Taivon: Book Three of the Cantrell Brothers Series

Chapter Thirty-Six

Alix woke up to the sound of a headboard hitting the wall and creaky springs. There were giggles, groans, and grunts, too. With a heavy roll of her eyes, she turned over and smooshed the pillow over her head, trying to block out the noise of Tobias and Jane going at it. Again.

They were non-stop tonight. Maybe it was the pregnancy hormones or maybe Tobias was especially horny tonight, but either way, it just was not stopping. She'd been woken up only about – Alix looked at her phone, its bright light hurting her eyes – an hour ago, after a very loud finish by them.

She liked Jane. Who wouldn't like Jane? She was sweet and had a patience with Tobias and all the brothers – just like Anna and their mom, Tina. Over these past couple of days, she, Anna, and Jane had talked about anything and everything, but mostly about the Cantrell boys. She felt like one of them already. Accepted. Part of the family. It was weird.

But being woken up at odd hours of the night because the couple just had to get off was ridiculous. The woman was going to be delivering the baby soon, and Alix just wanted some damn sleep. Minutes later, after a frenzied cracking of the headboard hitting the wall, the couple finished, or at least, she hoped they had.

It started again moments later, a light tap tap that didn't let up.

“What even?” she grumbled and got out of bed.

Her footsteps were light as could be as she made the quick trip to the living room, where Taivon had been sleeping these past nights. She found him sprawled out on the couch. A thin sheet was tangled by his feet, and one arm covered his face, the other resting on his bare chest.

Alix had never seen anything more perfect in her entire life.

“Hey,” she whispered, walking up and poking his arm.

He breathed deeply before bringing his arm down and looking at her. His eyes squinted at her in the dark room, the moon and nightlights in the kitchen their only source of light. She liked the shadows cast – the angles on his face.

“What are yuh-yuh-you doing up?”

She waited for him to sit up on the couch and then sat down beside him, wrapping one arm around his waist and burying her face in his neck. The dusting of hairs on his stomach tickled against her arms. She inhaled, breathed in the scent of him.

“Jane and Tobias...”

He chuckled, the quiet sound echoing in the silence of the big house. “What c-c-can I say? He t-takes after me.”

“Oh, yeah?” She kissed his neck, smiling as he groaned. “And who do you take after?”

“Well, why do yuh-yuh-yuh-you think I'm up?”

“Dunno. Why?”

He looked at the upstairs where one of the doors was closed. “T-T-Titus and Anna...making more k-k-k-kids. Seriously, he showed me th-th-this weird c-calendar th-thing on his ph-ph-phone for when she's ovulating and st-stuff and th-th-then he wuh-winked at me.”

“I wonder what's going on up there, then.”

“I c-c-can only imagine.” He laughed again and pulled her tighter to his chest. “I missed you, Alix.”

“And why's that, Taiv? I've been here the whole time.”

Taivon pulled a lever and then reclined back on the couch. “I don't sleep wuh-wuh-well, without yuh-you. And sharing...N-N-Not my th-thing.”

“I feel ya,” she said. “I think I've gotten a total of, like, ten hours these past couple of days. And it's so...cold without you. If that makes sense.”