Sully (Henchmen MC: Next Generation #13)

Chapter Twenty-Two

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Bonnie

“Wait, wait,” I said, holding out a hand, but that only managed to make me stumble back a foot somehow. “The world is spinning,” I added.

“Uh-oh,” Layna said, giving everyone a guilty grimace. Since she’d been the one plying me with margaritas for the past few hours. Until I was pretty sure I couldn’t walk a straight… hell, I was pretty sure I couldn’t walk, period.

“Alrighty,” Gracie said, appearing at my side, grabbing my arm. “We’re gonna reacquaint ourselves with gravity,” she said, pulling me downward until I felt the cool floor underneath me.

“That feels nice,” I declared.

“Yeah. Cold is good. Here, put your hand on the wall,” Gracie said, grabbing my wrist and pushing my arm to the wall. “And put this on your chest,” she added, pressing a giant ice pack there for me. “Better?”

“Not so spinny,” I agreed, taking slow, deep breaths.

“I told you that last one was too many,” someone said.

“She was still dancing and singing,” Layna said. “I didn’t think one more would have her on her ass. You’re gonna be alright,” she said, coming closer to me. “But not if you keep closing your eyes,” she said, sitting down cross-legged across from me. “Eyes open or you’re gonna spin more.”

“Okay,” I agreed, looking at her. Even if she was a little swimmy. Okay. A lot swimmy.

“Bonnie, do you like coffee?” someone from behind me asked.

“Yesssss,” I said, not sure why I was dragging out the s .

“Okay. I’m gonna get you some coffee.”

“But it’s bedtime,” I said.

“I mean, she’s not sick,” the clear, rational voice that belonged to Willa, a girls’ club member who wasn’t a princess, said. “Sleeping it off is probably the best bet at this point.”

“Sleep is good,” I agreed. “My eyes have little weights on them.”

“Yes, yes, they do,” Gracie agreed, petting my hair. “How about you come with me and we can get you into a cozy bed?”

“You’ll catch them if they fall off?” I asked, making Gracie let out a little giggle.

“Yes, I will catch the weights if they fall off. Oh, hey Zima! Mama is gonna want a buddy,” she told my dog as she half-dragged me to the end of the room where she pressed me onto a bed. “You have to sleep on your side, okay?”

“Okay,” I agreed, yawning as I pressed my head against the pillow that, a few hours before, had felt rough and firm, but now felt like a cloud. “Hey, girl,” I said, trying to reach back and pet Zima, who climbed up behind me, but my arm fell like a limp noodle. “Sorry you have to see me like this,” I told her.

“Hey, she likes seeing her mom having fun,” Layna said. A clank had me looking over to see she’d put a glass of water on the nightstand. “You’re gonna want this when you wake up. Trust me.”

“And this,” Willa said, producing an electrolyte packet from her fancy designer purse and putting it next to the glass.

“Go ahead and sleep for now, though,” Gracie encouraged, reaching out to smooth some hair out of my face.

The weight on my eyes got heavier, making them slide closed, but I didn’t go to sleep; I just stayed there in that space between sleep and wakefulness.

The girls, though, thought I was out cold.

“I love her,” Gracie declared. “But you’ve got to stop corrupting her.”

“She’s dating Sully, and you think I’m the bad influence?” Layna asked, offended.

“Sully is a puppy,” Gracie insisted.

“That used to hump everything that walked,” Layna said.

“Used to being the operative words there. He’s with Bonnie now. Chris said he was completely smitten with her.”

“Smitten?” Willa asked, dubious.

“Just because you’ve given up on love doesn’t mean we all have,” Gracie said, voice not unkind.

“I have simply gone over all the arguments for and against it,” Willa said. “And concluded that it makes more sense for me to make my future decisions based solely on myself. At least I always know I can be relied upon.”

“I get doing whatever the hell you want,” Layna said. “Really, I don’t think anyone should be waiting for a man to start their lives. But I just… hate to think you would turn away love if it was right there in your face.”

“Well, unless it literally waltzes into my living room over the next year or so, that’s not going to happen. But can we not talk about me? When do you think Sully will be back to get her?”

“I don’t know,” Layna said. “Chris said the mission is local. But no one knows how complicated it might be. You know, with all the explosives.”

“We can all go home once he comes,” Willa said. “As much as I love all of you, and Hailstorm, I miss my bed. And my thread count.”

“And your soaking tub and fancy ice cream maker and your—“ Layna started to list.

“We all know Willa’s fun gadgets.”

“You certainly have enough money to have all the same ones,” Willa said. “You know, if you would get your stubborn ass a place of your own.”

“Speaking of coach surfers,” Gracie piped in. “Has anyone heard from Vi?”

“Yeah, I got a cryptic text this morning,” Layna said.

“Saying what?”

“That she has a lot to tell us when she gets back. And that we can’t make fun of her sunburn.”

“Sunburn?” Willa asked. “It’s winter.”

“Not where she’s been, apparently,” Layna said.

“I thought bounty hunters could only operate on US soil, though,” Gracie said.

“When has Violet ever followed the rules?” Layna shot back.

Fair.

I could listen to these women talk all night.

I’d always ached for close female friendships, for the kind of friend group that got together and could all finish one another’s sentences.

And, it seemed, I’d finally, finally found that.

Sure, things were new. But I already felt closer to these women than I felt to anyone, save for Courtney and Sully, in my whole life.

As much as a part of me was a little upset with Sully for abandoning me without warning, the other part was pleased to find that I could interact with the girls without relying on him like a human security blanket.

I stayed just like that, listening to the girls chat about everything from what they were going to do when they were free again to ranking all the hottest guys in Navesink Bank.

Their voices eventually became a lullaby that had me falling into an impossibly deep sleep.

And when I woke up, there he was.

Waiting for me.

“Ready to go home?” he asked, fingers brushing my hair behind my ear.

“With you?” I asked.

“Yeah.”

“Then yes.”

Forever and ever, if I had any say in the matter.