Princess | Dream

Chapter 23

The sound of heavy footsteps wakes me up from my peaceful sleep. The pain of a delicate headache brings my hands to my head as I gently sit up. I glance over at Clay to see him quietly sleeping, his lips gently parted. A warm smile breaks out on my lips and butterflies flutter around my tummy as I watch him for a few seconds. A loud bang makes me jolt and snap my head to face the direction of where the disrupting sound came from.

I see the back of a man, tiredly slumped against the counter on the floor. I slowly stand up, being careful not to wake up Clay. Walking over to Matt, I notice his exhausted expression accompanied by a pained wince. "Hey." I say lightly, reaching for the nearest cabinet in search of painkillers. 

"Hi." He mumbles back, "They're in the second one." 

I nod at his instruction and open the second cabinet. I take the packet of painkillers and 3 cups, filling them with water. I pass Matt some medicine and a cup of water which he gratefully thanks me for. We both take the pills and chug them down with some water. 

"What happened last night?" He asks me, slowly standing up. 

"Not much." I tell him, not wanting to remind myself of last night's events at the club. 

"You stayed over." He mentions and I slowly nod.

"I thought you might need someone to take care of you overnight." I say and fill my cup up with more water. 

"Thank you Bella. I really appreciate the thought." He sends me a small smile.

"Don't mention it. I'm gonna head out as soon as Clay wakes up." I inform him, sipping on the water. He looks at me with a blank expression and then searches around his living room with his eyes. 

"Oh, he's here." He mutters and takes another sip of water. I purse my lips and refrain from talking about Clay to Matt, given that there's tension between them. 

As if on cue, Clay begins to shuffle around on the sofa, slowly waking up. I smile and take the painkillers and a cup of water with me as I make my way back to Clay. I kneel beside the sofa as his eyes flutter open to look at me. Immediately he smiles which makes me blush a little bit. "Hey, you feeling okay?" I ask him. 

"Now that you're here, I couldn't be better." He grins cheekily, making me roll my eyes at his dumb flirting. I order him to sit up and give him the pills which he takes appreciatively from me. I glance over at Matt who was still standing in the kitchen, watching us. I bite my lip awkwardly and stand back up, putting some space between Clay and me. 

Clay stretches and Matt's voice catches his attention, "Good sleep?" 

"Yeah, very comfy sofa." Clay responds monotonously, "You had a lot to drink last night." 

"Seems like it." Matt replies, setting his cup down on the counter. The two men just look at each other with a silent fury. 

"Okay, let's get going Clay." I interrupt the silence, snapping Clay out of his thoughts. He stands up and stretches once again. He takes his clothes from the armchair and looks at me with a tired smile. I giggle at his expression and begin heading towards the door. 

"Hey, Bella." Matt calls just before I open the door. I turn to look at him, waiting for him to continue.

"Do you want to maybe go out for a meal tonight?" He asks confidently, completely ignoring Clay's presence. I feel Clay wrap his arm around my waist protectively, almost claiming me. 

"She's busy." He almost growls, "We're going out tonight."  

I refuse to give in to the feelings that have started to ignite in my core and look up at Clay with a disapproving look. Even though I find his protective nature hard to resist, I am my own woman and I make decisions for myself.