Chapter Nine
Victoria
The guys watched me closely like they thought I would break apart at any second. That would have probably been a normal response to the information they'd dropped on me, but I was just… numb. I didn't have room to process that my best friend and the man I'd considered an uncle could be behind all the shit that had happened since the gala fire. Tiffany was chaotic enough that I could almost see her getting involved in something so dangerous. But Uncle Theo… He was my safe harbor. He'd stepped in on more than one occasion when my father failed to be 'fatherly.' To the point that I'd sometimes found myself wondering what life would have been like if he'd been my father instead.
I found myself going through the motions of the day. My mind was so preoccupied with trying to sort through what had become of my life that I couldn't even recall what had occurred at any given point throughout the afternoon and evening. The lack of ache in my stomach meant I'd eaten. The fact my muscles weren't seized with aches and pains meant I'd probably moved around quite a bit. Still, beyond that, I couldn't recall anything in particular, not even climbing into the soft bed I found myself lying in.
The guys' hushed voices carried through my door, just enough to provide an indistinct lullaby for me to drift to sleep before I jolted awake again. My heart hammered against my chest in the pitch-black room; my body was once again covered in a thin layer of sweat. My fingers reached for the rope gauntlet I'd hastily thrown back on at some point, fingering the silky threads as I worked to ground myself after yet another nightmare. The manor attack haunted me, but now Tiffany and Theodore had joined the fray, taunting me in my dreams as I fought to save myself and Az.
I needed to move. The longer I lay in bed staring at the dark ceiling, the more my thoughts spiraled. Throwing the blankets off, I swung my legs over the side of the bed and stumbled toward the door. The lake seemed as good an option as last time, but I desperately needed something to soothe my parched throat first. It was painfully dry, leaving me to wonder if I hadn't been screaming in my sleep, even if I knew that one of the guys would have woken me if that had been the case.
I hooked a left into the kitchen to get some water, intending to quench my thirst, and then sneak outside. I was so lost in my head that I collided with Rich, standing just inside the archway, leaning on his cane. I jumped back as he wobbled, stumbling forward and catching himself on the counter. He hissed sharply from the sudden movement, and the sound immediately pulled me out of my thoughts.
"I'm so sorry! Are you okay?! You shouldn't be up!" I said in a rush as if apologizing, checking on him, and chastising him were trying to happen simultaneously, but I only had one mouth to get through them.
"Relax, Princess. I'm alright, no worse for wear than when I walked in here. And I can get around enough to get my own water. I wish you'd all stop fussing over me like I was an invalid." He said gruffly as he turned to face me. His patience had been short when we checked him over since we arrived, but it was easy to see that it took him a lot of effort to do things independently. The immediate danger might have passed, but we all knew he wasn't out of the woods yet.
"You just… Here, I'll get it." I stepped around him to the cupboard to get a couple glasses and filled them from the tap. "You want ice?"
"That's not necessary, this is fine." He said, leaning against the counter and propping his cane next to him. "Can't sleep?"
"I haven't slept well since we got here. Not as well as you have been." I said with a weak smile in an attempt at humor.
"Hard to stay awake on the pain meds Doc gave me." He said, with a shrug, returning a weak smile of his own. "No one sleeps as well as me after those."
"The snoring is a dead giveaway," I laughed. "I can hear you all the way in my room."
"I don't snore!" He exclaimed indignantly, immediately grimaced, and grabbed his stomach.
"Easy there, big guy," I said gently, "and you definitely do. It's like you're rubbing your good sleep in all our faces." I chuckled softly.
"Well, take a few bullets, a gut shot, and Leighton's ass blowing you up, you'll sleep great too." He replied dryly.
It was my turn to grimace. "I'm sorry I got you guys into this mess. I know you caught the tail end of the others showing me, well… everything. It really is my fault you're all mixed up in this mess and wounded." I sighed.
"Not all of us are wounded." He offered with another shrug. "And we'd have been in this mess whether it had been you or someone else who was their target." He paused, looking contemplative for a moment before continuing. "While you were the person they kept trying to get at, we were always going to take the fall while the Jackals tried to clear the board of players."
Tears welled in my eyes, threatening to spill, and I wiped my hand over my eyes hastily. "Let me help you back to bed. I need to step out and get some air." I said quickly to cover the sudden rush of emotion.
He raised an eyebrow at me as I stepped closer but didn't move away from his spot as he looked me over. "In the middle of the night? Alone?"
"We're in the middle of nowhere and it's not like anyone looking for us knows we're here. Unless you're worried about a bear or something snagging me, I'm good. But last I checked the bears are supposed to be settling in for hibernation. With everything going on in my head right now, I'm liable to murder the bear."
Rich rolled his eyes, and in his classic fashion, he gently pinched the bridge of his nose. "Princess, no one knows we're here aside from Lacey, her crew of movers, and anyone else she may have told."
"But Leighton seemed pretty sure she wouldn't give us up like that." I interrupted.
"Lacey plays by her own set of rules. She may not give us up now, but give her the right incentive, who knows what she'll do. And even if she doesn't, we don't know her crews, and we can't guarantee how secure Leighton's precautions have been when he reaches out to her. Craig is one of the best tech wizards out there, but we're not the only crew with a tech genius."
