Bloodline [h.s.]

forty-three.

BRIDGET GALLAGHER

I wish I was wrong. I wished Kai's reasons for trying to kill me were reckless and driven by raging hatred for my father. But that couldn't be further from the truth. His reasons were logical. It made sense to kill me.

And Aiden refused to tell me why. He assured me Kai was no longer a threat. He somehow managed to make Kai himself to promise this. It was strange to see someone who had so much control fold even for a moment. It should have been comforting, but it only confirmed that there was a larger force driving him to kill me that night.

For how much I dislike Kai, he seemed to be everywhere. He's been training and boxing with Aiden and Nick nearly everyday in the workout room to prepare for a storm I was allowed to know of. He's the topic of our arguments and even the starring role in my nightmares that have been relentless lately.

It didn't help that I was spending so much time with my family. The paranoia of my father finding out about Aiden or any of the lies suffocated my every waking moment in my family's home while Kai suffocated my every unconscious moment. Like the past two mornings, I flew upwards in the bed to fight strangling hands that were not there. With a sharp breath, I came to consciousness. The only source of suffocation was the state of being within the confines of my family's estate.

Until his arm latched around me, I had forgotten Aiden snuck in to spend the night. My body jumped in a fright. He never used to stay the night here because the idea of sleeping under the same roof as my father revolted him. But after the day Kai showed up, he's stayed anywhere I was anytime I asked him to.

"You okay, pretty?" He asked. It sounded like he had already been awake. His hand trailed the railroad of my spine, settling me.

"Yeah, I'm good. My alarm is going to go off in a minute anyway." I exhaled, rubbing my eyes as I got out of bed and chose not to disclose the dream.

"Already? You usually don't get up for another half hour or so." He said, standing in the door frame of the bath.  He didn't pry on the nightmare he knew I woke up from. Doing so would puncture the bubble. The bubble in which, I don't ask about the panic attacks, and he doesn't ask ask about the nightmares.

"Peter and I alternate weeks of who gets up to check the opening of the stock exchange since it opens around nine in New York, which is six here. If there isn't a lot of movement, he get to sleep in for a half hour. If there is, we have to figure out the best places to invest new stocks or to stop portfolios from losing money." I explained after I brushed my teeth. "Do you want some coffee?"

"Can I get dressed first? If we see your dad, I rather not be in pyjamas." He said.

"Why does that matter?" I chuckled as I started my hair and makeup.

"No one looks intimidating in pyjamas." He shrugged as he looked through the cabinets and drawers, "Also do you have an extra toothbrush?"

"I probably have an extra in one of the drawers." I laughed.

I sat on the edge of the bath, moisturising my legs while he leaned over the sink. Something about him brushing his teeth was oddly attractive. His weight laid mostly on his left leg, emphasising the definition in the muscles that bridged his thigh to curve of his backside as they flexed. He hovered over the sink, oblivious to the knot forming in my stomach. I stood up to press my lips between his shoulder blades.