Page 14 of Knot Enough

“Hurry back.” She pouted as she moved to rest her head against Gabriel. I nodded and hurried out the door. Graham and Finn were the caretakers. My job here was to ensure she was happy while they cared for her. That thought didn’t stop me from grabbing a glass of water and cold relief medicine after I changed. When I returned to the room, Gabriel and Lydia were still in the positions I left them. Walking across the room, I set down the glass of water and pills and lightly touched Lydia’s hair to wake her up in her drowsy state.

“Baby girl, can you take this medicine before going to bed?” I asked softly. She grumbled at my words but silently lifted herself up from where she waslying with Gabriel's help. She took the medicine and glass of water from me without any fuss and downed both.

“Now, cuddles.” She commanded as she laid back down and held out her hands in a grabbing motion. I chuckled at her shenanigans and moved to get comfortable next to her. Lydia’s front was in front of me while Gabriel laid behind her with one of his arms across her waist. She moved to rest underneath my chin where I could hold hands with Gabriel and wrap her closer to me with my other hand. Gabriel and I started to purr, which caused Lydia to relax even more. Before we all knew it, we were asleep.I woke up to a soft knocking on the door. The scents alone told me that it was Finn and Graham.

“Come in!” Gabriel yelled as softly as possible, not wanting to wake up Lydia. At Gabriel's words, the door opened softly. Graham and Finn wore concerned expressions as they entered the room.

“Can we step inside?” Graham asked, looking at Gabriel. Gabriel rolled his eyes at the question.

“I just said you could,” Gabriel said in mock frustration. Graham’s eyes darkened, most likely at the thought of doing something about his brattiness. Instead of commenting on that, however, Graham asked a different question.

“How is she?” He asked, watching her face and breathing. I rechecked her forehead.

“Her temp’s gone down, but it’ll probably be another few days before she’s feeling better,” I commented. Graham nodded.

“Finn will start making dinner then. You two are probably hungry, and she needs to eat something before she can sleep all night.” Graham reasoned.

“When was the last time she took medicine?” Finn asked, stepping closer to the bed. I lifted my phone from where it sat on one of the shelves and looked. I squinted my eyes at the brightness of my screen. Only a couple of hours have gone by.

“She still won’t need more for an hour or two. I say we get her to take more when she eats." I said as I set my phone back down. Finn nodded at my words.

“I’ll get a cold towel to put on her head then,” Finn said. He walked out of the room and returned several minutes later with a damp cloth. He reached over to Gabriel and tucked the towel on Lydia’s forehead. The sensation caused her to wake up. She stared into Finn’s eyes. Her eyes narrowed as she took him in. Finn’s expression transformed into worry.

“Cuddles, now, " she said before closing her eyes again. Finn stared at her in surprise. When Lydia noticed Finn hadn’t moved from where he was, she opened her eyes again and glared at him.

“Cuddles. Now.” She said with more force. The tone of her voice snapped Finn out of his haze. He moved to settle next to Gabriel on the bed. He moved one of his arms across Gabriel, where he could stroke one of Lydia’s arms. Gabriel moved his body to where he could touch Lydia and have his headnestled against Finn’s neck. Lydia sighed in satisfaction as she moved slightly. I looked at all of us and felt a warm sensation in my chest.

“I guess I’ll make dinner instead,” Graham said, rolling his eyes. A warm look filled his eyes before he left the room. After dinner, Lydia pulled Gabriel and me back to her room to snuggle the rest of the night. I stayed in a deep state of sleep till movement woke me up. I opened my eyes to find Lydia sitting up in the middle of a large cuddle pile. I watched her look around and disappointment entered her eyes.

“What’s wrong?” I immediately asked, worried that she might need something. I checked her forehead again. She was still warm to the touch, but it wasn’t as hot as it was earlier. She jumped at my voice and my touch.

“Oh gosh, you scared me.” She said before going silent. She looked around again and looked back at me. “Where’s Graham?” Her voice was small like she was scared to ask the question.

“Oh baby.” I say getting up to move to her side. Finn was on the left of her and Gabriel had moved away from her other side giving me a small space to be next to her.

“He left after he brought us dinner. He had to get up early tomorrow morning and didn’t want to disturb you.” I told her, pulling her closer to my chest to give her a side hug. Her face told me she wasn’t satisfied with that answer. I decided to try and distract her from her thoughts.

“You know, you were really cute when we were at the gym. You kept trying to hug me and wouldn’t let me go.” I told her, grinning slightly at the memory. Even in the darkness, I could see her face reddening.

“Did I really do that? I’m so sorry.” She groaned as she covered her face with her hands. I chuckled at her reaction and peeled her hands away.

“It’s okay, I didn’t mind a lot, in fact feel free to do that all the time. I like you close to me.” I said, moving slightly closer to her.

“Me, as well.” Finn said from out of nowhere. He sat up from her other side and moved closer to her.

“Me three.” Gabriel said, moving to lay his head and arms on her legs. We surrounded her with our attention and her face got even redder.

“Oh gosh.” She said, Looking at all three of us and down to her hands. She stayed silent so long I began to think we teased her a bit too much, but she spoke again. “Just cuddling?” She asked with a hint of worry. I felt my body melt at her nervousness.

“Just cuddling.” I affirmed. Running my nose along the edge of her face.

“Nothing more unless you want to.” Finn said, laying back down and covering her stomach with one of his arms. Gabriel stayed silent, but he had a warm smile as he watched our interaction. I leaned over to give him a quick kiss before following Finn’s example and laying back down with my own arm covering Lydia.

Chapter 7

Lydia

Several days have gone by since I had gotten sick. Everyone was worried about what had caused my cold. I had to repeatedly reassure them that it was probably because of the changing environment and temperature. My body didn’t adapt well to environmental changes, so I frequently became sick for a while when I moved to a new place. Since I had only just recovered from my cold, all three men tried cocooning me in as many layers as possible before we headed out. Gabriel had overheard Sorren and Graham talk about a hockey game they would play in. Gabriel being a sucker for men in sports uniforms, especially hockey players, begged them to let us watch. They were unsure about it after my cold, but Gabriel managed to convince them.

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