He laughed heartfully, “You want me to give you a sappy cute nickname then? I’ve noticed you actually freak out when you’re touched, and since I know you won’t talk about it…”
“It’s not so horrible when it’s you,” I mumbled softly, watching him pause before lighting his own cigarette, giving me a curious look.
“You ever gonna talk to me about it?”
“We’re only on day three, Caden, but if you wanna hold my hand or something in front of Max, that’s okay.”
My face heated with embarrassment, but he didn’t seem to notice as he took a drag of his cigarette and turned into our driveway.
Once he parked the car, we climbed out and waited for the others to park close by before we all headed towards the front door together, Caden giving me a cheeky grin.
“C’mere, troublemaker.”
I moved closer, letting him put an arm around my shoulders and pull me closer.
I knew the others were watching us with curiosity as we walked into the house, but I didn’t comment about it as we moved through the front room.
Max and Josie were in the dining room talking when we walked in, Max instantly noticing Caden’s arm around my shoulders.
Josie gave us all a big friendly smile though like the good mom she was.
“Hey guys, good day at school?”
Caden smiled back, not moving his arm from around me.
“Yeah, pretty good day. We’re gonna have a movie night, so if you’re looking for us, we’ll be in the movie room.”
“Alright. Don’t drink too many beers, okay? You know I don’t like it,” she replied, but Max snorted as he looked at me.
“Don’t you have any beer, you got that, Aurora?”
I smiled with fake sweetness at him, sarcasm in my tone.
“Of course, Daddy. Only enough room for one alcoholic in this family, right?”
His jaw tightened, but Josie rolled her eyes.
“One or two never hurt anyone, Max. She’s seventeen after all.”
“Yeah, not twenty-one. I’ll check on you when you go to bed, okay?” He frowned at me with annoyance.
How fucking embarrassing.
I went to speak, but Josie laughed, my body relaxing.
I wasn’t used to someone being on my side when it came to Max.
“Leave her be, sweetheart. Besides, they’ll all camp out in the movie room for the night. The boys normally have movie nights at each other’s houses. It’s good to see them including Rory too.”
He silently fumed as Caden smirked and moved behind me, wrapping his arms around my middle to rest his chin on top of my head.
“Don’t be silly, Mom. We love Rory being around. Did Max tell you Lukas was her best friend until he started high school with us?”
Josie beamed, giving Max a swat on the arm.
“You didn’t tell me that! Oh, how wonderful! Don’t be too loud tonight, okay guys? I don’t wanna be kept awake by you.”
Caden met eyes with Max, making sure to give him a sly grin as he answered and started walking me towards the hallway.
“Trust me, we’ll try really hard to be quiet. C’mon, Rory.”
Once we were in the movie room, Lukas gave us a filthy look.
“What the fuck was that?”
I glared at him, about to tell him it was none of his fucking business, but Caden chuckled and spoke first.
“Nothing man, it’s just funny to stir her dad up, that’s all.”
“Won’t be fucking funny when he beats her fucking bloody over it and she ends up in hospital. Again,” he growled, shoving past us and angrily sitting down on one of the couches.
Caden’s eyes moved over to me and he frowned, looking like Lukas just pissed in his cornflakes.
“Rory…”
“Leave it, Caden,” I replied softly, sitting down on one of the couches as he set a movie up.
He sat beside me, hesitating before putting an arm up for me to curl up under. I could feel Lukas’s eyes boring into me as I let Caden pull me as close as possible, and by the time we’d started the third movie for the evening and had a few beers, I was comfortably sitting on his lap.
It scared me how relaxed I was with his arms around me, if I wanted to be completely honest.
The moment Caden headed upstairs to get some snacks, Lukas plonked down beside me and narrowed his eyes.
“What the fuck is up with you and Holloway?”
Fuck me, really?
“Nothing, why?”
The other two chuckled, but Jensen gave me a smirk as he leaned back in his seat, managing to make lazy look a little bit sexy.
I needed to calm down on the beer or some shit.
“Babe, Holloway doesn’t cuddle. Not even after a good fuck. So, tell us what’s going on? Be a team player and share the gossip.”
Lukas gave me a concerned look as he spoke again.
“How can you fuck him when you hardly know him? Especially after what happened to you?”
I was officially starting to panic, and I’d lost the relaxed feeling I’d had all night.
I curled into myself and choked out, “Lukas, fuck off.”
He didn’t take the fucking hint, continuing to speak and make me even more fucking nervous.
“Seriously, Aurora. You don’t even know him. How the fuck can you just trust someone after what you went through?”
“I trust him more than I’ll ever fucking trust you. I’d trust almost anyone more than you,” I snapped defensively, his almond eyes dropping with shame as he sighed.
“Look, I know I fucked up and wasn’t there for you, but you don’t understand what actually…”
I wasn’t going to have that conversation with him.
“Drop it.”
“Rory, I’m sorry,” he said gently and reached for me, but I scrambled off the couch, landing on my ass almost painfully, but I kept moving backwards.
I needed distance between us before I couldn’t breathe.
“Stop it, Lukas! Leave me alone!”
“Damnit, Rory. I get that they fucked you up, but just listen to me for a second,” he asked as he went to stand, but I pressed my back against the wall firmly, getting worked up as I shouted at him.
“You fucked me up! Don’t you get that? It’s what you fucking did that fucked me up! I would have been okay if I’d had you!”
Tyler finally took pity on me and my obvious fear, giving Lukas an impatient glance.
“C’mon man, leave her alone.”
“She just needs to listen to me and…”
I slammed my hands over my ears as the guys continued to argue, and it wasn’t until a hand touched my shoulder that I uncurled from myself and swung my fist up hard, zoning back to my surroundings as it connected.
I glanced up, my breath coming out hard and fast as I tried to get control of the panic that was consuming me, finding Caden squatting beside me, rubbing his eye where I’d punched him.
A small smile was on his face, but it didn’t quite hide his concern.
“That’ll teach me for sneaking up on you. Didn’t mean to scare you, are you okay?”
I peered over his shoulder to find the others all gone, making me relax slightly.
“Yeah, sorry I…”
“It’s fine. Jense said Lukas was being a prick. They’ve all gone upstairs because Ty suggested you needed a minute or two. Lukas is heading home too.”