Chapter 28


    Chapter Twenty-Eight: Morning Coffee


    Tillie


    Coffee cup in hand, I stepped out onto the porch. It was early, but the sky overhead was overcast.


    Painting theke and the surrounding trees, dark shades of gray making the shadows that much harsher.


    I looked at theke, closing the door behind me softly, trying not to break the stillness of the morning. A


    cold breeze ruffled my hair, which was still damp from the hot shower that I had taken while my coffee


    steeped in the coffee press in the kitchen.


    I pulled my sweater tighter around me, lifting up my coffee cup and taking a sip of the warm liquid, letting


    the rich creamy goodness of the coffee warm me up. They liked to use the good creamer, but it was


    something that I didn’t normally buy for myself. It was too expensive but if I finished it off, I would have to


    make a note to buy them a bottle. Sipping coffee out here while I looked over theke made me feel


    almost normal.


    The shower had helped ease some of the soreness and a good night’s sleep had my head clearer than it


    was before. I felt less like a trapped animal and more like myself. Lifting my hand to the side of my neck,


    I thought about the marks on both sides and the ones on my bottom. They were still healing, but not as


    angry looking as they had been. Yes, I was still bruised but the wounds looked like they had been there


    for over a week instead of just a day. I would have a scar, but I was no longer worried about the wounds


    getting infected.


    The mark was strangely sensitive beneath my fingertips as I traced the lines of those teeth marks. It was


    like I could feel the touch all the way down to my toes inside the running shoes that I had pulled on. I


    wondered if Ryan could feel it when I touched those marks? If it felt just as good for me as it did for him?


    Strangely enough, there was something else beneath the pleasure. A worry that I didn’t understand. It


    bordered on anger and it made me wonder if that was what he was feeling right now.


    Was he worried and angry that I was here?


    I hoped that he wasn’t. When we had spoken yesterday, it had felt like he understood what I was feeling


    and that he was okay with me being away from them while I sorted out everything I was feeling. With


    what I was feeling from him now, I wasn’t so sure.


    My hand drifted to the other side as I stared out over the water towards the willow tree on the edge of the


    water in the distance. It marked my stepdad’s property line with its big wispy swaying branches. The


    summer that I had read Harry Potter, I had liked to think that the weeping willow on the grounds of


    Hogwarts looked something like that tree.


    N?velDrama.Org content.


    My fingers brushed against the marks that Jason had left on me and I felt a swell of anxiety bloom up in


    the back of my throat that threatened to take my breath away. Why was Jason anxious? Yes, touching


    that mark felt good just as it did when I touched the one that Ryan had left on me, but the anxiety was


    enough to trigger my own.


    I lifted the coffee cup, taking a sip of my coffee before moving my hand to my bottom. Tracing the


    sensitive spot on my bottom where Travis had bitten me, pleasure shot through me, along with irritation


    and a sense of unease.


    What were they doing to make them feel like this?


    Were the three of them upset with me for being away from them? Or was something else going on that I


    didn’t know about that had them feeling so on edge?


    I decided that I was going to finish my coffee, then I would go inside and call the three of them to find out


    what was going on. Things had seemed a little better when I had spoken to Travis and Ryanst night. I


    felt like I understood a bit better what was going on with them and they understood how I was feeling. I


    didn’t know how to exin it, but I was feeling better about them mating and iming me,


    I liked that they had left their marks on my skin and I wasn’t sure why, but it filled me with a strange


    sense of rightness. Like I was always supposed to be theirs. I liked that they had imed me as theirs.


    Sure, I was still nervous about it. But it was what I realized I wanted to do.


    Ryan and Travis had soothed my concerns some. I wished that I had been able to talk to Jason too, but


    when I had called his phone had gone straight to voicemail. After that, I had turned my phone off to get


    some much needed rest.


    I was still worried about how everything was going to work between the three of us. There was plenty of


    time to figure it all out when I got home. We could talk about it then. I wasn’t sure how things were going


    to work out with the four of us, but I knew that


    it was something that I wanted to pursue, even if the thought made me nervous about what my friends


    and family would think.


    Hell, even some of my coworkers if word got out. Then again, I had a boss that was a sex demon. So


    that might not even matter to him and the few that might know what he was. There were all kinds of


    rtionships out there and though ours had a few more people. It wasn’t any less valid in the way we all


    felt about each other. Or how I felt about them. I just hoped that they felt the same way, which I kind of


    thought that they might.


    Finishing off my coffee, I looked out at the walking trail, all thoughts of my mates and the future vanishing


    from my thoughts. I tilted my head to the side, noticing that someone was on the walking trail that led to


    theke. Had they been camping in the forest and gotten lost?


    I sat my coffee cup onto the wooden railing, wrapping my sweater around me a little tighter before


    making my way towards the porch steps.