Under the spotlight

Chapter 34: The morning after

I woke up because of the daylight coming from the window. My head hurt but not as much as my body. I realized I had slept between the two boys on the couch and we were crouched together. Slowly I tried to take my arms out of Dominique's hold but he groaned and tightened around me. I couldn't help chuckling because the position we were in and the clothes we had on made the situation all the more amusing. They both had furry ears on and some weird waist vest with fur as well. I had to cover my mouth with my free arm to prevent me from laughing too hard. In the mess from last night I hadn't even taken into account their costumes.

"Little one what are you laughing at?" Nikolai stirred besides me. "Are my clothes too much to handle?" He said jokingly.

"Shh, it's early," Dominique whined from the other side. Both of them were hugging me in some way. While Dominique had his arms wrapped around my stomach, Nikolai had his head resting on my knee.

"I would love to stay like this the whole day but I'm afraid I have classes to attend to Dominique," I said as softly as I could.

At my words they both shut their heads up in a mixture of confusion and concern. They seemed to have a silent conversation between them that I couldn't even begin to understand. After staring at each other they glanced at me with their eyebrows furrowed together. I cocked my head questionably.

"My classes start-"

"You are not going to classes today," Dominique cut me off sternly.

"What?" I asked.

"Little one, are you sure you want to go? We can stay here and cook something," Nikolai caressed my cheek while locking eyes with me.

Thanks to his tone of voice I now understood why they wanted me to stay. They thought I was going to be too damaged to stand up and go to school. Instead I felt better than ever. My energy was complete and the only thing I wanted was to stand up and go to school. I needed to show them that I wasn't breakable and that...that I wasn't just a burden to them.

"I know your head is spinning with thoughts, what's bothering you?"

"Nik I don't, nothing's going on, I want to go to school and besides I can't afford missing more classes now that the exams are coming and..." I trailed off while looking straight into his eyes.

"Okay, we'll go back to campus but first let's have some breakfast," Nikolai ruffled my hair and stood up.

Dominique kept his eyes on me. He still was frowning and his knuckles were turning white while grabbing the side of the couch. He exhaled through his nostrils and then shook his head.

"Agneou..." He started but was quickly cut off by Nikolai.

"Dominique let's go, you want to come little one?" He offered me his hand.

"I think I'll wait here,"

He nodded and grabbed Dominique by the arm before leaving me alone. Without their warm embracing me I could feel the chilly temperature. I braced myself and hid my face in my legs. I didn't want to think, I didn't want to remember, I wanted everything to stop to just...disappear. Flashes of Charles' broad hands gripping me by the throat came flooding to my mind and I had to mentally push them away. It was hard to breathe every time his face came to my memory.

I could feel my body trembling just from imagining the events from the night. How easy it had been for him to grab me and pin me, how my struggle was in vain and how I couldn't talk after because it hurt too much. I had to push everything aside, again, and then breathe in and out. If I didn't think about it, it disappeared.

To distract myself I went to the kitchen. The boys seemed to be discussing something but as soon as I appeared in the door frame they shut up and went back to cooking. I cocked my head to the side with a lifted brow.