Cardinal

Chapter 23

Keenan and Will finish their conversation with the three black diamond members and I wave them goodbye as they leave the building. 

They both had smug looks on their faces as they approach Steel and me. Their gazes zoom into our joined hands. 

"Is Lilac fair game now? We're allowed to do stuff in public?" Will asks out loud. 

"It's always been allowed, dumbass. Not my fault you've been such a dick to her since we found her." Steel replies, with Will giving him a glare in response. 

"Wait, has anyone actually asked my opinion on what's allowed?" I reply, looking at all of them. 

"But Steel hasn't asked your permission to hold your hand," Will replies, exasperatedly.

"That's because I like him holding my hand," I reply to Will with my eyebrow raised. 

"You sleep in Keenan's bed." Will counters and Keenan gives me a wink. 

"That's because I like sleeping in his bed." I scrunch my nose at him. Keenan straightens, the comment obviously boosting his ego. Men. I roll my eyes and shake my head at him.

"Yeah she likes it when I..." I hit his stomach to stop him from saying anything inappropriate. Mostly, out of embarrassment. He groans and clutches his stomach, surely faking it. I didn't hit him THAT hard. With how mildly bruised my hand felt, I'm sure his abs did more damage to me than I did to him. 

"What if I want you in my bed?" Will replies with a playful tone. I gulp, his reply catching me off guard. Sly motherfucker. I decide to play with him a little, a little payback for being a dick and suddenly being weirdly focused on me all of a sudden. He was giving me whiplash with his mood swings.  

"Then, all you need to do is ask and I'll do whatever you want."  I give him an innocent look, batting my eyelashes, biting my lips subtly, hopefully not making it obvious. Will was dominant and I'm willing to bet he had some sort of kink about that. It worked like a charm. I see his Adam's apple bob, the only evidence that it was working. 

He motions to grab me but I run and hide behind Keenan, poking my head out from under his forearm and sticking my tongue out at Will. 

I laugh at Will's flustered expression and Steel's and Keenan's shocked faces. 

Keenan laughs at the scene, the booming tenor of his voice surprising me. He lets me go and clutches his stomach with laughter. Steel joins in, the peals of their laughter filling me with joy. Will doesn't laugh but shakes his head in disbelief. 

"She got you so bad. I can't believe you fell for it." Steel adds in between his laughter. 

I stop playing and approach Will to hold his hand to assuage his feelings and comfort him from embarrassing him a little. I stand on my tiptoes and whisper to his ear. 

"I'll be in your bed tonight after training." I wink at him and kiss his cheek, again surprising myself and him. 

"Wait, what did she say? I want to know." Steel pouts. I pat his cheek and turn to leave them all in the dust, hearing their chuckles. 

"Wouldn't you like to know," Will replies suggestively to Steel. 

My heart was beating so fast which was both fueled by the excitement and anxiety I was feeling. It still felt a little foreign to joke around with them. I felt as if the last few years, I was just going through the motions of life. Eat, sleep, and work my menial jobs. It felt like I was incomplete. 

I forgot how easy it was with them. How easy it was to make them happy and laugh. I missed this and I missed us. Still, there was someone missing despite how complete these three make me feel.