In My Blood (Completed)

CHAPTER 9: Walls

**Thank you so much our dearest author, carma19, for a very wonderwalls chapter. LoL.**

Beca didn’t make a big show of selecting a few books from the library when she and Emily took a quick peek around the shelves after washing up; she carried them right to her room and set them on the dresser while she got changed. She’d almost forgotten about them until she returned to that room, moonlight peeking through curtains and stained glass to shine enough natural light into the room that she spotted the stack. Beca hadn’t slept on an actual bed in months, so she sat on the edge for a moment to test its softness. Luckily, it wasn’t too soft, as her body had grown used to a certain firmness beneath her, whether she slept on the grass or a floor or a lumpy couch somewhere. She didn’t act as excited about the mansion as Jesse and the girls (and for good reason, she had learned things that seemed too good to be true usually were), but she appreciated the privacy and the bed. And the clothes, even though they weren’t really her style--she hadn’t slept in actual soft pajamas in a long time, either. But with people on watch, locked doors and a locked gate (even with needed repairs), they were fortified enough that god forbid there was a threat, Beca would have a few minutes to dress and prepare. That afforded her peace of mind she didn’t normally have.

Settling beneath the blankets after lighting the candle beside her bed, Beca opened one of the books and read by candlelight. She got a chapter and a half in before hearing the knock, her heart instantly thudding harder because she knew who she wanted it to be, but she also knew not to get her hopes up. She set the book back on the nightstand, pulling the blankets back and padding barefoot over hardwood floors and sun-faded area rugs until she reached the door, opening it to reveal Chloe standing on the other side. Her lips twisted into a slight smirk and she kept her voice low, though she didn’t hear any other footsteps in the hallway or coming up the stairs. “I think you’ve got the wrong room, Nurse Chloe. Aren’t you a few doors down?”

*

The walls and heavy wooden doors of the mansion were thick enough that Chloe couldn't tell with absolute certainty if noises were issuing from the other side of Beca's door--she thought she heard some faint stirrings from within the room, but she couldn't be sure. Even though the rest of the group had seemed content to hang out for a while longer downstairs, she still found herself glancing over her shoulder back down the hallway as she waited. The quiet click of the door swinging open snapped her focus back over, and an immediate smile tugged at the corners of her lips when she found Beca standing in the doorway. She leaned her shoulder against the door frame as she regarded Beca with a smile, offering a nonchalant shrug when Beca called her out for being at the wrong room. "Wow, you sure know how to greet a gal who maybe just wanted to say good night," she teased in return, her voice pitched low to match Beca's. Their close proximity didn't call for anything more than that anyway. Now that she was standing here without any of the other girls around, her heart thudded with the remembrance of how they'd mentioned the possibility of a 'next time' after their shared encounter in the tent, but she didn't want to be presumptuous. Maybe Beca really did want to turn in for the night and not be disturbed by anyone, that was a completely feasible possibility.

*

“Maybe, huh?” Perhaps it was the two shots of whiskey Beca sipped from the glass downstairs, or maybe it was the feeling of finally having some actual privacy after going without for so damn long,, but a wave of boldness flashed through Beca and she reached out to pluck at the material of Chloe’s t-shirt, tugging her forward as her eyes glinted with mischief and desire. “‘Cause I’ve been hoping you wanted to… stop by… to say goodnight, too. Like…” She leaned in, lowering her voice so much it could almost be considered a conspiratorial whisper. “I wanted to say goodnight to you all day.”