Even though his tone told me he wasn't trying to pick a fight, I couldn't help but feel boxed in by his words. It was just one more thing added to the maelstrom slowly overtaking my mind. I was so tired of everything, so completely overwhelmed by how in over my head I was, that his sentiments thrust me toward the edge of my fraying self-control.
"But–" I started.
"Princess, even if we trusted those who knew we were here to be the only ones, it's not foolproof. You can't get careless now, you have to be smart about things."
"You barely started being able to get up and move around, and you're already back on your bullshit, Rich. I'm going for a walk, I need to clear my head. I need some air. So, unless you want to chase me down as I walk out the door, I guess there's nothing you can do about it except bark." I snapped at him harshly, surprising myself with the malice that dripped from my words.
He pulled himself up to his full height and stepped away from the counter with some difficulty, swaying gently on his feet for a moment. The struggle didn't detract from the intimidating presence as he pinned me to my spot with a look of anger and exasperation.
"Listen here, little girl , you need to be done with this childishness. It's time to put on your big girl panties and realize that there are real consequences to the stakes here. You'll have to forgive me if I'm thinking ahead to ensure that the narrow escape we made with our lives, and those who didn't make it out, wasn't in vain." He snapped, sneering at me, stepping closer to me with every point he made until he stood directly in front of me. "One would think, Princess , that you'd have learned how severe that is, considering you know what it is to take a life now."
I froze; his words were like ice water thrown in my face. I narrowed my eyes at him, noting the blaze burning through the glassiness from the drugs in his eyes. I forced myself to keep my tone level, even as tears fell unbidden. "I don't see why you care so fucking much what happens to me. Seems to me you'd have been just fucking fine if you'd left me to sort this shit out on my own once you realized the Jackals were the ones trying to set you up."
His eyes locked on my face as I cried, and he sighed before running a hand through his hair. "Baby girl, you can't be serious… You know why we stuck around. I know you do, somewhere in the turmoil of your mind."
"Do I?" I demanded, lifting my chin defiantly. "Joey and Craig, sure. They might have found a reason to come around. Az got there eventually. Hell, even Leighton has his twisted fucking obsession that would have had him climbing in my bedroom window at night. But you? We've had a moment here and there, but this? This is what we have most of the time. There's nothing that should have stopped you from making the call to cut your losses and deal with the Jackals without me. You're the boss; they would have listened if you said 'go.'"
His gaze softened, and he smiled at me as if he found what I said funny. He shook his head. "They would have fought me tooth and nail, is what would have happened, silly girl. Best case scenario? They would have been sneaking off to see you safe…" He trailed off as if catching himself before saying something further. "Worst case? It would have been a full mutiny."
"Great, so you decided to stick around to make life easier for yourself. Do you not see how you proved my point here?"
"It absolutely does make my life easier knowing that you're safe, Baby girl. Look…" He said, wiping away a few of the tears that had spilled onto my cheeks, "I'm sorry. I was too harsh. I know this hasn't been easy on you, this isn't the world you belong to, but it's found its way to you anyway. They– we have to know that you're okay. We don't blame you for what happened, and we made the choices we wanted to make. I just… I need you to listen to us right now. Until we get things sorted out."
There was something so incredibly tender in how he spoke and looked at me. It spoke volumes to the simple terms he was dancing around, and something about it broke my heart just as much as it warmed it.
"I'm so sorry–" I started, but he grabbed my chin and leaned down so that he was just scant inches away.
"Stop." He said firmly before he claimed my mouth with his.
As much as I wanted to give in, the inferno burning behind his kiss was more than just passion. His skin was on fire with fever, causing me to break the kiss and jump back.
"Oh my god! Rich, you're on fire!" I exclaimed, putting my wrist on his forehead to recheck him.
"You're not wrong…" He slurred, blinking hard in what I assume was an attempt to wink.
"We need to get you back in bed. Come on, I'm not going to fight you on this. You're burning up with fever." I grabbed his arm and put it around my shoulder, knowing that if he went down, I would be powerless to stop it, but I still tried to support him as he swayed on his feet when I stepped away.
"You're such a good girl for Daddy." He murmured, almost incoherently.
"Thank you, but now I need Daddy to help me get him back to bed. Come on, I'm not gonna be able to drag you." I said, feeling the panic rising in my chest as he became more unsteady on his feet.
The distance from the kitchen to his little nook wasn't far, but it felt like it took every ounce of strength I had to get him to wobble across the den and lie in bed. And when we got there, I couldn't do much but unceremoniously dump him in the bed. But as I was trying to get him to lay back, he held onto me and tried to pull me down with him.
"Stay, Babygirl." He grumbled quietly.
"I'll be right here, Daddy, but I need to get some help for your fever. I'll be right back." I said, gently prying his hand off my arm.
"Don't be long. I've been dreaming about having you to myself for ages." Rich said, his voice drifting as he started to trail off into something incoherent.
That line stopped me in my tracks momentarily, and I just looked at him. It was hard to believe under all his machismo and authority, he'd been anything but annoyed by my presence. But I couldn't consider his words; my brain snapped back into action, and I turned to the nearest bedroom door.
I pounded on the wooden door hard enough to make my hand ache. I was rewarded with a perplexed Leighton opening it. Az was close behind him, looking just as groggy after being pulled from sleep.
"What's wrong, ma petit démone ?" Leighton asked, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
"Something is wrong with Rich." I blurted out in a panic. "He's burning up and becoming incoherent. I think…. No, I know... He needs a doctor."