka called out as he made his way into the kitchen.

"Mother fucker", Colt groaned as he rubbed his jaw with his hand.

Luka caught my eye and sent me a wink as he poured himself a glass of orange juice. I rolled my eyes at him and stuck my tongue out. He had a way of knowing when I was starting to overthink when it came to this relationship, and his way of pulling me out of that was usually to let me know, in the most obvious way possible, that everything was fine.

"Dude!", Aidan shouted. His hands splayed wide in front of him.

"What?", Luka asked nonchalantly.

Aid let out an exasperated breath before heading back to breakfast.

"Can we circle back to the moving questions yet Lark?", Colt drawled as he leaned back against the counter.

"I'm cool with moving my stuff in today. I need to make some phone calls, but it won't be a problem for me to get everything packed up in a day. Half of my wardrobe is in my room upstairs anyways", I said before returning to my now soggy cereal.

A wistful look appeared on his face.

"What is it?", I asked him.

He walked forward and pulled me into a kiss that helped push away any lingering embarrassment. "You called it your room".

Colt placed another kiss on my forehead before walking out of the kitchen. "We leave in 30 minutes, so someone needs to make sure lover boy is awake and ready by then!", he called out as he made his way up the stairs.

Greyson's messy nest of dark curls and appeared at the top of the stairs just then. He wasn't wearing a shirt and his pajama pants were slung low on his waist. "Who's lover boy?", he asked with a yawn.

Colt, Aidan, and I shared a laugh at his expense and his sleepy and bewildered expression only fueled more laughter.

Luka was right. I needed to stop overthinking this.