Medically Speaking

Chapter 21

It was incredibly ambitious of me to think that I would have been able to stay awake through an entire movie. More shuffling had happened with my seat partner--Corey got a call from Raven a few minutes after our talk and had disappeared only to be replaced by Marc this time. Before long, Luke and I had ended up wrapped around each other again, with Marc's arm over my shoulder. My clingy heart had been content.

The next thing I knew, I was being gently shaken awake by Kota, who was crouching in front of me with a sweet smile as the credits rolled on the TV behind him. "Hey, Sleeping Beauty," he teased as I tried to sit up only to look down and see that I still had a set of arms wrapped around me. Glancing to my right, I nearly hit Luke's head with my own and he let out a soft snore right in my face.

Victor was hovering over him with a fondly amused look in his eyes that I was too tired to translate now, but knew I'd be trying to pick apart later. "Luke," he said softly as he started trying to detach his tentacle like grip on me. "Come on, you're sleeping in Silas' room tonight."

"Why?" he whined as his arms tightened around me without opening his eyes. I was still half asleep myself but there was no way I was going to complain about feeling his muscles contract around me. He wasn't obviously muscular in the same way that his brother was, but there was no mistaking what I was feeling.

"Because we're going to ask Joey if she wants to stay here instead of driving all the way back to her place and we don't want to put her in someone's room who isn't here," Kota explained, shrugging at me before pushing his glasses back up. "Too much risk that they'd get back early and forget to check their texts."

Sitting up, ignoring Luke whining as he allowed Victor to pull him up, I yawned out, "You don't have to do that for me. My car's out front, I can head on home."

It should be illegal for someone to have such calm and gentle eyes that still look so authoritatively firm. "It's late and you're exhausted. It's safer for you to stay here and we have the room for it. If you wreck on your way home, Oliver is going to find really creative ways to murder all of us."

He's not wrong. And if I'm being honest with myself, I'm way too tired to be behind the wheel of a two-ton death machine. Rubbing my eyes, I asked, "Are you sure? I can call someone to keep me awake on the drive."

Kota holds out a hand to me as he stands up straight. "I'm sure. I'll show you where you're staying tonight." He hesitates for a moment once I'm upright, teetering as I yawn. "I know you're not Academy, but do you keep spare clothes in your car? Like a go bag?"

"Sorta," I mumble. "Clothes to change into for tomorrow, not pajamas or anything like that." Typically, when I'm crashing somewhere for the night without a whole lot of planning ahead of time, I'm not usually inclined to wear clothes.

Victor's already half pushing Luke up the stairs, and Kota starts guiding me in the same direction. "That's fine, Gabe's already upstairs trying to scrounge together pajamas that will fit you."

At least it seems like Sean and Mr. Blackbourne haven't spilled the beans about my usual sleep attire. At the top of the stairs, Victor is urging Luke to the right as he whines about Silas' mattress being a rock and Kota directs me to the left, where there's a light on in a room at the end of the hall. There's a dark room right at the top of the stairs that looks like another TV room but I'm too tired to snoop around.

My toes sink into the carpet and I'm already eying the bed with longing as Kota leans against the door frame and Gabe comes up behind him. "I know Sean said this isn't what you'd normally wear to bed, but I figured you'd be more comfortable with pants on."

Spoke too soon.

"Thanks, Gabriel," I murmured. "Being pantsless in a house full of nothing but men does seem like a gamble." Kota's blushing, but Gabe starts laughing.