50 Shades of Drake 3 and 4

Chapter Forty-Three

    Destiny opened her eyes and blinked slowly. Strong arms were wrapped around her. Warm light filtered into the bedroom. She was vaguely aware that she wasn't in Aubrey's room and that the arms around her didn't belong to Aubrey, vaguely aware that the arms belonged to Brian. That was all that she was aware of, at this point in time. She huddled against him, relishing the warmth radiating from him. These few moments granted her ignorant bliss, but those moments were short-lived. Because one lone thought occurred to her: Why am I in Brian's bedroom?

    That one thought was all it took for memories to come crashing down. Brian leaving her at the office to pick up dinner for them. Jeremiah attacking her. Brian attacking Jeremiah and holding his head beneath the water in the lobby fountain. The text message she received from Aubrey. A brief, yet still steamy makeout session with Brian while she was propelled by hurt and anger resulting from the text message she'd received from Aubrey.

    She pulled away from Brian and sat up, bringing a hand up to her forehead.

    He shifted in his sleep and rolled over.

    Glancing down at him, she was beginning to feel the consequences of her actions. Double-sided guilt. Guilt for acting out, for not trusting that Aubrey had some kind of plan in mind. Guilt for leading Brian on, when he'd been nothing but kind and caring towards her. She was playing with his feelings, something she'd always criticized women for in the past. Using him to cure her own pain and heartache. And I may have strayed from the path of the righteous with the kinkiness I've been experimenting with Aubrey, but I'm not that far gone, she thought to herself, swiveling around and planting her feet on the floor. I'm not a user. That's not who I am.

    Brian turned his head and opened one eye. "Hey, you," he croaked in greeting.

    "Hey," she greeted back, turning and peering down at him in all of his disheveled glory.

    "How did you sleep?"

    "I slept fine," she said. And then I woke up and remembered everything that happened last night, and I wanted to cry. "How did you sleep?"

    "Not fine," he mumbled, rolling over onto his back and laying a hand on his chest. "Nightmare City."

    She raised one knee back onto the bed. "I can't imagine what you must be going through."

    "It was a rough night for both of us," he acknowledged.

    Yeah, but you took someone's life. That has to be taking a toll on you. She stretched out beside him and rested her head on the pillow. "I want to thank you again, for what you did."

    His eyes smiled even though his lips didn't. "You're trying to make me feel better about it, and I appreciate that."

    "Well...today, we should put all of that behind us."

    "Until the cops come sniffing around me, trying to make me their lead suspect in the case," he said, staring up at the ceiling.

    She reached out and attempted to tame his hair. "There's not much they can do. When you're not at work, you're always here. With me. I'm your alibi."

    "Like that would stop them, if they needed to nail someone for all of this."

    She smiled. "A distrust of authority. Not something I'd expect from you."

    He turned his head and arched a brow at her. "Analyzing me, huh?"

    She shrugged, but it felt awkward and probably looked awkward since she was lying down. "Maybe a little."