Page 130 of Rise Above

loved. “Can we watch Mulan?”

Soft snores echoed through my apartment. Dre and

Nat had fallen asleep during the second move, both laying on me somehow. Zeke was pressed into my small sitting chair with his long legs splayed in front of him. Davis was crashed in front of my couch, rolled like a burrito into one of my many blankets. Talon was awake though, like I was. His eyes were focused on me.

“You feeling better?” He asked softly. His eyes

were hooded, exhaustion lining his face.

I nodded. Words would likely fail me right now. I

was so overwhelmed with my friends and the love they

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showed me. It was just something I wasn’t used to. People heard social worker and just assumed they could dump all their problems on me. It could be very overwhelming, especially dealing with my own chronic illness.

Standing, Talon twisted his back to pop it. He sent

me a lopsided grin before carefully moving my best friends off me. He was so gentle with them, settling them against the couch and pulling blankets over them.

“Let’s go get in bed,” Talon said and grabbed my

hand.

We walked into my bedroom where I immediately

plopped into bed. Kicking my pants off, I wiggled into my covers. Talon held in a snort as he peeled his own clothes off, stripping to tight boxer briefs. I bit my lip as a reminder to control myself. I wanted to ride those thighs, to feel them under me as I came undone.

Pulling the covers back, Talon climbed into my bed

and wrapped his arms around me, so I was against his chest. He was so warm and could instantly calm me. I felt a little weird to rely so heavily on a man I’d only known for a few months. He knew me so well, and there was a piece of me scared by that. It was always difficult for me to open up to people given my history, but Talon made it easy. How could I not be scared by that?

“I can hear your thoughts racing.” Talon murmured

against my head. He pulled me closer to his warm chest, tucking an arm under my back. “Get out of there and into the present. Be here now.”

Focusing on the present wasn’t a gift I possessed. I

had no idea how to ‘be here now’ as Talon so eloquently

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put it. Years of EMDR and somatic experience only worked so well. My mind was an endless pit of anxiety. It had a terrible habit of focusing on the negative; it often felt like I was constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop. Be here now was an entirely foreign concept.

“I can hear those thoughts, darling.” Talon pushed

my hair away from my face. “Talk to me.”

I bit my bottom lip, sucking it into my mouth for a

brief moment. Would he judge me if I voiced what I wanted? Would I even be able to do this with our friends in the other room?

“I want to ride your thigh.”