Deep (Heavy Hearts Book 2) by Sarah Duncan (red seas under red skies txt) 📗

boring, but that’s okay. They let me be who I want to be even though it goes against the school rules. I like the twins, and sometimes I like Charlotte.”

Smiling, I take her hand, “Good, because I don’t want you going anywhere.”

“Oh, no way. You’re stuck with me now, so get used to hearing about cocks, and vaginas, and sex, and dungeons, and…”

“I get it!” I laugh, cutting her off.

“Now. Tell me all about Ayden’s cock? Is it pretty?”

For fuck’s sake!

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Screaming. It’s faint, like in the distance, but it’s close enough that I can tell it’s screaming. It’s a girl's scream. It’s too high to belong to a boy. Who’s making that noise? She sounds terrified.

Bright light suddenly startles me awake, and my eyes fly open to the tail end of a scream ripping from my throat. I’m in bed. My new bed, in the ugly lilac room, and at the end of the bed stands Andrea, Barb and her husband Tony, who is stark naked, cupping his junk.

I scream again and throw my hand over my eyes.

Oh, man! I’ve seen way too much Grady nudity this week!

“Dad! Shit dad, get out!” Marcus yells, drawing everyone’s attention away from me, and I peek between my fingers.

“Tony!” Barb scolds when she sees his state of undress.

“What? She was screaming. She could have been getting attacked for all we knew. You want me to waste time getting clothes on while she’s getting stabbed to death?” Tony still hasn’t moved to leave the room, and I peek at Andrea for guidance. The moment our eyes meet, she bursts out laughing.

“Lexi!” Ayden’s voice booms from somewhere in the house, his footsteps heavy as he approaches my room.

Andrea is still laughing but trying hard to compose herself, but each time she tries, she loses it again.

“Andie, this isn’t funny.” Barb hisses, and Andrea tries to stop, but the moment she tries, another wave of laughter hits her.

“Lexi!” Ayden bursts into the room, knocking into Barb, who stumbles into Tony, who trips and loses his hold of his manhood.

And... Andrea practically stops breathing. She hits the floor in hysterics, and Ayden glares at his mum like she’s lost her mind.

“Mum! Stop!” Ayden demands, but it only makes her worse.

Meanwhile, tears are coming out of my eyes, streaming down my face, because apparently, I’m laughing too.

“Oh, for goodness sake, Tony, go back to bed; you’re embarrassing yourself!” Barb demands, and then Marcus starts to laugh.

Through my blurred vision, I watch as Tony mutters an apology, turning to walk out of the room, flashing us his bare white arse. There’s no hope for any of us at this point, fits of laughter turning us into inconsolable idiots.

“Are you all high?” Ayden asks, and Barb glares at him. “What? It’s a legit question given what I’ve walked into.”

Barb looks away from her sister, son, and nephew before focusing on me.

“Lexi honey. You were having a bad dream. Are you okay?” Barbs concerned question sobers everyone up, and we manage to stop laughing.

Wiping the tears from my eyes and sucking in deep breaths, I work to compose myself. When I’m finally able to string a few words together, I address Barb’s question.

“I’m okay. I’m so sorry for waking everyone up. I shouldn’t have tried to go to sleep.”

Barb frowns, “Lexi, you need to sleep. Maybe we should take you to a doctor? Perhaps there’s something you can take to help you sleep.”

“It’s not really the sleeping part that’s the problem,” Marcus speaks up. His dark hair dishevelled. It’s a better look for him than his usual near-perfectly groomed look.

“Then what is it?” Barb asks, looking confused.

“The dreams,” Ayden answers for me.

The weird thing is, I haven’t actually had a conversation with the guys about this. As far as I know, they thought I’m just a big scaredy-cat and can’t sleep alone. I hadn’t realised they paid that much attention. For some reason, most of the time, when I’m not alone when I sleep, my dreams are kinder or just not there. I don’t know why. It’s just another fucked up thing about me.

“You know what, Barb, I’ll sort this out with Lexi. Why don’t you go back to bed?” Andrea steps up to the side of the bed and sits on the edge to smile at me.

“Okay. Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help.” Barb says, turning and cupping Marcus’s chin, standing on her toes to kiss his cheek before leaving the room.

“Thanks, boys. Go back to bed, please.” Andrea insists.

“But mum,” Ayden complains but stays silent when she shoots him a pointed glare.

“Night, Lexi,” Marcus says, yawning and leaving to walk across the hall to his own room.

Ayden doesn’t move for a moment, his eyes locked on me, concern etched across his face. Why do I have to be such a freak? He doesn’t need this in his life. None of them do. They are all good people in this house. They at least deserve to have an uninterrupted night's sleep. I really need to call my mum tomorrow and see if she can come home yet.

“Ayden, off to bed, please.” Andrea urges, and Ayden’s eyes finally leave me to look at his mum.

“Fine. Night.” He sounds like a grumpy child and looks like it when he walks out the door, grumbling under his breath. It’s hard to hide my amusement from Andrea.

When we’re alone, Andrea takes my hand. “You want me to sleep in here with you? Or I can grab my laptop, and we can watch a movie if you like?”

Is she really offering to deprive herself of sleep just to babysit me? Is that what she would do for Ayden? Even as I think it, I know it’s true. She would. If he needed her, she would be there. As much as that sounds nice, it’s kind of weird to me since she’s not my mum. In fact, if my mum offered to do that,