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Tires watches her leave the room, then says, “It’s okay, brother. Dad is going to talk to her. He’s even taking Leilani with him to do it. Go on. Go do what you have to do.”

Shaking my head, I go to my room. I just get the door shut when my phone goes off. Looking at the screen I smile. Saige likes her gifts.

Twenty-One

Saige

I walkinto my room to see the most gorgeous yellow roses on the table, a bear and books on my bed. I smile as I go over to read the card with the roses. I smell their sweet scent. I open the card and see a note written:

Butterfly, I’m sorry about earlier. Enjoy the books, flowers, and tea. Cotton

I smile as I pick up the books on my bed to look at. Oh my gosh! He just got me the new book by two of my favorite authors, that they co-wrote. The other two books are also by them. I grab my phone and text him a thank you. I need to hurry in the shower so that I can read these. Once I get out of the shower, I comb out my hair, brush my teeth, grab me some tea out of the fridge, get my tank top and boy cut panties on, then sit on thebed. Oh, it feels so good to be in these to sleep in, my favorite pjs. When Loki is in here, I sleep in t-shirt and pj capris. I get too hot wearing those, and get all tangled up in them when I toss and turn. I prop up my pillows, leaning back on them. I grab the bear Cotton got me to look at. It’s so cute. It’s white with a pink nose, holding a honey pot. I set it beside me, grab a book and start reading.

I wakeup in a cold sweat gasping for breath. At least I didn’t scream this time, I think. I can still see Pyro as the nightmare slowly fades away. I go to the bathroom and wet a rag. I rinse my face and arms off. I just want these nightmares to go away, maybe I should talk to the counselor. I just feel like I can’t trust her, so that makes me clam up. Bexley has been talking to her. Turning back into my room, I see Cotton standing by my bed in a pair of basketball shorts, his arms crossed over his chest. Looks like I did scream out. “What are you doing in here?”

“I heard you screaming through the wall, also, Bacon came banging on my door when you screamed. Saige, have you talked to anyone about the nightmares? Or about what happened to you?”

I shake my head no, “I talked to the counselor at the hospital but haven’t talked to anyone since.”

Sighing he runs his hands through his white hair. His chest and arm muscles flexing as he does. I can’t help but stare at him. That perfect v that he has, those washboard abs. “Come on. Get over here and sit with me. Talk to me about whatever you need to.”

I slowly go over to sit on the bed. He’s staring at me, I see his nostrils flare and notice he is breathing heavier. It’s then that I remember what I am wearing. I hurry to sit down on the bed, covering my legs with my blanket. I feel the bed dip when Cotton sits beside me, putting his arm around my back pulling me into him. “Okay, is this alright?” he asks. I nod. “Alright, tell me about whatever you need to. You have to get this out and talk to someone, otherwise it will eat you alive. Trust me, I know.” I look up into his beautiful gray eyes, wanting to drown in them.

Sighing I start, “I can feel him on me still. See him, smell him. I try fighting with all that I have in me. But I’m still handcuffed to that bar. I can hear Bexley screaming then suddenly she stops, so I know he has done something to her. Then he’s standing back over me, naked, rubbing himself. He tries to put his mouth on me, but I keep my thighs together as much as I can, twisting my legs. That’s when he punches me in the side. It hurts so bad that Ican barely get a breath. That’s when he bites my thigh, forcing my legs apart, sticks his fingers in me. Telling me he can feel the thin web of my virginity, that it won’t be his fingers that he takes it with. That’s when he tries to climb on top of me. It took all the strength I could muster to get my leg up enough to kick him like I did. I was trying to think of something to do if he came at me again, because I knew he would, and that’s when I saw you come in through the door. I knew that I was going to be okay, that I was safe. I knew you would be the one to find me. I think the hardest thing about all of this is the betrayal from people I considered to be friends and family. I’ve known Pyro since I was five. Poppy and Lilly were in daycare with Loki and me. How do you get past something like that?”

I’m crying, Cotton is stiff, but pulls me so that my head is on his chest and both his arms are around me, his chin resting on my head. “I’m just sorry that we didn’t get there sooner, babe. I wish that I could take all this pain away from you.” He squeezes a little tighter and I gasp in pain. “Oh God, Saige. I’m sorry, are you okay?”

I catch a breath, “Yeah. I’m okay. It’s okay.”

He relaxes a little, kisses the top of my head. “I’ve never meant to hurt you, in any way.” I rub his arm lightly.

“Cotton, thank you for letting me talk to you. I just don’tthink I could’ve told any of that to Dad, Coop, or Loki. I don’t know why I can talk to you about things, but I can.” I try not to yawn but he sees it.

“Hey, why don’t you try to get some sleep. I’ll stay here with you.”

“You mean like this?” I look up at him.

Smiling he says, “Yeah. Maybe this will keep us both from having nightmares.”

“Do you want to talk about your nightmares? I’ll listen if you want or need to.”

“No, butterfly. My nightmares, they aren’t something you need to hear. They… anyways no. You try to get some sleep.” He leans down, brushes his lips across mine. I lay my head back down on his chest, feeling safe, his heartbeat under my ear lulls me back to sleep.

I wakeup and I feel like a furnace is on top of me. I am wrapped up in Cotton. My head is on his chest, my arm around him, our legs tangled together. He has both his arms around me. I look up at his gorgeous face, to see that he is still asleep. I take the time to study him. He looks so peaceful. I rub my fingers over the tattoos covering his chest. I love his big Marines tattoo on his leftpec, the words Life after Death across the top of his chest. He has half a sleeve on his left arm. I am lightly running my fingers across the tat on his pec, when he says, “Saige, you are playing with a fire you don’t want or need right now.”

I stop and look up at him. His eyes are still closed but he has that damn smirk on his face that I love. “I’m sorry,” I say.

He smirks, “Don’t be. Just know that touching me like that, it does things to me that you’re not ready for, Butterfly.” He opens his eyes and kisses the top of my head. “How did you sleep?”

I push on his arm so that I can sit up. “I actually slept great. No more nightmares. How about you?”

He smiles as he sits up, slinging his legs over so that he is sitting on the side of the bed, his back to me. I study the tattoo that covers his back. The club emblem. The huge pit viper wrapped around a skull. “That was the best sleep I have had in a long time, to be honest. I didn’t have any nightmares. I slept through the night, for the first time in a long time.”

I smile at him. “That’s good. Thank you, Cotton. I think we both need to get dressed though. I have to get to the bakery. I have a special order that I have to get done today.”

“Yeah, okay. I’ll go get ready. I’m driving you today.” I watch as he walks out of my room shutting the door. I get dressed in a tank top that has the bakery logo on it, Saige’s Sweet Treats in purple with a cupcake that has a little skull that has a pink bow on top of it, and a pair of jean capris. I braid my hair, brush my teeth, and head out the door.

I go into the common room to wait on Cotton. It’s unusually quiet this morning. The guys must’ve partied hard last night. Dad comes up to me, giving me a light hug, kissing my forehead. “Hey, Daddy. How are you this morning?”