14. Chapter 14
Skye
S kye wished everyone would stop talking.
Her head pounded, and the jagged gash on her forehead stung when the air touched it, which was always.
The gruff paramedic who tended her wound suggested stitches, but Skye declined as politely as possible.
She had a thing about needles and barely got her ears pierced for her twenty-first birthday.
She would rather handle a hideous scar than brave a needle piercing her skin.
She’d keep her sewing to clothes, thank you very much.
Rabble, Declan, and Dash stood by, staring at Skye and her friends as they wilted into the couch cushions.
Dash was the only who didn’t look like he wanted to read them the riot act.
That Rabble and Declan looked so disgruntled irritated her to no end.
Head wound or not, she would screech at them like an angry hen if either said a cross word about any of her friends. They’d been through enough.
Bekah, seated at the end of the couch, vibrated with nervous energy.
Her knee bounced a mile a minute, and the cushions shook despite the foam padding interior.
Skye was willing to bet Bekah had chewed down every nail on her right hand in her nervousness.
Elyza looked more ticked off than anything else, like she wanted to single-handedly track down the intruder and give him what for.
With older brothers like hers, Elyza probably could have won a fight with the intruder.
Not like Skye. The air hit her cut again, and she winced.
If Elyza had been the one on the couch, would the lovely second-hand coffee table still be in one piece?
Kellyn, for her part, sat with her hands clasped in her lap and eyes downcast, oddly quiet.
There was a story there, but it was Kellyn’s to tell when she was ready.
Instead of pushing for answers, Skye laid her hand reassuringly over Kellyn’s cold fingers and squeezed.
Kellyn returned her light grasp in acknowledgment.
Skye thought back, ignoring Rabble and Declan’s glaring, and focused instead on what a memorable first girls’ night she’d had. When she had come to, the intruder was gone, and every light in the house was on, including the exterior lights at the front and rear of the cottage.
Bekah and Kellyn had been fretting over Skye while Elyza had run to the backdoor where the sliding glass door stood wide open, the sheer white curtains billowing softly in the breeze.
Elyza, still clad in her silk tank and shorts pajama set, had stormed out the back door onto the patio to search the shadows for any signs of the intruder.
She must not have seen anything because she returned a minute later, slamming the sliding glass door shut and flipping the lock with excessive force.
Seconds later, she was on the phone with emergency services, rattling off their location and situation in clipped and concise sentences.
Admittedly, Skye appreciated Elyza’s calm efficiency.
By the time Bekah’s trembling fingers pulled up Declan’s number, Skye had sat up and scanned her friends franticly until she was certain they were all whole.
She didn’t even realize she was bleeding until Elyza gagged.
Apparently, she didn’t “do” blood, and Skye had the absurd reaction to laugh, instantly regretting it.
After that, everything seemed to blur together until she found herself seated beside her friends and wishing Rabble would stop glaring at her.
“Was it him? Was it Edward?” Bekah whispered, her voice wavering.
Skye fisted her hands beneath her thighs, letting her fingernails dig into her palms to distract her. She bit her lower lip, keeping it tucked tightly between her front teeth in an effort to keep the growing words of frustration from finding escape.
Declan shook his head, agitation wafting from him like a thick cologne. “Everything we have says he’s still in California.”
“We feared this was a possibility, but if he were on the move, we would have heard from one of our sources tracking him.” Rabble’s tone was hard and unforgiving.
Though he hadn’t necessarily called any of them out, his voice held a note that grated on Skye’s nerves as he tapped his thumb against his front jeans pocket again and again.
“We need a different plan,” Dash said matter-of-factly, his tone leaving little room for argument.
Rabble’s frown deepened as he listened to his friend. Skye’s head pounded, elevating her ire with each heartbeat that echoed through her skull.
They look at us like it’s our fault someone broke in here. She ground her teeth together, clamping her jaw shut until it ached.
“Stop glaring,” she ground out.
