. . .
Alexandre Monet
Dahlia didn't stop trying to make me talk. I managed to get a few words out, but then my throat would close up. It wasn't as bad as the last time when I stopped talking for three years. But, it could develop to be that. I tried to speak as much as I could to avoid that.
I didn't want Dahlia to think I was weak. Could a man who couldn't even fucking talk take care of her the way she deserved?
"The only thing this all proved is that anyone who comes close to Dahlia is in danger," Andros said. "Probably even you guys."
We were in my office. Dahlia was sleeping in my bedroom. Hedeon was leaning against the door, Andros was lying on the couch, Lucian was brooding near a window and I was on my chair.
"He touched her," I muttered, the words barely escaped my mouth. Why was it so fucking hard to talk?
"Yeah, that's why you lost it," Hedeon said. "I don't blame you for that."
The thought of someone but us touching Dahlia was...well, it made me murderous too. I didn't know I was this possessive. But there was always this need to grab her and tuck her against me so that no one could look at her but me.
Was this too much? Probably.
Andros rubbed his fingers over the bandage on his hand. "Is she sleeping?"
"Yes." She was tucked in my bed, cuddling her ginger demon. Dahlia and Andros had barely talked for days. Andros was bushing himself with work, and Dahlia was pulling away.
We went back to our bedrooms.
I looked at Lucian, silently questioning him because he was following me.
"I just want to see her." He huffed and marched into my bedroom.
I shook my head and followed him in.
Bobby hopped out instantly. It was like changing shifts. He never left her alone.
Dahlia moved, her eyes were closed. Her knee lifted making her dress slide down her thigh, exposing her ass. That little white strip of her panties was barely covering her. My eyes lingered.
I wanted to bite into her skin till she bruised. She had healed up pretty quickly. I wanted to mark her up again.
Lucian paused beside her, looking down at her face. "What is it about her?" He asked quietly. "Why are we so fucking whipped?
I shrugged. I didn't know. I slid into the bed beside her, pulling her close to me. Lucian laid beside her.
"Alexandre," she mumbled. "Lucy?"
"That fucking nickname-" Lucian grumbled under his breath.
Dahlia smiled in her sleep.
I smiled, feeling like I could say a million words to her and they'd still be less.
. . .
"We're going home," I told Dahlia at dinner the next day. "It's my mother's birthday. Lorenzo isn't anywhere near there. It should be safe."
She nodded, eyes on her laptop. She was watching something while sitting on the couch in my office.
I tapped my pen on the desk. She was pulling back a bit too much. Dahlia went through phases. This was her 'alone' phase. It made me fucking miserable. It may have been triggered by what Andros did.
"Dahlia."
"Hm?" She turned her head towards me, her eyes still on the screen.
"Come here."
"I'm cozy."
"Come here."
She huffed but stood up, setting her laptop on my desk. "Where do I sit?"
I pulled her on my lap.
"Don't ignore me," I forced the words out. It was easier to talk to her than anyone else. I couldn't even force out a word to anyone but my brother, the Kozlovs, and Dahlia. The men were used to it.
"I'm just tired."
I frowned. "Tired?"
"And in pain. I'm on my period." She grimaced.
"Why didn't you tell me?" I demanded, the words flowing easily. I gripped her chin. "You tell me things like this, yes?"
"Okay. Don't be grumpy."
"I'm not being grumpy." Was I?
"You are." She blinked up at me, setting her head against my shoulder. "My back hurts."
I stood with her in my arms.
"Where are you taking me?"
"Room."
. . .
Dahlia
They pampered me for the duration of my period. I let them. No one addressed what had happened with Andros. He slept in the cell. I visited him every day and read to him. Soon, it became obvious that sleepwalking Andros hated anyone coming close to me. He'd be calm one moment, but as soon as someone came close to me, he'd look at them till they went away. And, if anyone touched, he'd slam his fists against the wall.
He allowed no one. Not even his brother and the Monet twins.
Soon, we reached home. And my anxiety increased so much that I could barely breathe. My parents would know I was here. They'd ask me to come to dinner. Just thinking about it made me so anxious.
I had packed most of my stuff. I didn't really know where I'd stay. Would the apartment be safe enough? Or would I have to stay at my uncle's house?
