A One For All Holiday - Attachment to All For One (Complete)

Part Twenty-Two

“So, I saw something interesting on television today,” Dr Green spoke up as we all sat at the dinner table.

When Silas and I had finally made it home after the game it was just in time to see that the boys had put dinner together and were in the process of setting the table.

I was squished in between Nathan and Kota, and I didn’t bother to look up as I recognised the amusement in Sean’s voice. Silas had informed me that the other eight guys had probably seen our kiss as the game had been televised in the local region but as we had burst through the front door, no one had looked at me in hurt, anger or confusion.

I had assumed that none of them had bothered to watch but hearing the mischievous Doc, I knew that at least one of them had witnessed what should have been kept between Silas and I until everything else was figured out.

“Really?” Luke asked with a sly sort of interest. “Tell me all about it.”

Dr Green cleared his throat and I shot him a wary look from underneath my lashes. It wasn’t that I was ashamed with what had happened but I still wasn’t sure if they were willing to follow me in the same sort of direction as the Anderson team.

A different throat cleared and I recognised the distinctive tone as that of Mr Blackbourne. I schooled my expression and lifted my head fully until I could look across the table at him in expectation. Out of all the boys, it was him that I was the most unsure about. I adored him just as much as what I did the other eight boys but since he was the leader and had held back in ways that others hadn’t.

Frankly, his reaction scared me. If he was disgusted then what I would accept didn’t matter. My world would go up in flames because, if he rejected me, then I knew that the last bit of strength inside of me would evaporate.

My mouth went completely dry as I saw him glance back at me with an unreadable expression.

I felt my hands begin to tremble and I tried with everything inside of me to suppress the tears that threatened to well.

I was going to break…

“I agree that the documentary that you were watching on the mating rituals of Greek specific mammals was quite interesting but do you think that it is an appropriate subject to bring up while we are finishing dinner?” Mr Blackbourne’s voice flat and I saw Sean shoot him a highly amused glance before he turned to me with a shrug and wink.

Silas choked on his water and while everyone looked at him in amusement and surprise, my shoulders dropped and I think that I heard every bone within my body rattle in reaction to my relief.

I figured that I still wasn’t safe from having a private conversation with Mr Blackbourne later but it seemed that he also didn’t want the subject broached in front of everyone.

“How was the game, Baby?” North drew my attention from everyone else and I noticed that his face was clear and happy. Even his normal constrained expression had lightened to the point where I could see no lines across his forehead.

Trying not to act suspiciously, I smiled at him, “It was wonderful; I know that it wasn’t the Red Sox but I still loved the atmosphere.”

Silas shot me a covert grin, “The hotdogs were pretty good too.”

Everyone laughed at his obsession with food and the tension just seemed to seep out of me. This was what I wanted for every day of my life; I looked around at them all and held that hope close to my heart in case wishing for it too hard jinxed me.

Gabriel dropped his fork and looked over at me, assessing, “At least you managed to protect yourself from sunburn. I would’ve kill both you and the Greek giant if you had reddened the face of my model.”

I giggled, “Silas had a bottle of sunscreen handy, Meanie.”

He huffed and pushed himself away from the table to stand up; his head tilted towards the doorway, “Well, come on then Trouble. It’s going to take at least an hour to pretty you up for Victor’s night out.”

I looked over at Victor in confusion and interest, biting my tongue against begging them to just tell me what they had planned for the rest of the holiday. It was a repetitive thought but they had gone above and beyond anything that I had thought for this weekend away. I would’ve completely content for anything but this…words couldn’t describe it.

“She doesn’t need to do anything special,” Victor protested, staring at Gabriel as he tapped a toe against the floor.

“She’s not going with you unless I get to put her into the dress that I spent three hours trying to find,” Gabriel shot back at Victor. He flapped his hand at me in demand and I smiled, rising from my chair and walking around to stand next to him. I looked at everyone sitting at the table, watching the exchange with amusement.

“Fine,” Victor gave up without saying anything more, looking over at me with curled lips and blazing eyes. He didn’t speak but I could tell from that one glance that he was more than happy to be spending the night with me while it was just the two of us.

I was quickly ushered from the room and up into the where I realised that Gabriel and Luke were sleeping. It was controlled chaos with Gabe’s clothes neatly piled in his suit cases while Luke had things thrown everywhere.

A large garment bag was laid across the mattress and I started toward it until Gabriel grabbed an arm around my waist, “Nope, you need to have a quick wash before you even get to pick inside that bag.”

I wanted to pout but at the thought of waiting to see what he had chosen, but I realised that I didn’t want to try it on without cleaning away whatever had accumulated on my skin during the day.

I bravely tapped the end of Meanie’s nose and slipped into the bathroom across the hall, filling the tub enough so that I could sponge myself off. I guessed that there wasn’t time for a full bath and I carefully avoided looking at the shower.