Unworthy Of Love (BXB)

25. Good Night

It's about 11 PM when Catherine retreats to her room after a surprisingly cozy evening the three of us have spent sitting in the kitchen, talking about today's game. She wanted to hear everything about it. Even though I strongly suspected she understood the rules even less than Raven did, I enjoyed telling her nonetheless, adding some explanations for Raven here and there to clarify a few things.

I was most likely lecturing two people who were nodding and asking questions simply to make me feel good, but it did make me feel good, so I guess everybody got what they wanted.

I go upstairs to shower, leaving Raven to take care of the dishes. The hot water is a treat, calming my sore muscles. The nervous tension that has carried me throughout the day is dissipating, too. By the time I climb out of the shower, dry myself and put on my pajama pants, I feel half asleep.

In my room, I remove the damp towel from my head and spread it on the back of the chair. Then, I turn to my bed, and find Raven sitting on the blanket, his legs crossed.

"Nice abs," he says, eyeing my bare midsection.

"Don't start," I say, too exhausted to even get annoyed. "What're you doing here?"

He shrugs. "Just dropped by to have my goodnight kiss. You do kiss Catherine good night, so why not me?"

"For a hundred thousand of reasons?" I come closer and pull the blanket from underneath him, forcing him off the bed. "Come on, get out. I'm really tired."

"Even for this?" He takes a step forward, slides his hands around my waist and presses his lips to mine.

I freeze, too surprised to react. A moment later, I regain my control—but I'm still unable to push him away. My lips part against his and I can feel his tongue in my mouth and his body against mine, and the next thing I know is that my hands are grabbing him and the two of us stumble back until his back hits the wall.

I hold him there, pinned, and it's me who's kissing him now, my body suddenly fully awake and burning with a new and urgent need. He moans into the kiss, his hands rummaging about my naked sides and back, pulling me closer, pushing me away, finally getting hold of my hair and holding my head steady so that our lips can continue their exploration. The kiss grows gentler then, and after a few more seconds we finally break apart, breathing heavily, and stare at each other in the semidarkness.

"Good night," he says, sliding down and aside, out of my grip. It's only when he's by the door that I realize that he's actually leaving.

"Raven," I gasp, still out of breath. "Come back, you can't --"

But he's outside already, and I only hear him giggle in the corridor before the door to his room slams shut. I lean with one hand on the wall and look disbelievingly down at my erection straining against the fabric. I guess I'll have to take care of it myself.

"That jerk," I mutter, sliding my hand into my pants. "I'll show him tomorrow."

Still, I'm smiling when I drift to sleep a few minutes later. It was a crazy day, a crazy week, a crazy ride since Raven has appeared in my life. Despite all that, for the first time it feels like perhaps it wasn't a bad thing, Catherine taking him in. I'm not sure where this thing between us is going, but right now, it just feels like everything is going to click into place at some point, and I'm going to eventually figure it out.

The air is cool, the night breeze streaming through the window, and I'm asleep before I can finish the thought.

I'm jerked out of my sleep by the ring of the cell phone. I grab it and press the button before I even open my eyes, not wanting to wake Catherine up. As I blink at the screen, I realize that it's only 1:30 AM, and the caller is Raven.

"Hallo?" I say, kicking my blanket aside, preparing to go across the hall and give him hell for waking me up.

"James!" His voice in my ear is loud, hysterical, and it dissolves into sobs as I sit up, instantly awake. "Help me! They're breaking the door!"

Apart from his heaving breaths and sobs, I can make out some loud noise in the background, something that sounds like heavy thuds. I blink uncomprehendingly, struggling to grasp what's going on. The house around me is quiet. Which means what I'm hearing is happening someplace –

"Where are you?" I manage, my tongue still thick from sleep. "What's --"

"Help me!" he wails. "They're --"

"Where are you?"

"Greenroad, the upstairs! Please, do something!" There's a loud crack in the background and then he screams and I hear voices and then the phone goes dead. I stare at it, then roll out of my bed.

I cross the corridor in two leaps and open the door to his room. In the light of the streetlamps behind the window, I can distinguish a figure wrapped in a blanket on the bed, the black-haired head on the pillow, just like I have seen so many times when checking on him.

I step forward, pull the blanket, and it slides off the bed, exposing a few towels wrapped together to resemble a human shape, and a black wig stuffed with toilet paper resting on the pillow.

* Okay, I hope you've enjoyed the fluff, because we're back to drama! Grab some popcorn and tissues. *