Page 69 of Find Me

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The smell of coffee woke me. I had to blink a few times to see clearly. My eyes felt puffy. I was surprised to find myself waking up on the guys’ couch. What shocked me the most was the heart beating steadily beneath my ear and the large body it belonged to that I was pretty much lying on top of.

I slowly lifted my head to see who it was. His size was my first clue. My eyes proved that it was indeed Knox beneath me. He was sleeping soundly. I sat up a little and his arm that was wrapped around my back tightened. It was then that I became very aware of everywhere we were touching. My leg was thrown over his. My upper thigh was touching a part of the male anatomy I had yet to be introduced to and it was currently hard enough to attach a flag to. His hipbone was also becoming well acquainted with the area between my legs.

Being very careful not to wake him, I pushed the blanket that was covering us down. I grabbed at the back of the couch, trying to pull myself up enough to gain leverage on my elbow. Once I was able to put my weight on my elbow, then my hand, I lifted my leg that was holding down his manhood to put it…cheese and rice!The only place I could put it was between his legs and that required me to shift my hip. Using what little upper body strength I had, with my leg hovering in the air, I shifted my hip and began falling off the couch.

I let out a yelp and braced myself for the ground. Knox’s arm that was still at my back caught me and he yanked me back on top of him. Only this time I was completely on top of him—straddling him. I still had one hand locked onto the back of the couch and the other was flat on his chest. I gaped down at him, blushing like crazy because I could feel his flagpole through the thin—very thin fabric of my pajama shorts.

“Um…good morning,” I said awkwardly.

Staring up at me, he threw an arm behind his head and sighed through his nose. “You need to work on your slipping-away skills.”

“I was trying not to wake you to avoid this very awkward encounter.”

“You woke me the moment you lifted your head off my chest,” he said and yawned.

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

He shrugged. “I wanted to see what you’d do.”

“Why were we sleeping together?” I asked.

“Because we couldn’t get you to let go of him,” a voice said, startling the crap out of me. It was Keelan. He was just standing behind the couch with a mug of coffee in his hand, staring down at the two of us. “Am I interrupting?” he asked with a sly smirk, which he tried to hide with a sip of coffee.

I took that as my cue to climb off of Knox and they both chuckled. Once I was standing, what Keelan had said finally registered in my head. “What did you mean that you couldn’t get me to let go of Knox?”

They exchanged a look and the mood in the room shifted.

Knox threw the blanket off his legs and sat up. “Do you remember having a nightmare last night?”

My back went ramrod straight and an uneasy feeling brewed in the pit of my stomach. Nervously, I twisted my fingers. “Did I wake everyone up screaming? I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to fall asleep here.”

“I don’t think she remembers,” Keelan said to Knox.

Knox’s eyes met mine. “Do you remember falling asleep?”

“Vaguely. Keelan laid me out on the couch,” I answered.

“You were asleep for about a half hour when you started breathing heavily and talking in your sleep,” Knox said.

“You said that you needed to stop the bleeding and that there was no way out,” Keelan added.

As they spoke, my dream quickly came back to me and a sense of dread began to overwhelm me.

“Colt told us that you were having a nightmare and that we should wake you before it got bad,” Knox continued. “Keelan was about to wake you when you screamed the most bloodcurdling scream I’ve ever heard and then you threw yourself off the couch. You were barely on the ground a second before you were on your feet and running across the room. I thought you were going to run straight into the TV, but you stopped and began looking around. You were frantic and looked terrified. You were acting like someone was chasing you.”

I tried not to react, even though I was freaking out on the inside.

“We caught on pretty quickly that you weren’t fully awake because we were all standing right in front of you, but it was like you couldn’t see us,” Keelan explained. “Colt and Creed wanted to shake you awake. I didn’t think that was wise. Your guard was up, and I had a feeling that if any of us touched you, you’d attack. So we tried talking to you and calling out your name.”

“It seemed like you heard Colt say your name and then you looked right at me,” Knox said, watching me carefully. “You could see me. Do you remember any of that?”

I nodded a single nod. “I remember seeing you. I didn’t think it was real.”

“Do you remember what you said to me?” he asked.

“Not really,” I lied.