Chapter 29 #2
I studied his face as he smiled at me. It was really unfair how attractive he was. His full lips curved into an amused smile as I blatantly admired him. His cheekbones were so high, and I loved how they caught the light and highlighted the sharp planes of his face. He raised an eyebrow.
“Something on my face?”
“Your cheekbones.”
His other eyebrow raised. “My cheekbones?”
I abruptly stopped walking and shifted to face him. His other hand caught my waist, steadying me as I reached up to hold his face in my hands.
“These.” I stroked my thumbs along the pronounced bones.
His eyes darkened, his fingers flexing on my waist, but his voice seemed deliberately light when he spoke. “How much did you drink?”
“Enough to not think about dungeons and exes,” I parroted Mist’s words.
“Dungeons and exes,” he repeated thoughtfully.
“Not Trey.” I paused, realizing how much easier it was to say his name when I was drunk. “Zip.”
“Wait, Zip is an ex-boyfriend?”
“Not anymore, ’cause he’s dead.” It really wasn’t funny, but I started giggling again. I dropped my hands from his face, but he didn’t let go of my waist.
“How’d he die?”
“Trey shot him.” I shrugged, then noticed a group of chickens nearby. “Look at that rooster!”
Lee glanced at the chickens with a frown. “How come?”
I screwed up my face in disbelief. “Cause he’s so pretty!”
He snorted. “No, how come Trey shot Zip?”
“He hit me. No, wait, that was before. It was—” I cut off abruptly as it finally occurred to me in my drunken state he would not be happy about this.
Lee’s fingers tightened on my waist. “It was why?”
I wrinkled my nose. “I don’t want to tell you.”
His eyes narrowed into slits. “Why?”
I needed to—fuck, what did Sam call it? De-something. I stood on my tiptoes and twined my arms around his neck, watching his pupils dilate in surprise.
“Don’t be mad at me, right now,” I pleaded. “You can be mad at me tomorrow.”
He didn’t respond for a moment, but then he sucked in a deep breath through his nose and let it out his mouth. “That’s not fair,” he said, but his voice sounded lighter. “You know I can’t stay mad when you use those big green eyes on me.”
I widened my eyes even more, hoping I looked pathetic and not ridiculous. He groaned, which I assumed meant I was successful.
“C’mon, we need to get to the clinic before?—"
“Oh fuck!” I gasped. “I forgot about Colt!"
I took off and heard him swear as he scrambled after me.
He caught up fast and ran beside me, holding my forearm so he could pull me upright every time the world started tilting.
As we approached the clinic, I saw Wolf, Scar, and Tuck standing on the porch.
I stopped in the yard, bending over with my hands on my knees, trying to catch my breath, but that threw me off balance, and I almost went face-first into the dirt.
Lee caught my arm again as I giggled breathlessly.
“What the fuck?” Wolf snapped.
“Yeah, not sure how helpful she’s gonna be,” Lee said.
“I’ll be fine!” I shoved away Lee’s hands, striding unsteadily toward the porch.
“You’re drunk,” Wolf said, disapproving like I was still ten years old.
“I knoooow,” I drew the word out as I went past him and into the clinic.
Sable and Kai looked at me, eyes narrowed, then at Wolf. Colt was sitting in the exam chair with tears on his face, his bloodied hand wrapped in a bloody cloth.
“Guess I’m stitching—” Sable started, but I interrupted.
“No!” I pointed a finger at him, scowling. “I got it.”
I didn’t miss the disbelieving looks they both gave me, but I marched over to the sink and grabbed the soap, only to immediately drop it in the sink.
I swore under my breath and snatched it, only to have it squirt out of my hands and across the floor, stopping by Sable’s boot.
Sable picked it up, his fucking perfect eyebrow arched, and I started giggling again.
He walked over and deposited the soap into my hand.
“I can stitch—” he tried again.
“I said, I got it!”
Thank the gods, I managed to wash my hands without further incident. Colt watched me with wide eyes as I approached him, wincing as I smacked my hip on the corner of the exam table.
“Bet you a drink this does not end well,” Kai said, not even trying to whisper.
I ignored him as I gently took Colt’s bloodied hand.
The large gash in his hand healed quickly, leaving a faint scar.
I carefully inspected it to ensure it looked okay, then released him.
He thanked me and clambered down from the chair.
Wolf and his entire pack were staring at me, eyebrows raised, so as I backed toward the sink, I smugly flipped them all off with both bloodied hands.
“Alright, I take it back,” Kai smirked.
Lee, Tuck, and Scar grinned, but Sable and Wolf continued to frown.
“How much did you drink?” Wolf demanded.
“Enough to not think about dungeons and exes,” Lee answered for me.
“Yeah,” I chirped, “that much.”
“You should drink some water,” Sable said as I scrubbed my hands.
“Okay, mom,” I muttered.
