CHAPTER 13
Before Nick could speak again, asking me what he and Blaine wanted to ask me, a loud knock sounded at the front door, which was around the corner and down a long hallway from the kitchen.
Frowning so hard he was almost glowering, he rose from his seat. "Sorry, Eva. One second."
Whoever it was that was knocking on the front door knocked again before Nick had even made it to the hallway, making me think that some very urgent situation was going on somewhere in Helena.
It turned out to be a very urgent situation just outside of Helena, maybe a half-mile beyond the walls. A dozen or so Helenian shifters had come across just as many Borderliners, and a battle was currently raging. Nick and Brent had to go immediately, although they each took a second to brush a quick kiss against my lips before they did so.
A little worried for their safety, even though I knew they were both incredibly strong shifters, I paced around a little, finishing the rest of my wine. After that, I poured a third glass, almost without even being aware of doing the action, completely preoccupied with thoughts about what might be happening during the fight.
I'd just finished the third glass when I decided that I was just going to stay put for the evening, no matter how late Blaine and Nick got home, and no matter that they hadn't formally asked me to move in with them yet. I was pretty sure they'd been about to, and besides, with no cell phones, if I went home, I'd have to wait until morning to find out if all was okay, and if they were okay.
Over the course of the next hour, I cleaned up the kitchen; did the dishes, put the leftover food away, got it back out again, nibbled on a few more bites of salad and casserole, and somehow, unbelievably, knocked back almost an entire fourth glass of wine during all this, not even realizing that it was indeed my fourth until I'd nearly finished it and caught sight of the fifth-full bottle on the table.
Feeling incredibly stupid yet giggly at the same time, I realized I was drunk, and for the very first time in my life. I'd been buzzy before, but never drunk. And now I'd somehow gotten that way without even realizing I was heading in that direction. Whether because I'd had a large dinner, or because of my preoccupation about Nick and Blaine, the alcohol seemed to hit me all at once.
Thinking that I'd probably better get off my feet before I fell off them, I made my way out to the spacious living room, head spinning, and had a seat on the couch, pulling a dark gray knitted blanket over myself.
At some point, probably within twenty minutes or so, I dozed off, waking what felt like not a very long time later to the sound of footsteps coming down the hardwood hallway that led to the living room.
Blaine reached me first, scooped me up in his arms, and spoke in a low voice near my ear. "You look so beautiful when you're asleep...or passed out, as the case may be. We saw that wine bottle on the table. Naughty girl."
Something about hearing Blaine call me a naughty girl in his gruff, gravelly voice sent a shiver of something absolutely delicious racing down my spine.
However, still thoroughly drunk and not wanting to look him in the eyes, I buried my face against his hard chest. "Just tell me that you, Nick, and all the rest of the Helena shifters are fine."
"We're all fine...can't say the same for a few of the Borderliners...but are you fine?"
Sighing faintly, I found I still couldn't lift my face from his chest. "I somehow got drunk, which is not like me at all. Please believe me...I don't have a drinking problem. I've never even had more than two drinks in one night before."
From somewhere beside us, Nick spoke in a low, soothing voice, and I felt a hand that I was pretty sure was his begin to smooth my hair.
"Let's get you upstairs to the spare bedroom."
Now I lifted my face, wanting to look at Nick's own.
"No. I just feel like I want to be held all night. Can we all sleep in the same bed? I mean...." Hiccuping twice, I paused briefly. "I mean...unless that might be too difficult for you both...just to hold me all night without doing much else for right now."
Nick leaned in and brushed a brief, tender kiss against my lips. "With a few thick blankets between you and me, and you and Blaine, I think that should be fine."
I didn't want to overly frustrate either of them, but I did just feel like I wanted to be held. And Nick's idea of thick blankets between us did seem like a good solution.
Once Blaine carried me upstairs and put me in Nick's bed, the two of them got me a t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants with a drawstring so I could pull them tight to fit, and then they left the room and changed their own clothes while I was changing.
By the time they both reentered the room, both clad in t-shirts and sweats like I was, and both of them carrying thick blankets, I was feeling more than a bit chatty, with my head still spinning from the wine. And once the two of them had turned off the lamps and had crawled into bed on either side of me, placing the thick blankets between our lower bodies, I launched into a rapid recitation of all the thoughts I'd been thinking while changing.
"I just want to tell the two of you a few things. Number one, I think I'm falling in love with you both. Number two, I want you both to make love to me at some point...probably not tonight, but maybe soon. I already decided that, while sober...that I want you both to make love to me at some point.
“Number three, even though I want you both, I'm kind of nervous about the whole thing, because I've only had one sexual experience, and it was very bad and painful, and I'm afraid of that happening again, and I'm also afraid of not knowing how to do things right and somehow displeasing the both of you.
