Page 30 of Honey Undone (The Hornets Nest #5)
JENSEN
ADELINE: I can’t. I feel like crap. I’m just going to sleep it off.
H er response to my text about going out for dinner had me walking through the front door of her apartment with a paper bag full of vegetables and other random crap that I thought might help her feel better.
Adeline was sick because of me.
The storm had lasted almost four hours and we had spent the majority of it covered in dirt and grass until the girls had to dart away for rugby practice…
which they also held in the rain. She had been cold and wet the majority of the day and while I was smart enough to know that most likely wasn’t the result of why she was sick, I still felt terrible.
I knocked quietly on her apartment door and waited just hoping that I caught her in a moment where she wasn’t sleeping it off.
After five minutes my plan of taking care of her had started to turn into taking the groceries to my mothers, making soup and bringing it back…
but as I was working out the math the lock clicked and the door creaked open to her flushed adorable face.
“What are you doing?” She asked, her bottom lip jutting out in confusion.
Her dark hair was messy from her nap and rogue curls were sticking every which way around her reddened cheeks and nose. Her eyes looked hazy as she took me in, squinting from the hallway lights.
“Taking care of you,” I whispered quietly, it was pretty clear that her head was bugging her by the way she kept switching which eye she was using. “It was on my list, remember? Take you on dates, feed you, keep you happy… ”
“Take care of me,” she finished the silence with a small smile but then shook her head. “No, you can’t, I don’t want you getting sick.”
“I don’t get sick,” I said to her and pushed on the door with my shoe.
“Everyone gets sick,” she grumbled, her voice raw and she turned away to cough it clear.
“Not me,” I said.
And I wasn’t lying, I couldn’t remember the last time I was properly sick. Even my stomach was made of steel. Tested true by the amount of times that Todd had actively given the entire Nest food poisoning and I was the only player left standing to clean up the puke bowls.
I wasn’t taking no for an answer.
Let me take care of you.
I knew that she was trying to hold me at arm's length for a reason, what this was… whatever we were. Neither of us had expected it to happen and unlike me who’s goals started and stopped with the Hornet’s baseball season. Adeline had plans and I hadn’t been a part of them until a few weeks ago.
I wasn’t stupid. She was scared of getting attached and I didn’t blame her. We were at the age when chasing our dreams and making the hard decision to let some die was on the forefront of everything we did. And Adeline had massive dreams.
I’d made peace with the idea that rugby came first, and I knew that somewhere along the line it probably meant that the sport and her future in it would play a trump card over our situation-ship.
I was a big boy, I could handle it.
She wiggled her toes on the tiled floor and I watched a shiver rattle through her. She looked so tiny when she was sick and all I wanted to do was scoop her up and curl around her in bed until she was back to normal.
“Let me in, Adeline,” I coerced.
Those sick and exhausted hazel eyes turned vicious at the demand but she relented and the door swung open gently. She padded backward in her tiny shorts and sports bra, her body littered in bruises that I had to constantly remind myself were part of the job .
Moving through her dark apartment I set the bag down on the counter, leaving it behind for a brief moment. She locked the door again and as soon as she was in reach I had her face in my hands, she grumbled at the contact but I felt her body relax into my touch.
“You’re really warm.” My tone dropped, and one of her eyebrows perked up in response.
“Back to bed,” I said, pressing my lips to her hot temple.
Another string of groaned unintelligible words followed before a dim, warm light flickered on and lit up the countertops along the kitchen wall.
She eyed me for a second, her brows furrowed as she took me in.
“Bed,” I demanded when she remained still, her whole body trembling from the cool air of her apartment.
I watched her wander across, taking in the wide space.
Everything was open except a door that no doubt led to the bathroom off the main entrance.
The living room was drenched in dark colors and vintage artwork, with a T.V.
and record player against the far wall. Nestled against a large row of windows was her bed opposite of the massive sectional that took up the open space perfectly.
I unpacked the groceries as she crawled back into her covers and pulled them up around her face, closing her eyes completely unbothered that I was moving around her kitchen.
It took me a second to orient myself in her kitchen but eventually I found everything I needed to make her dinner.
After a little while the smell of simmering vegetables pulled her from her exhausted, sick state and she was glaring daggers at me from her pillows.
“You’re grumpy when you’re sick,” I laughed, filling a mug with soup and grabbing a spoon for her.
She didn’t respond but she pushed up in the bed and curled back against the headboard with a pillow under her arm and the blankets pooling around her waist. I watched as she pushed the sweaty waves away from her neck and tucked them into a bundle out of her way.
Her hands shook as she took the mug and for a moment I considered holding it for her and just feeding her myself but the look on her face told me that I shouldn’t even try. She brought the hot soup to her nose and inhaled slowly, her chest rising in a shuddered breath as her eyes started to water .
“This smells amazing,” she mumbled and brought the mug to her lips without bothering the spoon. “What is this?”
“It’s avgolemono,” I said, resting against the side of the bed on my knees and bracing myself with my elbows on the mattress. “Lemon chicken soup.”
“What is that Italian?” She huffed, taking another sip.
I could get used to grumpy, sick Adeline in all the best ways.
Her brows were crumpled together in a cranky line and her jaw was tight in frustration, hating being on the outside of something.
I loved how bothered she got when she wasn’t the one with the answers, always having to be the smartest person in the room.
“Greek,” I corrected her.
“Oh, so the Greek god crap isn’t a rumor… wait, Jensen isn’t a Greek name,” she added before drinking more broth.
“It’s not, it’s Scandinavian,” I said, “My mom’s side of the family is very big, very loud and very much Greek…”
“Is this her recipe?” Adeline asked me, finally reaching for the spoon in my hand to fish out some of the vegetables.
