Page 74 of Lost in the Light

I pressed back into him and wrapped my arm around his huge bicep, clinging to him and fighting the urge to tell him I loved him. I wanted to desperately, I could feel it with everything inme – the love I had not only for him, but for Kane and Jordan too. But it wasn’t the right time. I didn’t want to tell him I loved him when my head hurt too much for me to even open my eyes and see his reaction. Instead I just clung tightly to him and relaxed in only the way my guys could allow me to – completely.

***

I didn’t remember falling asleep, but I must have, because when I opened my eyes my migraine was down to a dull headache at the back of my head. I was laid in my bed, and Adam was fast asleep wrapped around me.

Relieved to be feeling a lot better I lifted my head enough to look to the window and saw light peeking around the blinds. At least I hadn’t slept the whole day away.

I extricated myself from Adam’s hold and slid from the bed, all as silently as I could, then hurried to the bathroom, in desperate need. Once that was handled I washed my hands and looked at myself in the mirror. I was pale and the mascara, which I’d applied to head out to my therapy session that morning, was a mess, making me look like a panda. I washed my face to get rid of the heavy black smudges and ran a brush through my hair, relieved it hadn’t gone as crazy as it usually did when I slept on it. I messily tied it up on top of my head, needing it out of the way, then attempted to straighten the rumpled dress I had worn with leggings that morning. I’d have changed if we were going out, but the migraine had zapped me too much to even contemplate doing anything but lying on the couch and binge watching television for the rest of the day.

When I returned to the bedroom, Adam had rolled over so he lay sprawled out on his back, taking up the entire bed. He wassnoring loudly now he lay flat and I couldn’t help but quietly giggle at the strange sound he was making.

Leaving him to wake up when he was ready, I slipped out of my room, closing the door behind me, and headed downstairs in search of food. I’d barely eaten lunch, and I was actually feeling hungry. That was something else that seemed to be changing lately – my appetite. I actually felt hungry at times now, which never happened in the first few weeks, and I was able to eat more too. I guess that was a part of why I was feeling more in control of myself and had a little more energy.

It was slow going, but I knew I really was making progress at getting myself together, and that made me feel good. After all of the craziness over the last month or so, and days where I couldn’t even control my own thoughts, to know I was getting a little stronger truly felt like a victory.

“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” I laughed as I walked around the corner into the kitchen and saw Eli cursing at the two blackened slices of toast he was pulling from the toaster. He threw the last one to the counter, then waved his hand, obviously having burned his fingers.

“Having fun?” I asked with a chuckle. Eli startled and turned to face me with surprise.

“Fuck, you scared me, shortcake,” he gasped as he slammed his hand on his chest. “I didn’t hear you coming.”

“Sorry. You trying to burn the house down?” I joked as I nodded to his black toast and the hint of smoke around us.

“I lost track of time while I was working. My stomach rumbling led me down here,” he explained with a sheepish smile. “I swear I can make toast. I just got distracted texting Ash.”

“Is he still at the new building?” I asked as I bypassed Eli, grabbing the toast and tossing it into the trash.

“Yeah. They’re finishing up now. Ash said we’re just gonna get take out for dinner. Are you feeling better? He said you had a migraine earlier?”

“Much better. The pain meds helped and I got some solid sleep,” I assured him. “Why don’t you sit down and I’ll make us both a sandwich. I’m pretty hungry too.”

“Sounds good. I’ll make some coffee and grab you one of your beloved sodas.”

We both set to work, and I almost had the sandwiches ready when the bell at the front door went off. I wasn’t sure I’d ever heard it before. Everyone who came to the house, since I moved in, lived there, except Zara, but she’d let herself in that day.

Just thinking about Zara had me remembering the nightmare I’d had the night before, and I wondered if Kane had done anything to look deeper into her yet. I didn’t want to give Asher anything else to stress about, especially when things had calmed down so much in the last week, but he needed to know if the crazy chick who was obsessed with him, was part of some criminal group.

“It’s Leo, from the security team,” Eli said as he showed me the image from the camera over the front door, on his phone. “He’s probably looking for Kane. I’ll get it.”

While I didn’t know the security staff well enough to speak to, I had taken the time to learn their names, and I was always polite when I saw them in the garden. They seemed like decent guys, as Asher and Kane had assured me they were, but I was still too nervous around guys I didn’t know to strike up conversations with them, so I was glad Eli was there to deal with Leo.

I’d just set the plates with our lunch at the places at the counter, and gotten my butt into the stool below me when I heard Eli cry out, followed by a loud thud.

My instinct was to call out to him, but when complete silence descended, something stopped me. I grabbed my cell from where I had dropped it on the counter when I walked in, and ran to the wall, plastering myself against it and creeping to the corner to peer around it. I already had my finger hovering over Kane’s contact on my cell.

When I glanced around the corner I gasped at the sight of Eli laid on the floor just inside the living area, blood pouring from the back of his head onto the floor. Leo was stood over him with a baseball bat in his hand, and two other men were moving into the room too, all of them dressed like our security guards.

I wanted to go to Eli, but I knew I stood no chance against three trained men, so instead I hit Kane’s contact and ran to the pantry in the corner of the kitchen, shutting myself in as quietly as I could.

My hands were shaking and my heart was pounding so hard I feared the men outside would hear it. I slammed my hand over my mouth to muffle my panting breaths and prayed for Kane to pick up the call.

“Hey, Angel,” Kane answered after what felt like an eternity. I removed my hand from my mouth and pushed back as far into the corner as I could get.

“Kane,” I whispered so quietly I wasn’t sure he’d hear me. “There’s three men in the house. They hurt Eli.” My whispered words were fast and panicked. I couldn’t hear anything outside the door of the pantry, but that didn’t mean the men weren’t out there.

“Addy, where are you?” Kane demanded and I could tell he was running.

“Pantry,” I whimpered as tears threatened. “I hid. It was Leo. He…he was at the door and Eli went to…to get it. He’s bleeding so much, Kane,” I gasped.

---