13
Marcus
Down in the basement, I couldn’t sleep. I laid on my bed and stared up at the ceiling, listening to Piper move around upstairs. She had a distinct foot fall that was hard to miss, especially when she kept humming to herself as she passed above us.
“I guess I’m not the only one having a hard time sleeping,” Rayne said from his bed, before a squeak of springs signaled he’d sat up.
“Who could sleep?” Drake remarked with a groan and a sigh. “I’m too worried about how she’s going to react to all this.”
Allister snorted. “She seems fine enough.”
Rayne made a loud moaning sound as he stretched and stood. “That’s because she hasn’t met any of us yet. Right now all she’s thinking about is how much of a dick Darren is and why the previous maid had so much leather.” He snickered at that.
“Should we really be leaving here up there with only Darren to oversee her?” Allister asked just as something crashed and then Piper shouted out, “I got it!”
I winced. “I fear more for the fine china than I do for Darren.”
Drake chuckled, getting out of his bed as well. “So, how are we going to do this?”
“Do what?” I sat up in my bed, sleep no longer an option.
Shrugging, Drake crossed his arms over his chest. “You know, this make her fall in love with you thing. I mean,” he paused and gestured around the room. “Out of all of us, you’re the one who needs the most time. I mean, we’ve already done it once.”
My eyebrows rose. “And you think I will have a harder time achieving this goal?”
“Well, we already love her…” Allister began leaving the question open for me.
“And you think I don’t?” I stared at the twins with a frown. Sure, I wasn’t the most open vampire. I didn’t quote poetry or use my body to show that I am interested in someone. That didn’t mean that I didn’t care.
“Well,” Drake hopped up on the side of the couch. “If you do it’ll be easier than if you don’t.”
Allister picked up a football from somewhere and tossed it across the room to his brother. “Because if you do, then you’ll actually care about making her happy. If you don’t then…well…”
Rayne stepped between the line of the ball throwing, cutting it off before it could go back to Allister. “What he means is that if you love her you’ll already know all the little things that will make her happy and that will lead her to falling in love with you.”
I frowned. “I know how to make a woman fall for me. I have done it many times.”
“Since when?” Drake countered with a smirk. “This isn’t the crusades. You can’t compliment her on her needle point or whatever it is women did in those days. Piper isn’t exactly the refined type.” He chuckled and then tried to take the ball back from Rayne which ended up with the three of them wrestling on the floor.
“Do you three mind?” Wynn groaned from his place, sliding his silk clad legs out of his bed. “Some of us are trying to sleep.”
Drake finally got the ball and hopped to his feet. “Sorry, just nerves you know.”
Wynn nodded, dragging a hand through his unruly black hair. “I understand. We are all under a lot of pressure right now. However, being overtired is not the way to handle this. You will lose your grip on your hunger once it comes time for Piper’s cycles and then where will we be? With one frightened maid screaming for the authorities. Then this will have been all for nothing.”
“Geez, I get it. Fine.” Drake tossed the ball toward the couch and then collapsed on his bed. “I’ll go to sleep.”
“Yeah, me too.” Allister laid down on his own bed but neither one of them closed their eyes. They simply stared at the ceiling as we had been doing before.
Rayne did not go back to sleep. He walked over to my bed and sat down at the end. “Look, Piper’s not that complicated. You two already have an attraction to one another. I’ve seen it. She wants you. And I know she cares about you. So what was stopping you two from getting together before all this?”
I stared down at my hands not answering him.
“Ahhh,” Rayne bobbed his head. “I get it.”
“You shouldn’t read others’ private thoughts,” I chastised him, scowling. Though I complained it was nice not having to voice my issues.
Rayne inched closer to me and clapped me on the back. “Look, don’t focus so much on what’s not there. Focus on what is there. You don’t have to be like the rest of us. You’re you and that’s all that matters. It isn’t about what you can give her that we can’t. Believe me, I’m not comparing myself to that sex maniac over there.” Rayne gestured toward Wynn who sniffed and laid back down on his bed, his eyes too going to the ceiling.