Rabble looked startled. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me, Rabble. Quit looking at us like we did something wrong.” Crossing her arms over her chest, Skye leaned back while the others watched their interaction like a tennis match.
“Maybe you did. Are you sure the doors were locked? How much did you drink tonight?” He winced with immediate regret. Open mouth; insert foot.
At least he knows he messed up. “First of all,” she said, her seething blatant, “how dare you.”
“That didn’t come out the way I meant.” Rabble held his hands up like he was trying to soothe a wild beast.
Maybe she was one. She’d be roaring if the pulsing in her skull would subside just a little bit. “You’ve got about two seconds to explain what you did mean.”
He sputtered, searching for words to help him out of the hole he dug. Skye marveled at the light-pink tinge that crept up his neck and stained his cheeks above his neatly trimmed beard. Was Rabble, blushing?
“Can we talk somewhere else?” Rabble stood and held out his hand for her.
She glanced at their friends. Each seemed overly interested in anything in the room that wasn’t her or Rabble—everyone except for Elyza, who watched them intently, a contemplative, borderline-pleased expression on her face.
Accepting Rabble’s offered hand, Skye let him lead her into the kitchen. The still-open containers of cookies and other sweet snacks sat on the counter, and she snagged a couple. She’d had a rough night, she justified, as she reached for another cookie.
In the kitchen light, Rabble carefully tipped her chin back with a finger, letting the bulb shine fully on her cut. His eyes lost some of their hard glint and took on a softer, more tender look.
“I’ve faced down many, many things that.” He paused a moment and breathed in deeply. “I don’t know if I’ve ever been as scared as I was when Dec got that call from Bekah. She’s our client, and I care about her and the others, but my first thought was ‘Skye is at Bekah’s.’”
“Well…” She tried and failed to swallow past the lump that formed in her throat. “I forgive you for being a butt.”
He arched an eyebrow, a slight uptilt pulled at his lips. “A butt?”
She shrugged, the motion sending another bolt of pain through her head. “I’m a kindergarten teacher.”
“A beautiful and brave one at that.” The deceptively light tone dropped from his voice, and a seriousness came over him, making her warm and fuzzy all over. “I’m glad you’re okay, Skye.”
She recalled another time, on different night, when their roles had been reversed and she’d taken care of him.
The air hung heavily between them, pushing them toward a turning point, a precipice of change.
Skye couldn’t help but wonder what would happen if they both just jumped, without regard for a safety net, and let themselves fall.
She swayed into him. Rabble’s fingers no longer held her chin.
Instead, his hand slipped down to cup her waist, steadying her and lending her his warmth.
She tipped her head, an invitation and question.
Rabble dipped his mouth toward her in answer as he closed the space between them.
The brush of his lips against hers sent a jolt of electricity zinging through her.
“— a plan. Oh shit, man. Sorry.” Declan stepped into the kitchen and quickly turned right around, his hand covering his eyes like a child who caught his parents kissing.
Skye blushed even as Rabble growled at his friend.
“Okay, we’re coming.”
Declan retreated to the living room as quickly as his feet would carry him, and Skye couldn’t help the snort of laughter that escaped her.
Skye stepped back, out of his embrace, immediately missing the warmth he provided. She took his hand in hers, giving it a reassuring squeeze before letting go, smiling. “I’m glad I’m okay too.”
They rejoined their friends in the living room, the sense of doom having mostly dissipated. Skye grinned as Declan winked at her, which earned him a slightly-less-than-playful punch in the arm from Rabble.
“Alright, Rab. We’ve got a new plan.” Dash slipped his cell phone into his back pants pocket.
Skye studied his hard as granite face, the rage simmering in his eyes made her shudder.
She wondered who he was more angry at, the intruder for breaking in and endangering people he cared for, or himself for the intruder getting passed his security measures.
Skye slid between her friends still sitting on the couch, though they’d relaxed into the cushions and slouched with exhaustion.
