Lance was there too, staring at me. I knew this because every time I tried to sneak a glance at him, I was caught by his piercing gaze.
So yeah, Greenstone Security had already done enough for me, getting out of their beds in their no doubt kick-ass houses in LA, leaving their families to come here to make sure we were okay. Rosie was not going shopping for me. No matter how much my now nonexistent wardrobe would thank her.
“Rosie, you don’t need to—” I started to protest, my voice still weak and scratchy.
She held up her finger. “Nope, you do not get to try and make an excuse to stop me from shopping,” she snapped. Her eyes narrowed. “And you also do not get to try the staunch woman alone shit. I get it. I respect it. But it’s not happening. Your house burned the fuck down. You smashed through a window, holding your kid to get out of it. Then you ran back in to get your kid’s toy—granted that was a little silly, but I’m a mom, I get it.” Her voice turned soft now. “You’re a hero. How about you let us take up some of the slack?”
I opened my mouth to tell her they’d already done too much for me.
She smiled. “Oh, and that totally isn’t a question. We’re taking the slack. We’re helping. That means new clothes. Makeup. That means shit for Nathan. That means cocktails. Food. That means anything you need. ‘Cause that’s what we do, sweetie. We help our girlfriends out. We do it whether they like it or not, whether they ask or not and mostly often, we do it while they protest loudly.” Her eyes went behind me again. “Those men behind us may be some of the most stubborn asses on earth, but they’re not even a match for me and the rest of the girls. You’re strong. You could maybe take me on. But the whole group? Forget about it. So just let us help.” She gave me another wink and walked away before I could say anything else.
Her heels didn’t even sink into the grass as she met her husband at the door of their car.
The door which he opened for her and gave her a slap on her ass as she climbed in.
She was right. I wasn’t going to win against any of them.
That became apparent about ten minutes later when the badass circle had broken, Keltan had come to check on me, as well as Duke, who gave me a hug and a kiss on the forehead. Something I notice Lance reacted to.
He was the only one that stayed. All of them promised to be back tomorrow to help. Help with what, I didn’t know. This was kind of beyond what they were here for. The firemen wouldn’t be able to pinpoint the source of the fire until later, but I was almost sure it was something I’d done. I had a lot of candles lit last night. I was religious about blowing them all out before I went to bed, terrified of something just like this happening. But I was tired. Beyond tired, the entire month catching up to me. My thoughts were occupied. By the man currently staring daggers into Duke’s well-toned back.
The firefighters would discover that I caused the fire. That I ruined my home. Almost killed my son. I probably wouldn’t get insurance then, knowing that there would likely be some catch in my cheap plan to fuck me over.
The thought made me so sick I almost lost the contents of my stomach on Eliza and Karen’s front lawn.
“Let’s get you inside, honey,” Karen said from beside me. “You need to get some sleep. Nathan’s in our bed, why don’t you snuggle up beside him, we’ll take the sofa.”
I blinked at my friend. “No. We can’t push you out of your bed.”
She raised her brow as if I were crazy for fighting about something like that considering the circumstances—and I was.
“Um, normally I’d say yes, but you almost died tonight. You’re taking our bed and we’re having no discussion about that. We’re also having no discussion about Eliza getting the office situated for you and Nathan.”
Eliza and Karen had a two-bedroom, around the same size as mine, but they’d done a lot more work to it, and it looked way nicer than mine. Well, considering half of mine was a smoking mess, it totally looked better, but before that, it was almost embarrassing. Since they owned, they did things like knock out walls to make open plan living/dining areas. None of their walls had scratches or marker stains from kids trying to make ‘art.’ They had a huge deck out the back, along with kick-ass wicker patio furniture. All of their furniture was crazy nice. Elegant. Classy.