Chapter 13

Kay I wake up the next morning feeling different. Last night I slept like never before. The nightmares and waking up in the middle of the night never happened. I feel relaxed, and my body has had enough rest. I don't have even a drop of sweat or the stubborn headaches. Wow! I missed this. I missed how it felt to have a good night with zero nightmares. I feel like smiling. What changed? I try to get up, but a strong hand is holding me down. A hand? Shit. I look beside me only to find a sleeping figure. Why is Carl in my bed? What is he doing here? The last time I saw him was when I left him with his brother at the ball. He is still in his tux, and his neck is twisted at an awkward angle. He must be uncomfortable in the position he's sleeping in. I gently push him aside, enough not to wake him, and get out of bed. We will talk about this when he wakes up. I don't remember inviting him into my bed, let alone having a decent talk with him. The flowers? Oh no! Did he see them? I'm not in the mood to answer questions about the things I don't even understand. So I rush over to my table and hide them in my closet. Hope he didn't notice anything strange. I change into a pair of white spandex shorts and a sports bra with a big jacket on top. I'm in the mood for training. I feel like doing anything. Everything. I open the door to find my father beside it and grinning at me. Isn't that creepy at all? "How did you sleep?" is the first thing he asks. Is he the one who invited Carl to my room? I won't be surprised, though. "I slept well, Father. Are you the one who invited him in?" I muster my hardest face to show him how serious I am about this. He should stop playing matchmaker. "No dear, I came to check up on you and found him, I swear I didn't even know he was coming," he defends in a sincere voice, and I let it slide. l look at his hands and he is holding clean men's clothes. " I brought this for him, is he up? " he asks, peeking in the room when he sees me looking at the clothes. " No, he's still asleep." "Put this in your room and come for breakfast, okay?" he says, handing them to me. I place them beside the sleeping man before joining my father in the kitchen. My dad always insists on cooking for me. I keep telling him to teach me how it's done, but he's like, 'Why would I let you in the kitchen when I learnt it, so I will be the one cooking for you?' Sometimes he forgets I'm a woman now. "So tell me, were you comfortable with him in the same bed?" he takes two mugs from the cupboard before filling them with freshly brewed coffee. "Strangely, yes. I slept all night and woke up without a trace of discomfort or those annoying headaches," I say with a slight smile, and my dad looks at me like a miracle just happened. Indeed, everything today is a miracle. I haven't had a good sleep in six months, nor the urge to smile for real. Every time I smile, is always a fake, but today, I feel good. "I figured. Maybe he should be spending the night." He hands me my cup after adding cream and sugar. "No, Dad. Maybe it was a coincidence, or maybe I'm healing up," I argue, blowing on my coffee before taking a sip. He makes good coffee, everything he makes is amazing. "Let's give it a chance, okay? I just want my little girl back." His face saddens, and I don't like it one bit. "Hey dad" I squeeze his shoulder with one hand, the other holding the cup " I'm not a little girl anymore, and we'll give it a test first, today I sleep alone if I sleep well we'll know it was because of Carl and if I don't then maybe we'll talk about it tomorrow, okay?" I say gently, and he nods. I love my dad, but I don't want to desperately rush to conclusions. If we invite Carl here every night, I am afraid he will be forced to drop his lifestyle. I don't want him to feel pressured. "Sounds fair, finish that cup. The sword training starts today when the old man gets up," he says, making a funny face at the 'old man' and starts laughing. I love it when he's happy like this. "One day you'll be the 'old man', Dad, give your papa a break," Getting on the treadmill, I start by walking for a few minutes before finally running. I have been on it for around 30 minutes, before a shirtless Carl enters the gym, and gets himself on the treadmill next to mine. I thought I left him clothes on the bed. He's only wearing black sweats, which are hanging low on his waist and showing off his white Calvin Klein briefs. His whole body is covered by ink. Every kind of shit is tattooed on him, and they make him look hotter. If sin had a name, that would have been Carl. Grandpa was right, the man is packed and his body is pure muscle. Those six packs are followed by a sharp V-line which disappears in his briefs. I didn't just check him out. Fuck. I did. I look back at his face only to find a proud smirk on his lips. Of course, he's used to the attention. I roll my eyes and continue doing my thing, completely ignoring him. "Good morning to you, too, princess. I slept well, and I hope you liked what you just saw," he says, and I continue avoiding him. "What were you doing in my bed, Carlos?" I almost forgot. It's time we have that talk. "I wanted to talk to you, but I found you sleeping, and I didn't wanna wake you." he reduces his pace to walking, and I do the same. "That does not explain you on my bed when I woke up." If he wanted to talk to me, he could have just left and come back when I'm awake. "That was not my fault, angel. I was about to leave, but you made it impossible for me," he says, giving me a knowing smile. It's like he knows something I don't, or he's trying to make me feel that way. "What do you mean, Carl?" I completely stop in my tracks and face him entirely. "As I said, I came to talk but found you asleep. When I moved to cover you because your blanket had dropped, you seemed restless, and I thought you were having a nightmare. I held your hand, and your body instantly calmed, but you refused to let go when I wanted to leave. I didn't know when I slept." "What?" I didn't do that right? How come I was comfortable with him? Was my dad right? Is it because I trust him? "I'm not lying, princess." his face holds seriousness, and I quickly look away. Damn Kay. "What did you want to talk about? "I instantly change the topic from the embarrassing stuff. How could I do that? "Yeah, right. I wanted to talk about us," he stops and faces me, too. Carl crosses his arms on his chest, and those muscles bulge out; he must work out a lot. "What about us?" I wonder, looking back at his face and he's smirking again. Will he ever stop doing that? Is he trying to seduce me with his body? "You and I, angel, let's give us a chance," he says, motioning from me to him with his hand, and I scoff. Is this dude serious? "Seriously, Carl? I'm not the one with a woman on my lap the other day, nor a different one on my arm yesterday," I glare at him. I can't believe this man. Is this what brought him here in the middle of the night? "I know, I have never done this relationship stuff, okay? I want us to work angel, please think about it," he stresses out in a pleading way. "It's you to think about it, Carlos, it's you to decide whether you are ready to commit or not?" Something must have changed his mind because yesterday he didn't care. The other day, too. What made him change his mind abruptly? "I have, trust me, Kay. I'm ready to commit to you, you alone," he calmly whispers, and I stare at him suspiciously. No. Something is fishy. "Hello, beautiful people?" Grandpa chirps, interrupting our little chat. He is in his workout outfit, a white-fitting tracksuit with matching sports shoes. At his age, I can proudly say he kills it. "Morning, grandpa, I will just go grab the sword," I say, motioning towards the door. "You should always come prepared, princess. What has Ace been teaching you?" Here we go again. "Well, you slept in and I thought you won't wake up soon," I tell him, heading to the door. "Just go bring it, hurry up," he says, clapping his hands for emphasis. I head to where I keep my weapons, but my ringing phone averts my attention. The call ends, and I grab the phone from the nightstand to see who it was, only to find countless missed calls and texts from Theo. Something is wrong. I dial his number to call him back, and he picks up on the second ring. Only that, the person talking on the other side is not Theo but Sam. "Where is Theo?" "He's in the hospital. He was involved in an accident, and he's badly injured."