A dark light flashed through his gaze as he offered me a nod. “Noted, bunny. I will remember that for next time.”
And I had no doubt there would be a next time.
He was gone then, and I couldn’t help but shake my head at his level of crazy. But was I any better? Being okay with one of my six boyfriends implanting a tracker in my skin? I suppose not. Did that make me crazy? Did that mean there was something wrong with me?
Honestly, I wasn’t positive I cared anymore. I wanted my men and all the darkness and shadows that surrounded them.
My men did bad things for the right reasons.
Standing up slowly, I winced and inhaled sharply, trying to not let the pain overwhelm me. I tried to stretch my arms above my head and found that while I was a bit lightheaded, probably due to blood loss from the arm injury and dehydration, I felt in better shape than I would have assumed. Which was good because there was no way I was not going to be able to do the ‘don’t leave bed’ thing for up to six weeks.
Plus, I clearly wasn’t that injured since King had taken me in the car on the way back here. Heck, I had barely felt anything besides euphoric relief while underneath him. Both because of what he was doing to my body and the hypnotic mixture of the darkness in his gaze and loss of control. Despite it being almost predatory and sort of hot in nature, I never wanted to lose King to that. To his blackout rages.
I would always step in, even if it was dangerous.
Walking into the large attached bathroom, I found a pile of fresh towels, a robe, and some very familiar beauty products set out on the marble counter. Had my mom sent these here? She must have. I loved my boys, but it wasn’t exactly their thing to get me rose-scented shampoo and face lotion that you could only find in Tokyo. Then again, they seemed to do stuff that surprised me constantly, so it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility.
Going to turn on the bathtub, I paused and approached the shower instead, the image of being ripped out of the bathroom after taking a bath fresh in my mind. When the shower started up, I slowly pulled off the oversized shirt and shorts I’d been put in, finding myself in a plain white sports bra and boy shorts.
Honestly, I had no idea who had changed me, but I wasn’t going to overthink that too much. I had no issue with my boys seeing me naked, very much the opposite, but in such a drastic situation it felt a bit more embarrassing instead of hot.
I frowned, looking at my bruised body in the mirror, the blue and purple marks in the shape of a considerably large shoeprint on my side. Along with that, there were dark grips on my arms and legs, making me look like I’d been through hell…and I suppose I had. Though in this moment, after all that had happened, my looks were literally the least of my concerns.
That probably wouldn’t last, but for now there was a haziness coating my mind, protecting me from what I’d been through. And that was fine. I was okay with that because the darkest stuff I had already dealt with mentally. Everything else could wait.
As I stepped under the showerhead, hot water sliding over every inch of me, a shuddering exhale escaped my lips. I took the time, after getting used to the pressure and temperature, to wash my body before scrubbing my hair, making me feel far better in a matter of a half an hour. My eyes were closed as I absorbed the scent of rose filling the bathroom. When I was finally done, I shut off the shower and stepped out, wrapping a towel around myself. I took my time, feeling a bit unsteady, but when I finally reached the counter, I dried myself off and slipped into a large terrycloth robe that felt soothing against my skin.
I dried my hair with a towel and then put in some leave-in conditioner before running soothing lotion over my arms and legs. I was so relaxed that when a knock sounded on the bathroom door, I barely jumped, knowing it was one of my boys. I walked towards the door and couldn’t help the smile that slipped onto my face when I found Lincoln standing there.
“Hey.” My greeting was so casual, and almost immediately his gorgeous azure eyes darkened, sharpening on my expression with a blazing inferno that caused my knees to feel weak. I let out a small surprised squeak as he stepped into me, cupping my jaw and searing his lips to mine in a hard, possessive kiss. A small moan left my throat at the passion he demanded from me, and my fingers crawled up his chest and dug into his shoulder, probably a bit too hard. A rumble left his throat, and when he pulled away, I felt myself melting into his massive form.
Both Sterling and Lincoln were so incredibly muscular, so leaning into them was one of my favorite things in the world. I examined Lincoln’s face, seeing dark circles under his eyes, and that white-blond hair was messy, his dark-rimmed glasses currently gone from his face. I could tell he hadn’t slept, and I didn’t like that at all.
“Fuck, Dahlia.” His voice was steeped in pain.
“Lincoln.” I went up on my toes, pressing my forehead to his and keeping him close. “I was so happy to see you guys. I was so worried, he had told me that you guys had been in an explosion and I’d almost cried. I had thought that you guys had been hurt, or killed, that I would never see you—”
There was the emotional rambling.
Lincoln let out a fierce noise of defense. “I will never leave you.”
I nodded and felt my eyes water as I admitted, “I was scared.”
It almost felt shameful, but I continued, “Not because I thought you guys weren’t coming, but because I didn’t think I would delay them long enough for you to get there. I worried that they would end up finding a way to hurt all of you and that I wouldn’t be able to stop them.”
“You did amazing,” Lincoln spoke softly. “You are goddamn perfect, Dahlia. But you shouldn’t have had to do any of that. You never will again. I don’t want your hands touching any of this bullshit.”
I let out a small sound. “I think it may be a bit late for that, Linc.”
Since I had, you know…killed someone.
“It is never too late to keep you safe.”
“Sure, safe,” I agreed, “but not in the dark. I want to be part of this world with you. I need to be.”
After a moment of examining my face, he nodded sharply, pressing his lips to my forehead and breathing out, “I love you. I love you so damn much.”
“I love you, Lincoln.” I curled further into him. “I love all of you so, so much.”