“Thing four, could we put up some kind of signs all around Southern Kentucky, saying something like Helena: A Safe Community. And then maybe general directions. I just think it would be helpful if good-hearted, non-dangerous travelers like I used to be, and like Tracy and Chris used to be, could know that there's a safe community not far away they can go to. Also, increasing our numbers might eventually give us more strength in numbers against the Borderliners and anyone else that wants to fight us.
“Also, I'm hoping that some new community members might provide a dating pool for Chris." Stomach lurching in a very sudden sort of way, I paused. "Also...I think I'm going to be sick."
Blaine had me in the bathroom within seconds and held my hair back while I vomited almost pure wine into the toilet.
When I was done, he even flushed the toilet for me, pulled me onto his lap, and began stroking my hair, holding me to his chest with one arm. "All done now."
I really was falling in love with him, and deeply. That hadn't just been the wine talking when I'd said that. I felt the same about Nick, who was coming over from the sink, where he'd been readying me a cup of mouthwash, like I'd asked him to in between heaves.
Crouching beside Blaine and me, he handed me the cup of mouthwash. "Feeling better now?"
I nodded. "Yes. Just sorry you both had to see all that."
While I filled my mouth with mouthwash and began swishing, Nick had a seat on the floor with the corners of his mouth twitching. "I've seen much, much worse in my life."
Blaine grunted. "I've eaten much, much worse in my life."
I wasn't sure if he'd meant to be funny, but I had to quickly spit my mouthwash back in the cup so that I didn't swallow it while I giggled a little. Once Nick had dumped the contents of the cup in the sink and had rejoined Blaine and me on the floor, I asked them if they'd been about to ask me to move in with them before they'd been called away.
The two of them exchanged glances, and Nick said no, alarming me, but just for a second. Because when he spoke again, he explained exactly why the move-in question hadn't been the question.
"We were going to ask you to marry us...to be our wife, our only wife, forever."
For a long moment or two, I couldn't breathe, could only look into Nick's jewel-green eyes. "Well, are you still going to ask me that? Or did all my drunkenness and vomiting change your minds?"
Eyes twinkling, Nick glanced at Blaine before returning his gaze to my face. "No, it didn't at all. But before I say anything else...before I ask you a particular question...I just want to say a couple of things beforehand. The first is that Blaine and I have both begun falling in love with you, too. We both think that we'd like to have children with you, within a forever-bonded family.
“And that's the second part of what I wanted to say. We don't have the capability to do any kind of paternity testing here in Helena, and most everyone likes it that way. Blaine and I have talked about it, and we really like it that way...really like the idea that any and all children born to you will be our children.
“Not Blaine's child, or my child, but our child. Regardless of whether or not paternity ever becomes pretty clear, based on looks, Blaine and I will still both be equal fathers to that child. And we both want to make sure that you're perfectly comfortable with this whole arrangement...with having the genetic paternity of a child being a complete non-issue."
"Well, I honestly think I like it better this way than the alternative. I think that even if paternity testing was available to us, it probably wouldn't be the wisest thing...on a few different levels. I actually really like the idea of you and Blaine seeing any baby as equally both of yours, no matter what."
Nick glanced from Blaine to me, fighting a smile. "We were both hoping you'd say that."
"Well, so...do the two of you want to ask me anything right now? Because I think I've sobered up and am capable of rational thought and decision-making again."
Nick soon got on bended knee, right there on the bathroom floor, presented me with a stunning emerald-and-diamond ring, and formally asked me if I would marry him and Blaine. Blaine didn't get up or get on bended knee, but that was perfectly fine with me. Remaining on his lap, with his arms around me, just felt so right.
With tears in my eyes, I answered Nick's question with a clear yes. Grinning, he slid the ring on my finger, and he and Blaine soon each kissed me on the mouth, despite the fact that I'd recently vomited and had only rinsed with mouthwash, intending to brush my teeth when I got up.
Soon I did just that, and then Blaine picked me up again and carried me to bed, even though I could walk just fine. I certainly didn't mind at all.
Once the three of us were in bed, lights off, separated by blankets once again, I asked them where they'd gotten the ring. Nick said that it was from the vault of an antique store in Chamberlain, and that there were others if I wanted to maybe pick out one myself, but I said I wouldn't dream of it.
"I want this one...that you and Blaine picked. I think it's gorgeous. It's perfect."
I really thought so. And, despite the fact that it had happened in the bathroom, I thought Nick's proposal, while I'd been wrapped in Blaine's arms, had been perfect, too.
Not to mention that receiving a proposal on a bathroom floor after a night of drinking and vomiting seemed just about right for a woman living through a Bloodsucker apocalypse.
Just as I was about to drift off to sleep, I asked Blaine and Nick what they’d done for a living before the apocalypse. It just seemed like something I should know about two men I was now engaged to.
Nick answered first. "I was in the military. Army ranger."
"And what did you do, Blaine?"
"A lot of different things." He paused so long that I wondered if he was going to continue. "I was best at fixing cars."
With visions of myself wearing a white dress floating around in my mind, I soon fell asleep, wrapped in Nick and Blaine's arms.