Page 67 of Black Onyx
We all hold our breath, not daring to move as she slowly and stiffly unwinds her arms slightly, just enough for her to peek out at him to verify his words. He nods encouragingly, giving her the softest smile I have ever seen from him, even before he shut down his emotions. I thought that as soon as she realised who was in front of her, she would back up. After all, he was the one who inadvertently triggered her but instead, she launches herself at him. We all prepare to intervene. Storm isn’t fond of being touched. Although he makes allowances for women, it's always on his terms and very rarely, which is why the rest of us saw through what he was doing in the dining room with those two women so easily, he was trying to get a rise out of Farren, and he hated every second of having their hands on him.
We’re not needed, though. Her arms wrap around his neck, her legs wrapping around his waist as best they can since he’s on the floor, and she buries her face into the base of his neck, trembling and holding on tightly like he’s her lifeline out of the hell she was just in. He manages not to fall backwards from sheer force of will and, as soon as he’s stable, wraps his tattooed arms around her with absolutely no hesitation as he pulls her impossibly closer, the relief on his face profound as he drops his head so he can talk to her to quietly for the rest of us to hear. As he holds her, his shadows come out, and I watch in utter fascination as the things used for harm and pain gently stroke over her back and arms, soothing and comforting her. Even more shockingly, she actually does take comfort in it, relaxing even further into Storm.
“What the fuck,” Kill mutters and then goes wide-eyed and panicked that he might’ve scared her again when she tenses ever so slightly.
“I didn’t know shadows could behave like that?” Mayhem asks, his voice barely above a whisper.
“They can. They’re a part of us, but so far as I’m aware, Storm has never used his like that.” Kill answers, looking to the rest of us for confirmation.
“No, he hasn’t,” I reply.
Unsure what else to do, we just stay silent and watch. It’s clear that Storm has this handled. Eventually, her shaking stops, although she doesn’t loosen her hold on Storm.
He looks over at us, his barrier still down, and I hope like fuck it stays that way. I miss my best friend, the one who’d joke around with me, the one who would always try and make me feel better when my home life became unbearable, even though his was much the same as mine. Then he closed himself off completely. The more abuse his father inflicted on him, the more closed off he became until he was the emotionless man we know now, very rarely showing any kind of emotion until Farren came along.
“I think she’s fallen asleep,” he says, quietly enough not to wake her.
“I’m not surprised, that must’ve been exhausting. I know that I’m always super tired after a flashback.” Mayhem admits.
He’s not the only one of us familiar with flashbacks.
“She obviously trusts you though, brother. She never would’ve fallen asleep on you so soon after otherwise.” Killian points out.
“I don’t deserve it.”
“No, you don’t,” Reaper says bluntly, “but you’ve got it, so don’t fuck it up, or I will eat you.” The grin he gives Storm is not pleasant at all and can only be described as a predator looking at his prey.
“I promise.” Storm sincerely replies, before looking back down at Farren, “I’m done pretending like she didn’t walk in and completely turn my world upside down like she hasn’t had me wrapped around her finger since day one.”
“Fucking finally!” Mayhem exclaims, and the quiets as Farren shifts in Storm’s arms. “It took you fucking long enough.”
Storm’s smile is genuine as he starts to get up, managing not to jostle Farren as he does so.
“I think we’re done for classes today. Let's get Farren back upstairs.”
We all stiffly get to our feet, showing that we’ve been sitting here for a while and we’re lucky that combat class is now a three-hour lesson. I doubt she would want anyone seeing her like this. Actually, now that I think about it, I realise she wouldn’t want anyone to see her being carried, either.
“Storm, I don’t think we should carry her through the halls. Not only will she not like people seeing her like that but also it could get back to the Headmaster, and who knows how he could spin it against her.” I point out.
“I hadn’t thought of that. I’ll take her in my shadows.” He says casually.
“Are you sure?” Kill asks. At the questioning looks from the rest of us, he adds, “it’s quite an intimate thing to do and leaves you vulnerable. Once you take someone in your shadows, without the intention of harming them, they’ll be able to call to them when they’re in need.”
“Wow,” Rival says, his wide eyes once again focused on Storm.
He shrugs like it’s no big deal and starts gathering the shadows around him, “She owns me anyway.”
With that prolific statement and an amused grin at the shocked looks on our faces, he lets the shadows consume him entirely as he disappears, no doubt almost to our room already.
“I’m not sure I know how to process any of this,” Mayhem admits as we all make our way out of the changing rooms as quickly as possible.
We stop at the guys changing rooms quickly to grab our stuff and then practically run to get to our room, ignoring everyone who tries to talk to us on the way. I’m not rushing because I don’t trust Storm with her. Nope, I’m rushing because on a typical day, I don’t like being away from her, but on a day like today, when I know she’s hurting, I fucking hate it. I’m almost certain that the guy's reasons are not dissimilar to mine.
When we get to the room, Farren is still asleep, and Storm is lying her down on the sofa. I quickly grab a blanket as Kill steps forward and takes off her shoes, Mayhem gently moves the hair off her face, Rival strokes her cheek looking both relieved and terrified, and Reaper crouches in front of her, stares at her for a second as if to reassure himself that she’s okay and then leans forward gently kissing her on the forehead.
“Thanks, guys,” she mutters, shocking us all since we had no idea she was awake, but her breaths soon even back out, and she’s once again fast asleep.
We all settle down around her, putting the tv on low so that we can at least pretend we’re watching it and not all stuck in our own heads. It doesn’t surprise me in the slightest when Poca appears, although he does make me jump slightly. He whines as he sniffs her and then licks her cheek. I still have to fight myself to stop from freaking out every time he does that because he should burn her with hellfire, but she’s never so much as winced. He sniffs her entire body, no doubt searching for injuries and then, satisfied that she isn’t hurt, curls up on the floor beside the sofa.
