Queenie

26

M I X I E

A stinging sensation burned my eyes as I cradled Masons head, his sobs had subsided a few minutes ago, he was now falling asleep. I screwed my eyes shut as I took a deep breath, letting it out with the sag of my shoulders as his breaths evened out as it blew across my neck.

"I'm sorry bambino." I whisper into the air, drawing it to his ear. My back angled as I set him down in his bed, replacing a stuffed animal for him to wrap around. I traced a finger over his forehead, moving soft curls away from tickling him.

I bit the insides of my cheeks as I reigned in my messy emotions. Rolling my eyes back, I forced myself to not let any tears rush out. I pushed my shoulders back as I pushed off his crib, taking quiet steps out of true room, leaving the door cracked open and an ear wide open.

My hands flew to my face to rub my eyes. A part of me was feeling some sort of way of the 5 men who all stood around my living room. They were awaiting answers, and I knew the first question. I made slow strides to the living room, sighing tiredly as all their eyes snapped to me. Their gaze ignited a heat wave that washed over me, but I forced the cold of my heart to shut it out momentarily.

"Just ask." I blink heavily, sighing as I leaned on my right leg, my left one extending out as I crossed my arms.

"Is Mason your child?" A grin twitched my lips up tiredly at the rich English accent.

"In some form. I adopted him. He's biologically Amayas son." I muttered out my last few words, looking towards the window away from them. I heard a sharp inhale, but I refused to make eye contact. My eyes still burned, my hand coming up to rub at them with a sigh.

I heard the footfalls of one of them, getting closer to me as a breeze swept over me. The pads of my fingers pushed into my covered eyes, not wanting to open them just yet.

"Are you okay?" Gabe's voice resonated through my soul. Those words flared pesky emotions in me. I forced a shaky grin as my hand dropped, blinking my eyes open to rid of the blots of white light. I nodded my head with a quick hum of agreement. I went to step around him, but when I was on the side of him, his body turned, entrapping me from the back whilst Koda made a brick wall in front of me.

We stood there in a frozen moment. A trickle of anticipation that rose tension. Kodas eyebrows scrunched, nostrils flaring in the slightest, as though he was fighting a war in his head. The atmosphere shifted, one of my emotions on the fritz, to theirs, his.

"We've- I've been in the wrong and I intend to make up for my faults, so let me begin by caring for you." His hand left phantom featherlight touches going up the length of my arm. I kept my gaze locked on his eyes that followed his own movements. His next words were slow, eyes dragging back up to mine, "Let me finish what I started at that club."

I blinked, Gabe's hands settling on my waist with little to no restrain. An electrifying sensation pumped through me, slowing my heartbeat, and ignited the burning desire to be touched. The need rushed to the surface, my first instinct was to pounce, take what I want, but Koda would put me in my place. That much I knew.

"It's been over a year..." I muttered in a lame excuse to stall. Koda exhaled through his gaped lips slowly, his lips a glossy rose pink, begging me to suck and nip at them. I licked my own lips in an attempt to calm my coming frenzy.

"Over a year where I regretted closing my mind from reality." The words he whispered were filled with some sort of pained emotion that cracked from within his sentence. His hand came up to my forehead, swiping a piece of hair to push behind my ear, his touch cool.

"He's confessing in his idiotic way," Gabe whispered in my ear, his hot breath curling around me, sucking me even deeper into an abyss of desire, "He's been stone cold the moment we found out you were gone. His 'reality' is his emotions that have come to light, thanks to a little spitfire who is way too good for us." An airy chuckle came from my mouth in response.