What I didn't know was why?
Narrowing her eyes as she glared at me. She blinked hard as her head shifted to one side and I think she’d just heard my thoughts.
Finally.
“Not finally,” she said. “I told you I sense you. I’ve always felt you and I hear you. I didn’t want to tell you. What I don’t understand is why I didn’t feel you that night. Why I didn’t sense what I was about to walk into.”
“You know what I’m thinking?” I asked.
She smiled. “Sometimes Carter. I didn’t know why, but I’ve always been able to.”
“But not that night?” I said, swiping my tongue over my bottom lip. “Then why don’t you believe me when I tell you it never happened?”
“Because I still see it,” she said tapping her head.
I hesitated as I thought of it. “I wonder if someone was trying to protect you.”
“Oh no, are you still going on about me being protected?” She plonked her coffee on the side table beside the chair and pressed the electric button. She fluffed a cushion behind her head as the seat gradually moved into a lying position.
“Do you have something warm to cover me?” she asked as she turned on her side and pulled her knees to her chest.
“I’ll cover you,” Seb said.
Lacey laughed. I glared at Seb as Ryan ran upstairs. I shook my head and smiled when he came down as quickly. Then he covered her with a quilt and kissed her on the cheek.
“Come here,” she said, holding her arms out and Ryan walked back to her and leaned in for a cuddle. She kissed him on the cheek. “Thank you, gorgeous.”
Ryan grinned so hard his face would ache in the morning.
“I’m going to sleep. Goodnight boys,” she said and closed her eyes. We looked from one to the other, stunned because she fell asleep as fast as her head hit the cushion.
“Apparently, Polly was feeding her tequila, and that was before they left the dorms,” I said as we watched her sleep for a few minutes. I turned, and that was when I realised we were all gawping at her. Not sure if they saw the same as me, but I could see her, so peaceful and so beautiful and I was so hurt that Blake and Jack wanted to take my Sunshine from me. Though it wasn’t surprising because, as I looked at the guys in the room, more than Blake and Jack fought for her affections.
Trouble was, nobody could see what I could see. She wasn’t my Sunshine any longer, her light was still out since the death of her family and it broke my heart to see her self-destructing. Because that was what she was doing, slowly but surely destroying herself.
But I wouldn’t let her—I wasn’t allowed to let her.
It was over an hour later as we watched the end of a movie together because nobody wanted to leave her and that was a first. But she whimpered in her sleep and we all turned to her.
“Oh god, what’s wrong with her?” Ryan said in a panicked tone.
But it was Seb who got there first, stroking her arm. “Aurora, it’s Sebastian, are you okay? I'm here.”
Aurora… Sebastian?
She didn’t respond but her whimpers settled and she was silent again.
“She’s still asleep, don’t wake her. I’m going to take her to bed.” Picking her up in my arms and striding away quickly, taking careful steps as I climbed the stairs to take her to my bedroom. Hearing footsteps behind me when I reached the landing, I turned.
Seb’s eyes narrowed and his chest rose high as his eyes set on mine. “I think she’d prefer to sleep with me,” he said. “She doesn’t like you.”
“Fuck off Seb, this breakup is a temporary thing,” I hissed.
“Carter, you can’t carry her off into your bedroom. She’ll freak on you when she wakes,” Ryan said as he pulled Seb out of my face.
Pushing away from him, I walked into my bedroom and kicked the door shut behind me. I laid Lacey on the sheets, took off my T-shirt and jeans, and I was just about ready to jump into the bed next to her when I spun to the creak of the door opening.
Seb strolled into my room like he owned it. His eyes roamed up and down my body, his lips curled back in a snarl. “I hope you’re wearing more than that to bed,” he hissed, staring at my boxer shorts.