“You owe her a fucking apology,” Noah tells him.
Rivers lets out a strained breath. “I know. I will. I just,” his eyes flick up to ours before focusing on the door she just walked out of. “I don’t like her seeing me like this.”
I step forward. “You’re not indestructible,” I tell him. “She knows that, and I’m sure as hell she’s seen you a lot worse than this.”
Rivers groans as Noah steps in behind me and looks over him. “You all good though? All out of your system now?”
“Yeah,” he sighs, pushing up to his feet with a cringe, holding his ribs as though they’re about to fall out of his body. “Sorry ‘bout your eye.”
“It’s cool,” Noah says, his eyes focusing on Rivers’ ribs just as mine are. And apparently, just like that, the boys are back to their usual best friend status. I mean, if they were chicks, this would be going down very differently. Noah squeezes my waist. “It turns Henley on. It’ll get me laid later.”
I slam my elbow back into Noah’s stomach, despite the fact that it’s probably covered in bruises. I step forward into Rivers. “Show me,” I tell him. He scoffs down at me, but I hold my ground. “Now, Rivers,” I say, “or I’m telling Violet they’re broken.”
“Shit,” he groans before reaching the back of his shirt and shrugging out of it. Rivers turns to the side, lifting his arm to give me a better look. I can’t help but press my fingers across the harsh bruising that’s already appearing.
“Fuck,” Noah grunts. “Sorry man. I’ll get the tape.”
Noah disappears into the kitchen as I feel across Rivers ribs making sure nothing’s broken. “Did this happen when you went through the wall?” I ask.
“Yeah, I think so,” he murmurs. “Didn’t help that the fucker nailed me there right after.”
“You brought it on yourself,” I remind him. “If you left your bad attitude at the door and didn’t come here searching for a fight then you’d probably be kicking back right now, staring and drooling over Tully while pretending she doesn’t exist.”
“I don’t need a lecture from you right now.”
I press a little harder and get a disgusting amount of satisfaction out of the hiss that sails out of him. “Well, you’re going to fucking hear one,” I tell him a little more firmly. “You hurt my boyfriend and now you’ve hurt my best friend, again. This shit has to stop.”
I can practically hear his eyes roll.
I grab the discarded ice pack and slap it against his skin, grinning at the way he tries to pull away from it. After all, I didn’t bother wrapping it in a paper towel the way Tully had. Screw that shit. Rivers needs tough love right now, not the bullshit tending to his every need that Tully would have given him had he allowed her the chance.
Nope. Fuck that. It kind of makes me glad that Noah did a little damage.
Noah comes striding back in the room with the tape in his hands and he tosses it across to me while he stops to inspect the hole in the wall. I remove the ice pack and start taping Rivers up as Noah whistles. “We’re going to have to fix this before dad gets home.”
“Yep,” Rivers agrees as I finish off with the tape and shove his shirt back into his hands.
“Do you need a number for a carpenter?” I ask, pulling out my phone.
“Nah,” Noah grumbles as Rivers pulls his shirt back on and wraps the ice pack with the discarded paper towel. “We’ve put so many fucking holes in walls that we had to learn how to patch it ourselves. It was getting too expensive,” he laughs. “Besides, it’s not too hard.”
“So, what now then?” I ask as Rivers presses the ice pack back to his sore ribs.
“Now, we go down to the hardware store.”
Chapter 2
A weight crushes down on my chest and I gasp for breath as my eyes flick open in panic. “Fuck,” I grunt out as I find Aria staring down at me while busily trying to squish my boobs back into my body. I mean, that’s not how it works. “Get off me, Squirt.”
She giggles as though watching me struggle to breathe is the funniest thing she’s ever seen, but thankfully, slides off me and crashes down onto the pillow beside me. “I’m hungry.”
“You’re always hungry,” I grumble, wishing the sun would disappear for a while longer. Noah only dropped me home a few hours ago which is probably a bit stupid on our part, seeing as though it’s a Monday morning. “What’s the time?”
She shrugs her shoulders and I curse myself out. She’s only five. What was I thinking asking her the time? She can’t read the clock yet.
I reach over her and grab my phone off my bedside table to check the time. “Damn it,” I moan under my breath, realizing it’s not even six yet. “Can’t I sleep a little while longer?”