Monets invited me to their mother's birthday. I wasn't sure about going. But I really wanted to see Minnie. I wanted to see Marie and Otto, too.
I went to see Marie first. She was at the shelter, waiting outside as Lucian slowed down the car. She grinned, almost jumping on her feet as I exited the car.
"Dahlia."
I laughed as she wrapped her arms around me. "Someone missed me."
"Shut up." She pulled back, looking all over me. "Jojo and Pluto missed you."
. . .
I picked up Jojo who pawed at my chest, looking up at me. He had grown a bit. Puppies grew too fast. He was a little German Shepard. I had missed him too much.
Lucian looked down at Jojo. "He is cute."
"He is." I kissed his head. "He is the perfect little doggie, aren't you?"
His tale wagged. I laughed and set him down, letting him run with Pluto in the dog park right beside the shelter.
Marie was sitting right beside me. She and I had been talking for hours now. Lucian didn't look annoyed, or impatient. He let us talk while he busied himself with his phone or threw sticks for Pluto and Jojo.
"He is cute," Marie said to me. "He seems perfect for you."
"Yeah." I sighed. "We are perfect together. There are just some complications."
"Like?"
"He, and others, they are a bit...different than normal guys. Not bad different, but just different. I don't know how to deal with normal guys. I definitely don't know what to do with them."
"Won't going with the flow work?"
"I don't even know which way the flow is going, Marie. Things are happening. I'm not built for so many complications. I find new things in my uncle's million journals every day."
She set her head against my shoulder. "You will figure it out, Dahlia. Just let yourself choose what you want."
"You're good with advice," I said dryly.
"One of my many talents."
. . .
Andros Kozlov
The storm rolled in. The waves became wilder. The rain fell on me as I stood on the desk, my hands gripping the railing.
"Andros?"
I looked at Dahlia who stood with her umbrella over her shoulder, dressed in a pretty little black dress. Fuck.
"You're gonna get sick."
She walked towards me, raising her hand so that the umbrella was covering my head. I took hold of it, holding it for her.
"What are you doing here?" I asked.
"I forgot my blanket. You need to get inside. You're soaked to the bone."
I shrugged. "I like rain."
She smiled. "I like it too. So, let's go inside and watch it through the giant window in your room. Okay?"
It was the way she talked to me, so gentle yet genuine. It was the way she looked up at me with those big dark eyes. It was the way she stood beside me, leaning into me like she trusted me with everything. It felt good.
It felt too good.
I never felt like I was reliable because of my sleepwalking. I didn't like being this close to someone who I could hurt. But, Dahlia never treated me with caution. Maybe she should have. But I loved that she didn't.
She made me feel normal.
. . .
Dahlia picked up a giant blanket as I sat down on the couch in my room. She set it on me. "Wrap this around yourself."
"Only if you sit on my lap."
She did. I wrapped the blanket around us. I had taken a shower and dried myself. My hair was a bit wet.
Dahlia and I stared out of the window in my room. The sea was angry. The waves crashed as if trying to run from the rain that fell furiously.
"Where are Bobby and Vaness?" I asked, noticing the lack of crime in the room.
"Hedeon has them. They're probably at Uncle's house."
"Did you meet up Marie?"
"Yes," she said, taking my hand in hers and playing with my fingers. "She missed me. I missed her, too. She's a good friend."
"What about the animals at the shelter?"
"Jojo missed me."
I knew Jojo. She had told me about the tiny German Shepard and how his siblings had been murdered.
It was so tempting to hunt down whoever had done it. Maybe I would, as soon as I got rid of Noah's spawns. The man had been good, his little shits were just trouble.
"Do you want Jojo?"
"No, Bobby would bully him. I don't get Minnie because Bobby would have bullied her, too."
"That orange jackass is evil."
She laughed. "Yeah. He kind of is. He is protective."
"I'm sorry I've been avoiding you, Dahlia. I...I didn't want to admit it, but I wanted everything to work out. I wanted your company to be enough for sleepwalking me to calm down, but I guess that's not the case. You're the only one who is safe from me."
"We can work with that, too," she said. "You can stop sleeping in the cell. All we will have to do is make sure that no one comes near us when you're sleepwalking."
"It's a risk."
"It's worth the try, Andros. You're worth the try."
"I love you."
She froze.
And she did not say it back.
. . .