Letting her head fall back, she closed her eyes, the deep rumbling of Rabble and his brothers’ voices soothing in her ears.
She listened half-heartedly as they planned a protection detail that now extended beyond Bekah to include Elyza, Kellyn, and herself, at least until they could determine if the break-in had been random or somehow connected to Bekah’s possessive ex-husband.
When Dash announced the new living arrangements, Skye expected push-back from Elyza at minimum, but no one objected.
Elyza and Kellyn would take two bedrooms at the bed and breakfast with Dash staying in his room.
Declan and Bekah would leave town for a day or two, likely to Grand Rock, to put a little distance between her and anyone who might have caught wind of her past. That left…
Dash pointed at Rabble. “You and Skye—”
“I’ve got it,” Rabble said, his gaze turning distant and making Skye wonder what he was thinking about.
She desperately wanted to go home and sleep in her own bed, but Dash made it sound like she would be staying with Rabble somewhere else—at least until the men of Rabble & Bros could come back during the day and do a complete sweep of Bekah’s house and the property and review the sensors.
“Like we said, it was probably a random break-in.” Declan’s cookie-cutter tone told Skye everything she needed to know about how much he believed that. “We just want to be cautious.”
He didn’t repeat why. Even if Skye didn’t know all the details about Bekah’s ex-husband, the fact that the men now worried about Skye and her friends spoke volumes. She shuddered to think what lengths he might go to, who he might hurt, to get at Bekah.
By the time they secured the house, packed a go bag for Bekah, and cleaned up the remnants of their girls’ night gone bad, the sun’s first rays peeked over the horizon.
Skye watched from the living room window as Dash, Elyza, and Kellyn left, stifling a laugh as he tried to fit his large frame behind the wheel of Kellyn’s yellow Volkswagen Beetle.
Declan and Bekah had left while darkness still lingered outside, hoping the night would give them additional cover.
Skye offered them her car, and Bekah had hugged her tightly before letting Declan lead her outside, his hand resting in the small of her back.
She hadn’t been able to control the tremors running through her body, so Skye hugged her even tighter, the way she did with her students when they needed some extra reassurance.
Skye chuckled as the Beetle drove away, leaving only her and Rabble in the cottage. It took her a moment to realize there wasn’t necessarily anything to be laughing about. Maybe the lack of sleep made her loopy, or maybe the excess adrenaline was finally draining from her system.
Rabble helped her to the truck and securing her in before returning to the cottage and locking the door. When he came back, he made sure she was buckled in and safe, then turned the key in the ignition and circling the block.
“What’s so funny?” Rabble asked. He checked the side mirrors for the third time and pulled away from the residential neighborhood just waking up.
Skye rolled her neck toward him, and her head throbbed dully. “Just that for my first girls’ night out, I hope we never top that.”
Rabble smirked. “Yeah, let’s avoid any future fun, okay?”
A gray vest rested on the center console and Skye settled her hand atop it, feeling the threads of it with her fingertips before pulling it to her, subtly sliding it under her nose to breath in Rabble’s scent.
It smelled of the sun and summer nights.
A hint of something warm and seductive sang through her and she inhaled again, deeper.
Rabble’s quick glance over at her had Skye slowly setting the vest in her lap, using it as a cover.
Wisely, Rabble chose not to comment and Skye relaxed a bit more into the seat at her back.
“Where are we going?” Skye asked, resisting the urge to lean her head against the window.
He was so still Skye wondered if he wouldn’t answer.
“I bought…something…” Rabble’s reluctant words immediately piqued her interest. “You’ll see soon. Just rest.”
She thought about challenging him, pushing him to talk about the things that pained him, that made him hesitate to let her know him.
Even after eight years, he still feared people taking away anything he held dear.
The pull of sleep tugged at her insistently though.
As her eyes fluttered closed, Skye took his advice to heart and rested.