Hurts so good

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT|| MILO

"She's even softer than I remember," I say softly rubbing my thumb across Amaris' cheek. 

Amaris, to no one's surprise, Is fast asleep in my arms. Jerome said that she barely slept so as soon as we got on the plane I carried her to the private bedroom. She said she wasn't sleepy but we forced her to lie down and she promptly fell into a coma. The good kind.

"Do you think she'll ever trust us again?" Aiden asks, sitting on the edge of the bed on the other side of Amaris. He looks down at her and moves a strand of hair out of her face. 

"I don't know," I reply. Amaris lets out a little moan in her sleep and I smile. That's a good sign. She moans if she's having a good dream and snores if she's having a bad one. 

"Do you think she'll ever love us back the way we love her?" Cassius asks from the couch in the corner of the room. The lights are off so I can't really see him but the tiny lamp illuminates the room enough for me to see his furrowed eyebrows and his lowered gaze. 

"Why ask me?" I ask.

"You know her better than we do. She spends the most time with you. You're always clinging to her." Aiden says and I scoff. 

I look back down at her and kiss her cheek. "I hope so. I crave her love more than anything in this world."

"But?" Cassius asks.

"But we hurt her. She trusted us and we hurt her. We made a fucked up decision. I'm not so sure we deserve her forgiveness." 

"Yeah," Cassius says in defeat before locking his gaze on her. 

"Come on," I say, gesturing for him to come over. "Touching her will cheer you up."

"I don't want to wake her." He says.

"You won't. She's dreaming." Aiden says before slowly getting up. I gently remove her arms that are wrapped around my stomach and kiss her once more before getting up. 

Cassius still stays seated and Aiden walks over to him. "Come on, man. You need this. Hold her while we go check out the new guy." Cassius nods and Aiden pats his shoulders. He walks over to the bed and gently lays beside her. 

What Amaris said to Cassius broke him. We all know it wasn't her but that doesn't make the pain he feels any better. He's been a little scared to touch and talk to her now as if she'll eventually return to normal and still feel the same way. As if she'll return to normal and still hate him. 

Amaris shifts on the bed like she's about to wake and Cassius goes to move away from her but she wraps her arms around him and moans. He freezes for a moment and looks at us like he doesn't know what to do and I stifle a laugh. 

"Hold her idiot," I say and he slowly wraps his arms around her waist. His body physically melts into hers and he closes his eyes. She's in deep sleep but he still whispers to her. "I love you bug."

I turn to Aiden who has a huge smile on his face and drag him out of the room. "Come on." Once we're out I close the door. 

"That's nice what you did for him. Especially considering you never move once she's already asleep in your arms." Aiden says, still smiling like he's the happiest person in the world. 

"Yeah well, he needs her more than I do right now. And will you please stop smiling at me like that?" 

"I can't help it. We have our girl back and we're finally sharing her without glaring at each other. It's a good day." 

"Yeah." I can't help but smile with him. 

Aiden ruffles my hair before putting his hands in his pockets and turning down the aisle. "let's see what's up with the new puppy." 

We walk past the bathroom and into the common area to find Jerome and Sam playing UNO. "Hey, how's she doing?" sam asks. 

"She sleeping," I say plopping down beside Sam. Aiden sits beside Jerome and pulls out a knife to flip between his fingers. 

Sam leans in next to me. "You guys got any popcorn on here?" 

"There are snacks in those compartments there," I say pointing beside him. "Get me a skittles." 

"Tell me about yourself, Jerome," Aiden says and Jerome shifts uncomfortably in his chair. 

I hit sam's arm. "hurry! it's starting." Sam pulls out two packs of skittles and hands me one. 

"I- uh. Where's the boss?" Jerome asks and Aiden glares at him. 

Sam and I look at each other in silence before looking back to watch the show. "Right. Here. As far as you're concerned, I'm your boss now. That is, of course, if I decide not to kill you for trying to rob the love of my life." Aiden says and Jerome looks at Sam and me. 

Aiden raises the knife and brings it up to Jerome's chin to guide his face back to him. "Don't look at them. Look at me."

"Sorry, sir. My name is Jerome James and I'm 22 years old. I wasn't going to hurt the boss- the other boss. I just- I've been on my own and It's hard to find a job without a high school diploma. She looked rich and I- I'm sorry." 

Aiden removes his blade from the frightened man's chin. " She could've killed me. She probably should have. but she didn't." Jerome looks down at the UNO cards in his hands. "She said that when she looked at me she saw a lot of pain. I'm not sure how she knew but it was like she stared into my soul. Like she really saw me."

"Yeah, she has that effect on people," Sam says with a mouth full of skittles.

Jerome looks up at Sam and nods. "She gave me a choice. She said she could either offer me a job or she could give me all the cash she had on her to help me get back on my feet. She made it clear that what she does is dangerous and that I could be killed but still" 

"Still?" I ask.

He smiles a little and looks at me. "The boss is special. She makes me want to follow her. Being by her side makes me never want to leave." he says and looks back at Aiden. "I'm really sorry for what I did and I understand if you want to kill me but if you let me, I would like to stay by her side. She's the only person who ever gave me a chance and I owe her my life."

Aiden sighs and looks at me. "What do you think?"

I lean forward to hand him the bag of skittles and he takes it. "I say we let him stay. She'd probably be upset with us if we killed him and we've done enough stupid shit already. We don't need to give her another reason to be mad at us."

"I say we let him stay too. He's the only one I can beat in UNO." Sam says. 

"No one asked you," Aiden says, popping a handful of skittles into his mouth. Aiden looks down the aisle to the bedroom and nods. "Fine. He stays. Sam, you help him find a specialty and keep an eye on him." he says, standing up. 

Aiden gestures for me to stand with his head and knowing exactly what we're going to do, I get up. "Don't bother us for the rest of the plane ride," I say before walking back to the bedroom.

When I open the door I see Amaris sprawled out on her back and Cassius's face is snuggled in her neck. They're both fast asleep. I get in on the other side of her and put my face in her pillowy curls, inhaling her scent. Aiden gets in on top of her and lays his head on her chest. It's the first time we're all sleeping together but it feels so natural. I silently thank myself for requesting such a huge bed when I customized this plane and drift off to sleep. 

Hi guys! Hope you're enjoying the book so far! Chrismas break is almost here so I'll have a lot more time on my hands and I'll be updating more frequently.