I huffed out a breath and closed my eyes, wishing that the bed would swallow me whole and take away the pain in my head. “All the boys are protective of us, you saw the way Kev put himself in between Jess and the confrontation. There’s nothing more to it.”
The words came out as casual as I’d intended, but honestly, I wasn’t sure if I was trying to convince them, or trying to convince myself.
“Whatever you have to tell yourself to get to sleep at night,” Jess said, rolling her eyes.
There were two sharp knocks at the door, and she climbed off the sofa and walked over, pulling it open without bothering to check the peephole or ask who was on the other side. She stepped back, and I heard several heavy footsteps enter the room before the door clicked closed again.
A warm hand slipped the cold icepack from my face, and the bed dipped beside my head. I blinked several times before the room came back into focus, and I could identify the people in the room. Eagle was staring down at me, his face worried with a frown.
“Anyone ever tell you that if you stress too much, you’ll get wrinkles,” I told him, rolling my eyes.
“Anyone ever tell you that your family have serious mental problems?” he shot back without missing a beat.
I snorted, reaching for the ice pack again when I felt my face begin to throb, but he held it just out of my reach. “Yeah, it’s in my genes to be a little crazy. You scared I’m gonna stab you in your sleep now?”
“I was scared of thatwellbefore this shit happened,” he shot back, a smirk pulling at his lips.
Every single damn time I saw that grin on his face, my body melted into a pile of goo. He’d asked why I pushed him and threw sass consistently when we were together, and I’d replied honestly—because seeing him smile actually made my heart stutter.
I’d known Eagle for a while, but we’d had little to no interaction. He was quiet and serious and tended to stick to himself or the brothers that he knew well. Before this trip, I honestly couldn’t even remember a time when I’d heard him speak, and after twenty-four hours of drama and fucking crazy it was like we’d known each other forever.
“We need to have a chat about what’s going on,” Op said, interrupting the quiet moment between us and drawing away Eagle’s attention. I quickly snatched the icepack out of his hand and pressed it against my face again, letting out a satisfied sigh. “I feel like I’m gonna need a few drinks for this, though. So we’re going to a bar a few blocks away and meeting some of the others there as kind of a…. I hope we can survive one more day without shit hitting the fan, thing.”
I could tell Op was utterly exhausted and no doubt he was missing Chelsea and his boys. A lot of effort and planning had gone into making this whole thing run smoothly, and to be honest, it really hadn’t been that smooth, and I felt a little guilty for that fact.
Rolling onto my side, I tried to push my body back into a sitting position. Eagle took my arm, supporting me as I struggled to move my body. I was absolutely shattered, every inch of my body was aching and sore, and all I wanted to do was climb into bed and sleep for as many hours as possible—days even. But I knew I owed these guys an explanation at the very least, given that they’d saved my ass and stood up for me in a way that they didn’t have to. “I’m sorry about the drama,” I said quietly, trying not to lean into Eagle’s body for comfort when he placed his hand on my back. “Usually, I’m the first person to run the opposite direction when it comes to this shit.”
“We know that,” Blizzard spoke up, leaning against the large window that looked out over the street. “Learnt a long time ago that we can’t blame someone for the mistakes of their family. You didn’t have it easy, that we know for sure now, so we ain’t angry at you standing up for yourself to the people that hurt you.”
I could feel a burn in the back of my throat, and I swallowed past a huge lump that was threatening to bring forth tears.
“Shit, you’re gonna make her cry,” Jess groaned, shoving Blizzard in the shoulder. Blizzard just grinned but nodded in my direction, a subtle but substantial sign of support.
“Come on,” Eagle said, wrapping his arm around my waist and helping me to my feet. “You guys go ahead. Let Sky have a shower and collect her thoughts, and we’ll meet you at the bar in thirty minutes.”
Optimus raised his eyebrow, but he didn’t argue. “Fine, but don’t be too long. I have questions and I want to be somewhat sober for the answers, and with the mood I’m fucking in right now, a couple beers just ain’t gonna hit the spot.”
I laughed. “I gave up religion a long time ago, but fucking Amen to that.”