The Diaz Brothers

California-- Chapter 8

When I woke up I was in a bed next to Nate who was silently moving around in his sleep. I looked around the room and saw that Bear was laying in another bed with Ace. Nick wasn't in this room and Mike was probably in his bed. I cuddled into Nate and covered up. Bear usually lays on top of me and I stay warm but without a puppy on top of me I was freezing. I was too cold to get back to sleep quickly so I laid there for a minute just watching Nate move. He rolled closer to me and I took the opportunity to put as much of myself under him as possible. I wrapped my arms around him and up under his shirt. He wrapped his arms around me under me and I knew that if I fell asleep I'd have the worst nightmare that I have. I laid there for about an hour before he woke up. He kissed me when he saw me I smiled and he deepened it. We ended up in a full on make out session. He rolled us over so I was laying on him. I jumped when Ace started to move again.

"Okay turn your face away from him! I don't want him mad at me! I can cover up being awake. He'll get mad at me for not sleeping like I need to on this." I motioned to my stomach and Nate took a deep breath and turned his head. He was angry. I laid my head on his chest and whispered in his ear. "Why are you mad at me? What did I say?" "I'm not mad at you. Not at all. I don't get why he calls the shots. He shouldn't get to get mad at you for being awake." I nodded. "Well it's a protective thing. It's healed up already. I can feel it. I'm not in pain at all anyways. He just doesn't want me to get sick and I've been awake since about 1:30. It's 5 now." Nate shook his head. "We can go to bed early." I lifted up and looked at him. He winked at me. I grinned and kissed him again and Ace moved again. "Go back to sleep babe. I got him." Nate said and I laid my head down and attempted to go to sleep. Before I got to sleep Ace woke up and looked at us. "I got her bro. It's alright. She's having nightmares. She just went back to sleep." Then I heard Ace sigh. "Oh. Okay. Well... Take good care of her... She deserves it. I'm. I'm gonna leave. I'll lock the door behind me. Don't wake her up unless absolutely necessary. She.... Never mind. See y'all later." He got up and I turned my head into Nate and was crying silently. He hugged me to him and stopped Ace from leaving.

"Ace. Sit back down. She needs you to be happy. You're going to have to buck up and help her out. She's not ready to be this far from home. She's hiding this shit from everyone. Even you. Now don't think I'm trying to take her away from you. I want her to be as happy as possible and I don't really want you to think I'm just here to take her from you. I'm here to make her happy. If you make her happier than me then you convince her of that. You take her back. If Nick makes her happiest then I'm getting out of his way. As it stands right now though she is happy with me. If that changes... Yeah it's gonna kill me but if it happens it's for the better I'm letting it happen. I won't be happy about it but its happening." I fell asleep after that and when I woke up it was just Nate and I in the room.

"Did I mess up? Is he mad at me?" Nate hugged me and shook his head. "No. He isn't mad. He went to talk to Nick about some conversation from yesterday. I don't know. He's perfectly happy though." He leaned his head up and kissed me. We ended up getting back to where we were before Ace got back. "I love you McKinley. Don't leave me." I smiled. "I don't want to. You're mine..." He smiled back and kissed me. I rubbed his back under his shirt and he closed his eyes. "Here. Let me get the knots out of your back and shoulders. I stress you out don't I?" I asked him quietly knowing me blaming myself for someone else's issues would make Ace mad. "No why would you think that beautiful?" He said sweetly. His voice almost put me to sleep. "Because I'm the worst girlfriend ever. I know you don't admit you think to yourself or anyone else but I know it. Jason told me." He frowned. "That's not true at all Kin. He was abusive. His opinions aren't true." I nodded. "If you say so. I'm sorry ahead of time for when I prove you wrong." He looked at me with a sad expression. "You won't. I know you won't because I know you. You're perfect. You gotta let go of everything they've said to you. None of it's true." I looked back at him sadly mirroring his expression. "It going to take time... I've grown up believing it. It's not easy to break the habit. Just like the self blame." He hugged me tight to him. "I know beautiful. We'll figure out how to change it." He played with my hair and it put me to sleep.