“No, that’s Ya-Ya’s, no matter how often my mom likes to claim it's not,” I laughed and her eyes flickered over to me, silencing the sound, “What?”
“Nothing,” she whispered, “It’s just nice hearing about your family.”
“Everyone that’s lived in Harbor long enough knows about my family, I’m not used to having to fill in the gaps,” I said to her, snaking my hand behind the covers on her bed to find her thigh. I brushed my thumb across her hot skin as we both went quiet and she finished her cup.
“I grew up all over the place,” she said when she finished, setting the mug on her side table. “My parents divorced and we sort of bounced around for a while before Mom settled in Harbor and got remarried.”
“You didn’t grow up here? You and Kaia make it seem like you’ve been friends since you were kids,” I said to her, and it was true. If she hadn’t told me I would have just assumed she was a Harbor native.
“Kaia beat the shit out of a high schooler on my first day of school after he almost hit me with his car in the parking lot. He was twice her size and up until that day I’d never seen a man cry that hard,” Adeline smiled at the memory. “We’ve been attached at the hip since. ”
“So you have a step-dad?” I asked her, desperate to get into the bed with her but waiting for the invitation.
“I’ve had four , she's on… boyfriend number six?” She said, shrugging her shoulders. “I don’t even remember their names half the time. I think this one is Ronald? Or Roger?”
“Ronald is a horrible name,” I teased and it brought a tired smile to her face.
“It is, but at least he has a first name. Unlike you,” she chuckled.
“I have a first name, you just haven’t figured it out yet,” I shrugged.
“I know it starts with an M,” Adeline said, sniffling.
I reached out and handed her the box of tissues on the table.
“Is it Matthew?” she asked, blowing her nose, “or Marcus?”
“Nope,” I said. “Way off base.”
“Are you going to give me any hints?” She asked.
“Nope,” I smiled at her.
“Fine… I’ll figure it out eventually… Martha,” she added, making me smile but I shook my head no.
“Can I have more?” She asked after a minute, and the question was simple, but the admission to being looked after was clear.
I nodded, pushing off the floor, grumpy about having to remove my hand from her skin but happy to look after her.
“It’s the first thing I’ve eaten in two days and I think it’s actively fighting this cold single-handedly,” she said to me as I wandered across the apartment.
Looking over my shoulder at her I watched as she flipped through her phone, the screen lighting up all my favorite features on her face. She tossed it aside, seemingly frustrated as she slumped against the headboard.
“What’s wrong?” I asked her knowing the chances of her lying to me.
“I’ve missed two practices, and the season opener is right around the corner.
The scouts are coming down this week. I need to be back on the field but my entire body feels like it’s made of brittle bones and open wounds.
” She took the mug from me and closed her eyes as she inhaled the smell again. “It’s my last chance to impress them.”
“Finish that,” I said to her and wandered away from the bed before she could start asking questions. The bottom half of the grocery bag I had brought was full of random craps that had landed in my cart while on call with my mom .
“Get her Epsom salts, and nothing that stinks… do scentless and then go over to the flowers and get her eucalyptus, but you have to roll it out to get it to work with the steam,” she bossed me around through the phone.
“And stop by the house before you go over and get the herbal honey in the cupboard above the counter, by the tea.”
“Mom,” I groaned and she tutted in my ear, silencing my protests before talking to someone on the other end of the phone.
“Get her new socks too…” she mumbled between instructions to her assistant. “Are you listening to me Kai?”
“Yeah Mom,” I stifled the laugh that bubbled up in my chest. “New socks, honey above the counter, eucalyptus and Epsom salts. Now is there dill in Ya-Ya’s soup?” I asked the question that had started the phone call in the first place.
“My soup, and no.” She said, “I have to go,” she mumbled, “fresh eucalyptus Malachi, nothing synthetic,” she scolded like she knew I was standing in the bath aisle looking at the selection of scented bubble baths. “I love you,” she said quickly, waiting for me to respond before she hung up.
“What are you doing?” Adeline asked as I collected the rest of the supplies and walked toward her bathroom.
“Finish your soup,” I ordered her, ignoring the question and clumsily flicking on the light in the bathroom.
I started to follow all Mom’s instructions and it wasn’t long before I could feel Adeline’s eyes on my back.
I rolled up my sleeves and checked to make sure the water was hot, the steam in the bathroom tangling with the eucalyptus and making it smell incredible.
Adeline looked like she was going to cry when I came face to face with her.
“Arms up,” I said to her, ignoring the way her thankful, sick expression made my heart clench in my chest. Her grip on it was growing tighter and I was afraid of what would happen if she ever let go.
She listened without protest, letting me pull her sports bra off.
Careful to respect her space and how achy her body felt I helped her out of her shorts only pausing to kiss her hip bone with tenderness that made her body shiver.
“I’m not taking a bath with you watching,” she scowled.
“I’ll help you in and leave,” I said, just trying to behave as she stood naked in front of me .
“I’m sick, not dying and that tub is massive,” she nodded with a familiar playful smirk that had me stripping from my shirt so fast she giggled at my movements.
I groaned at the hot temperature as my skin hit it but I hid my discomfort, holding my hand out to her. “Come here,” I said, holding her hand as she sank into the water.
“Wait until Kaia finds out that you can cook and run bubble baths,” she moaned as her body lowered beneath the surface in front of mine.
“And it’s hot,” she relaxed against my chest, with my legs straddling her and closed her eyes.
“Thank you, baby,” she purred, practically falling asleep as I raked my fingers through her scalp, just grateful for her invitation.
I’d been missing the way her body fit so perfectly into the shape of mine.
“It’s the least I can do for getting you sick,” I whispered to her and kissed the top of her head.