Someone behind me snorted. I scrubbed off all the blood and then nearly fell over as I bent to dry my hands on the towel. Kai lunged toward me, but I caught myself giggling when he scowled.
When I headed for the door, Wolf snagged my arm. “Where the fuck do you think you’re going?”
“I saw some wild plantain outside the other day, so I’m gonna harvest it.”
He frowned but released me. They followed me outside like ducklings as I wandered around the clinic collecting the broad leaves. They were strangely quiet, just watching me, and eventually, I couldn’t take it any longer.
“So who’s fucked who?” I asked, gesturing to all of them.
“Ember!” Wolf barked as the others let out surprised bursts of laughter.
“What?” I grinned as my brother’s face reddened. “I’m just curious.”
“Wow,” Tuck said dryly, raising his flask toward Wolf before taking a sip, “you are fucked, my friend.”
That made me start giggling again, and Wolf ran a hand through his hair with a groan. I tripped on a stick, and Scar caught my arm, steadying me. Impulsively, I threw my arms around her and hugged her. She let out a startled laugh and hugged me back.
“I thought we weren’t talkin’ about exes,” Lee chimed in.
I made a face. “Oh, right.” I paused, staring into the distance. “Do you ever get scared that something’s gonna bite your dick when you’re peeing in the woods in the dark?”
Lee and Tuck laughed so hard they folded in half.
“Em, what the fuck?” Wolf sounded horrified.
“Not somethin’ I have to worry about,” Scar answered, and we smirked at each other.
“I never did before, ” Kai muttered. “I’m gonna think about it every time now, though.”
“Drink more water,” Wolf ordered, handing me the water cup he was carrying around.
I rolled my eyes, but I took a drink, watching over the rim of my cup as they kept staring at me. “Why are you all lookin’ at me like that?” I finally snapped.
“Like what?” Lee asked.
“Like you’ve never seen me before.”
“Well, we’ve never seen you this… uh… smiley,” Kai said.
“Well, maybe you should try bein’ less of a dick,” I shot back, making Lee snort.
“Kai did scrub all the blood out of your quilt,” Wolf reminded me.
That sobered me slightly. I wrinkled my nose and looked back at Kai. “Okay, yeah. Thank you for doin’ that.”
His eyebrows raised, but he simply replied, “You’re welcome.”
“How come that quilt is so special?” Tuck asked.
“It was Trey’s,” I answered, my voice wobbling.
Tuck’s eyes softened. “Ah.”
“You want to tell us about him?” Wolf murmured.
“Nope,” I answered quick, dropping to pick some more plantain.
“Em—” Wolf started gently, but I could not do this, right now.
“Please, Wolf, I just… I just want to be not sad for one day.”
Wolf stared at me, his throat working. When he spoke, his voice came out rough, “Okay.”
They all looked at me with heavy sadness in the brief silence, and I wracked my brain for something to chase it away.
“I want to hear the most embarrassing stories about Wolf.”
“Oh, buckle up,” Lee said, grinning as Wolf groaned.
“We got plenty of those,” Kai agreed.
They launched into stories, and I listened with rapt attention as I worked, slowly putting together who my brother had grown up to be.
They painted a picture of a man who was smart and stubborn as hell, who was serious until you got to know him and discovered his dry sense of humor, a man who sometimes took things too literally and had trouble shifting his focus, a man who could not and would not be stopped when he set his mind to something; and a man who loved his friends like family.
I healed a few people between stories, and by the time the dinner bell rang, I was mostly sober.
In the dining hall, Nemo came by and gave us an update about Mac and the crew.
When he told us that everything was going according to plan and they would be back tomorrow, I couldn’t stop the wide smile that spread across my face.
I didn’t stop smiling until we returned to the clinic. I stopped short at the sight of my bed on the main floor, surrounded by bedrolls.
“Why is my bed down here?”
“Cause someone fucking attacked you last night.” Wolf sounded exasperated. “You’re not sleeping upstairs by yourself.”
I glared at him, anxiety crawling back up my throat. “I want to sleep in the loft.”
“Why?” he asked, but in a much more gentle way than I was expecting.
I shifted on my feet and picked the most uncomplicated reason to give. “I’ll probably have nightmares and wake you up.”
“No offense, Freckles, but you wake us all up from the loft, too,” Lee said, nudging me with his elbow and my face heated.
“Can you sleep down here tonight? We can talk about other options tomorrow.” Wolf’s voice was even, but there was an edge of tension in it. I glanced up at him, and I couldn’t deny the worry in his eyes.
“You can’t snore louder than your brother if that’s what you’re afraid of,” Kai added.
“Shut it, Kai,” Wolf rolled his eyes.
“You want all of us to cram into the loft with you instead?” Tuck asked, smirking.
I had no doubt they could keep this up for hours. I blew out a frustrated breath and gave up. “Fine.”
As annoyed as I felt, the relief that swept across my brother’s face made me feel good .