I didn’t wake up on his chest, though.
And for a short moment, panic overtook me as I looked around and unfamiliar surroundings.
Then I heard the voices coming from the floor below me, making me exhale hard.
Safe.
I was safe.
With Crow.
In his clubhouse full of outlaw bikers. Ones who had somehow managed to dispose of a body and clean up a crime scene for a woman they didn’t even know.
Were they going to want something in exchange for that? Money? I didn’t have much of that. Less so because I was absolutely going to return the money to Everleigh, given the situation.
What else could they possibly want from me?
“There you are,” Crow’s voice, soft and careful, called as he moved in the room with a cup of coffee in his hand. “What’s the matter?”
“Nothing,” I insisted.
“Bullshit,” he shot back. “What are you worried about?”
“Um… what does your club want from me?” I asked. “You know, because of what they did,” I clarified.
“Nothing.”
“No one does something for nothing,” I insisted.
“It’s not for nothing. It’s because you’re with me. And that means something here. We take care of our own. Plus, I was going to take care of Kyle on my own anyway. So this was bound to happen eventually, no matter who took him out. But we don’t need to talk about that shit. You okay?”
“I… yeah. My wrist hurts,” I admitted, feeling the incessant throbbing of pain.
“Dr. Price gave you a pill to hold you over until we can fill the scripts. Which I will do as soon as you are settled for the morning,” he told me, walking over toward the side of the bed, and getting the pill out of the packaging for me.
“I don’t like taking medicine,” I said, looking at it.
“Baby, I believe there is a time and place for your herbal medicine, but there’s also a time and a place for pharmaceuticals. Take it. Feel better for now. Your body has been through a lot. Let it have a little break.”
He was being too logical to fight.
“Okay,” I said, picking up the water on the nightstand as he placed the pill on my tongue.
“I let out the chickens. Cleaned out their water. Got them some food. They’re fine, so don’t worry about them.”
“Thank you.”
He ignored that. “So, do you want to try to take a soak? A shower will be hard with that cast.”
“A bath sounds good,” I admitted. I wanted to wash off the remains of that whole interaction of the night before. The feel of Kyle’s hands on me. The sweat from the poison. The smell of the doctor’s office.
“Good. Let’s get you in there, then you can come down for some late breakfast. Detroit is just starting to gather supplies now.”
“He doesn’t have to cook for me,” I insisted, climbing off of the bed, pulling the sheet with me to hide my naked body.
“He wants to. Trust me. It’s his thing. He likes to cook and feed people. Who are we to deny him that pleasure, right?” he asked, leading me across the hall. “It’s clean. I had Coach scrub it.”
“You need to give that poor man a break,” I insisted.
“He doesn’t sleep a lot. And he doesn’t like sitting around not doing something. He’s already cleaned this morning, chased a critter out of the third floor, and started building the bookcases in his bedroom.”
“He’s making the rest of us look bad,” I said as Crow stopped the tub and turned on the water.
“See that?” Crow asked, waving to the faucet. “Water pressure.”
“A true modern marvel,” I said, nodding.
“Dell brought one of her bomb things out for you,” Crow said, pointing at it. “She said it is chamomile and rose petal.”
“Sounds nice,” I said , taking it in my good hand, then lowering it into the water, watching it fizzle, making flower petals spread out across the water.
“Hey,” Crow said, voice soft, making me look over.
“Yeah?”
“I know you’re not feeling hot, and this is probably not the time because of that, but I wanted to make myself clear.”
“Clear about what?” I asked.
“About this. You. Me. Us. I want to be clear about that.”
“Okay…” I said, feeling my stomach twist, fear taking over my system, some part of me sure he was going to say I was too much trouble, too much work, not worth all the extra stress.
“This is something here,” he said, looking almost as uncomfortable as I felt. “I think it’s going somewhere. I get that shit is new, but that’s where my head is at.”
“Okay,” I said, barely able to speak past the fluttering sensation in my chest and stomach.
“Baby, know you’re a little out of practice, but this is the part where you tell me where your head is at,” he teased, his smirk making it easier for me to admit the truth too.