Dahlia Aldridge
Apparently waking up early was becoming a habit. I wasn’t positive how I felt about that… no I actually knew how I felt about it. I was absolutely against it. Yet here I was, up bright and early and outside, no less!
The muggy morning air wrapped around my skin as I sat curled up on a pool lounge chair, watching the sun slowly break through the heavy clouds. It almost looked like it was going to rain today, something that I wasn’t opposed to in the least. Especially because it meant that the media would probably not be crowding the gate. I still had no idea how in the heck we were going to get out of here unnoticed for the trip overseas tomorrow, but I figured that King would think up something.
I couldn’t lie, I was excited about learning more about King’s family. Also about where Dermot had lived most of his life. I knew my boys well, but this was like an entire new part of their history that I was unraveling. I just hoped that I didn’t embarrass King or Dermot. I had a feeling things would be a lot different where we were going, and sometimes my lack of knowledge about stuff made me sound naive or stupid.
For most of my life I had wanted to be like my mom, and I still did. I looked up to the woman like crazy, but I also found myself a bit envious of India Lexington. The woman was calm, cool, and collected to the point that I wasn’t positive if she felt legitimate emotions or not. If it wasn’t for the slight smile she offered me while talking, I would think she didn’t like me. She hadn’t always been like that—at least she hadn’t been when our families had vacationed together a few summers ago—but now, something was different. I had to assume it was the result of losing her family; a tragedy like that had the ability to affect even the strongest people.
My brow dipped slightly, realizing how similar we were in that regard. Yates wasn’t wrong—the imprint of the bullying was long lasting, and once again, like last night, I could feel myself at a crossroads over the simplest thing.
Breakfast.
Shaking my head and removing the thought from my consciousness until I had more coffee, I started draining my first cup. I hadn’t fully gotten dressed when I’d slipped from the room, but I’d pulled on a pair of sleep shorts with my hoodie, figuring that brushing my teeth was good enough for sitting by my own pool.
I did wonder how long it would take for one of them to realize I wasn’t in bed anymore. My smile grew as I thought about how I had fallen asleep between the twins but woken up with Stratton wrapped around my center and Dermot laying in bed next to me, his fingers in my hair as if he had been smoothing it over and over again. I’d been half asleep, but when I’d woken up the first time, I was briefly aware of the murmur of the television and the conversation the others were having. It made me wonder when they’d finally fallen asleep.
When I’d slipped from the room this morning, King had been on my other side, and the twins were spread out on the sofas nearby, Yates in the armchair. I wondered if it was possible to get a bigger bed. I mean, it was already pretty massive, but these guys were objectively huge, so we would need at least an Alaskan King… or two. If we put them together, that would work even better. It wasn’t like I didn’t have the space. Then again, even if my parents were cool with me dating all six men and didn’t freak out, or my father didn’t try to kill them… I had a feeling that putting that in my room would be pushing it a bit far.
My thoughts began to stray to getting our own house before I shook myself. I was being ridiculous, obviously. They were going to think I was crazy, no matter how serious King claimed they were, if I started talking about living together.
Although… last night was amazing. Before bed we had watched a movie, and I had realized pretty quickly how easy it was to be with these men. As in dating all of them. Originally, the notion had been hard to wrap my mind around… until Dermot tugged me onto his lap and King kissed me on his way to go grab us some snacks from upstairs, wanting a smoothie of his own. Or how Stratton sat next to me during part of the movie while the twins both reclined back in their seats and dozed off. I wouldn’t lie, I had crawled in between them about halfway through the movie. Then Yates had stolen me and I’d fallen asleep on him, not realizing how tired I was. Last night had for sure made it a bit more real.
How would it hold up when we left our bubble? Went out on the international stage? Or attended school next week?
Hopefully, the long plane ride would give us enough time to get ready and talk about all of this. Then again, the boys seemed perfectly content with everything. I seemed to be the only one freaking out about all these massive changes. Surprising, right?
“Ms. Aldridge?” My head snapped up as I found a man standing over me, dressed in all black. How the heck hadn’t I heard him approach? Better yet, what was he doing in my back yard? I honestly think this was the first time I’d ever seen Wildberry Lane security outside of the gate area.
I put my coffee mug down and sat up. “Oh! Hello, what’s up? What can I help you with?”What can I help you with?The man was in my back yard. Christ. I was more tired than I thought.
“We need you to come see something we found on the tapes from last night.” His voice was professional, but I still found the request odd. Maybe he was deferring to me because my parents weren’t here? I mean, in a way, I liked it because I honestly would have assumed he would have gone to Yates, who seemed to interact with security the most out of all of us.
I stood, and instead of stepping back, the man stood in my space, making me move around him awkwardly as I looked at the house. “I’m going to go grab one of the guys, they will want to see—”
“This is rather urgent, Dahlia,” he insisted, looking concerned. He then added, “It actually concerns a few of them.”
Oh.
Frowning, I nodded slowly. “Alright, lead the way.”
I felt myself relax as he walked us around the house and towards the security building near the gate, knowing that there would be other guards there. There were always at least two.
Yet as we approached, I felt my chest seize up, realizing that wasn’t the case today. The building sat empty and quiet as the guard opened the door.
Something was very wrong about this. A feeling slammed into me, a premonition maybe, my gut reaction hitting me like a truck, warning me to take a step back immediately. Something was for sure wrong. Something was wrong about this situation and him.
I tried to take another step back as his eyes focused on my movement. It was all the warning I had before his hand darted out and gripped my wrist, tugging me forward roughly.
I let out a cry, his grip hard, enough that I was worried he would bruise my wrist or break a bone. My cry echoed, and he immediately slapped a hand over my mouth and pinned me against the inside wall of the security office with his arm against my neck, cutting off my air supply. I gasped, tugging on his arm as he offered a sneer, his cologne making me sick to my stomach. He hadn’t even bothered to close the door, that was how confident he was.
He loosened the pressure on my neck slightly, enough so I wouldn’t pass out, but he kept me pinned and a hand over my mouth. The part that had me freaking out the most? I could feel how hard he was as his head bent down and his breath skated across my face. I felt myself growing nauseous.
“Shut up,” he growled in a sharp demand. “I’m here to do a fucking job, so pay fucking attention, Dahlia.”
Out of all the emotions I expected to feel, anger wasn’t one of them, yet my temper sparked as I nearly kneed this guy in the dick. Well, I would have, but I had no wiggle room, something I found out as I tried to jolt against him. His smile grew as if he found my attempt amusing.
Screw this guy.