Kingston stood in front of me, drawing my attention because of the way his hand hung frozen against his jaw, blood dripping from his hair onto the white surface of the paper towel. His normally spring green eyes were so dark they almost looked black, and they were filled with a coldness that despite not being directed towards me had a chill rolling over my skin. I fought the sudden urge to hug him, because I wasn’t positive how he would react to one right now.
Well, that wasn’t true—it was King. He would let me hug him, right? Maybe I’d wait until he no longer had blood on him…
I finally looked over at Yates.
His entire shirt was soaked in blood, absolutely drenched, and the tips of his blonde hair were shaded in crimson as he ran a hand through it, trying to get it off his face. It was a nervous gesture, but he didn’t look nervous. Rather the opposite. The scowl that he offered me almost made me laugh—as if he had a right to scowl at me! I wasn’t the one covered in blood, now was I?
My brow furrowed, looking at King and then Yates again, mentally assuring myself that it wasn’t their blood on them and that they were in fact physically fine. I mean, mentally was up for debate, although if this didn’t prove how crazy I was about these men, I wasn’t sure what would…
“No? No answer?” I asked curiously.
Dermot’s sexy laugh sounded from behind me where he leaned in the door, gracing the space with his sexiness. I had wondered why he had woken me up, and now I was starting to think he wanted me to see this. To see them. Not in a bad way, just a sorta ‘time to deal with reality’ moment.
I was dealing with it fairly well, and I couldn’t lie, there was a part of me that appreciated that about Dermot. He didn’t have the same shielding habits my boys had, the ones where they tried to protect me from everything, so instead he just exposed me to shit and waited for me to react. Yates did that as well, sometimes. Not that they weren’t protective, they just handled situations differently than the others.
Especially Stratton—he was particularly bad for trying to keep me in the dark. Even in grade school, he had made a habit of it, so much so that King of all people had to talk to him about it. I mean, the man one time intercepted me picking up a test to check to make sure the grade was one I would be happy enough with so it didn’t upset me… I couldn’t lie, this was one of the many reasons I loved Stratton.
I looked up at Dermot, smiling slightly at his grin as everyone shifted, seeming to jolt from their surprise at me finding them. I mean, if they had been trying to hide this, they really should have put in more of a concerted effort. Even if Dermot hadn’t woken me up, the boys had been talking rather loud.
“It’s not how it looks?” Sterling attempted, swirling the dark liquid in his crystal tumbler as he winked at me. He looked way too sexy, and honestly, his little cocky smile was very distracting.
“They fell down a set of stairs while fighting about something stupid?” Lincoln offered.
“Right…” I drew out and then arched a brow. “I’m not really buying that, boys.”
King let out a slight rumble, putting his paper towel down while fixing me with a look. “You aren’t screaming. Or freaking out.”
“Should I be?” My eyes widened as I looked back to Yates to see his reaction. “I mean, I’m concerned. Also annoyed, because he’s offering me a look like this is somehowmyfault that he’s covered in blood, which makes zero sense.”
Yates tilted his head and offered me an incredulous look that my sleepy brain didn’t register at first. Then a snorted laugh broke from my lips before I could cover it, embarrassed I was moving so slow tonight. “Oh shit. Seriously?”
It was, in fact, my fault. Well, sort of…
Yates flashed a grin as I processed why exactly they were covered in blood, and yet I was still completely unperturbed. I looked up at King and saw indecision turn into resolve as he kept his gaze on me, his words sending a chill of pleasure over my skin.
“It may have something to do with you, princess.”
I looked at the four of them and then up at Dermot, his eyes lit up with amusement as if this was the funniest shit he’d seen all day. I blinked and wondered why I wasn’t more upset. I think there was something wrong with me… or my affection for them was greatly overpowering the reality of the situation. I mean, they were admitting to hurting Greg… or worse.
I lowered my voice in a quiet whisper. “Wait, you didn’t kill him or anything, right?”
I mean, I would have hoped they’d have burned their clothes or whatever you did in that situation to get rid of the evidence, but it was a valid question. Had they gotten rid of the body? Did I need to help them with the cleanup so they wouldn’t get in trouble? Honestly, I wasn’t very knowledgeable on the post-murder schedule, but maybe if my boys were into that type of thing I needed to do more research.
There were documentaries out there about serial killers, I could start with that. Wait, they weren’t serial killers, Dahlia. At least I assumed so… I suppose I didn’t know. That was also on my to-do list of things to find out. I don’t think it would change my opinion on them, but I did like to be informed.
I was clearly very tired right now. And possibly still a tad tipsy.
“That’s your question?!” Yates demanded before chuckling. “Fucking Christ, bunny, you are something else.”
I offered a scowl. “It’s a reasonable one! I don’t want all of you to go to jail or anything, especially for Greg. Although, now that I think about it, Yates, maybe you should go.”
“You would miss me too much,” he countered, flashing me a dirty smile.I would.
“This is why,” Lincoln pointed out to Sterling as the twins exchanged a smile and look of understanding. I was too distracted to ask what that meant, though, by Kingston’s intense stare that was fully focused down on me, so I brought my attention to the man smeared in blood. It wasn’t an unattractive look, honestly.
That should concern me about myself.
“You aren’t upset?” King’s voice was vulnerable, more so than I’d ever heard it before. It was quiet and cautious as well, as the others talked louder behind him. Honestly, it shocked me a bit and made me nervous to see him like this. Why was he worried? The emotional vulnerability pushed me, to be honest.