Chapter Twenty-Four #2
The cops are in the parking lot of my building when I pull up, lights flashing, one of them in the car, the other knocking on my door. With a sigh, I park and prepare to face the consequences of my actions.
???
"Thank you for bailing me out, Eli,” I mutter, leaning my head back against the seat. “Again.”
Elias reaches over, gripping my shoulder tight. “I’ll always bail you out, amigo. Especially when you did nothing wrong—”
“I almost beat a man to death,” I crack an eye to see him shrug.
“Almost,” he repeats pointedly. “And you did it to save a friend. That man would have done far worse to her if you hadn’t been there.” He looks over at me as he takes a turn. “You did the right thing, Graham. I’ll get Mateo on it, we’ll scrub it from your record—”
“Don’t bother,” I sigh. “I’ll be working off my debts to you until the day I die anyway.”
He chuckles softly and I try to get just a little nap in as he drives out to his house.
He already warned me that everyone is gathered there- Clara’s mom included- for some big thank you dinner.
I don’t deserve it and would really rather shower and go to bed for the next several days, but I also can’t exactly tell them to fuck off either.
I can never sleep when I get locked up like this. Something in me always warns to keep one eye open and I end up laying there all night. Sometimes Elias gets me early enough that it doesn’t matter, but I was one of the last released today and even my bones are fucking tired.
It doesn’t help that all I can think about is how I left Naomi’s house last night.
The way she screamed at me to leave, her eyes bloodshot but with no signs of yellowing.
Hopefully that means I caught it early enough that she hasn’t done proper damage yet.
I don’t know how long she’s been drinking like this.
If Poppy or Clara knew they surely would have done something about it by now.
They wouldn’t enable her, constantly putting her in situations where temptation is just within reach.
She was so furious when she kicked me out last night.
I recognized that look in her eyes immediately, the defensiveness in her tone.
Because I’d used it a dozen times myself.
I’d spoken to Elias and Rowan that way so many times in the early days of my recovery, said things I can never take back, and am so fucking lucky they still chose to stay by my side.
Which is just one more reason I need to stay by Naomi’s side. No matter how much she tries to push me away, I need to take care of her. I need to support her even if she doesn’t realize yet that she needs help.
When Elias pulls up in front of his house, I take a moment just to breathe, preparing myself for whatever wall of gratitude I’m about to walk into. I don’t deserve it. All I did was stop a man from hurting my friend. It was simply the right thing to do. Beating a man near to death, however—
“Oyé,” Elias grips my shoulder, drawing my attention to his fatherly smile. “You did a good thing, amigo. Get out of your head. You saved a friend—”
“I—”
“I don’t care about that piece of shit. He lived. He won’t be pressing charges. We’ll protect you.” He squeezes again. “Tonight, just let yourself be the hero.”
With a sigh, I nod, following him out of the car and up the steps to his door. My steps slow behind him, suddenly very aware of the blood still staining my shirt. I’ll likely have to just throw it out since Naomi threw into the dryer and the blood caked in with the rain.
“We could not be more grateful that you’re okay, Clare Bear. And you,” a distinct pause follows Poppy’s sudden vehemence. “Are going to leave Graham the fuck alone tonight, do you understand me?”
The responding scoff is all too familiar by now but is cut off when Elias says, “Look who’s home.”
All eyes turn to me, and I very much wish I could have just gone home to bed. “Hey guys…” I raise my hand in a wave.
Suddenly a streak of blonde hair rushes across the room, throwing her arms around me so violently I gasp in shock, catching her with arms around her back. “Thank you, Graham,” Clara sniffles. “Thank you.”
With a sigh, I hold her tighter, burying my nose in her hair.
“Are you okay, mija?” I pull back enough to look her over, check for any bruises I didn’t catch the night before.
I assess the clarity of her eyes, searching for that haunted look I saw every time I glanced in the mirror for nearly a decade.
“I will be,” she admits, honestly. “Thanks to you.”
I force a tight smile, squeezing her shoulders.
Yes, thanks to me she won’t have to endure just how deeply this wound could have gone.
Nothing in her will fester or clot or cause unhealthy habits just to numb the endless days of surviving the worst night imaginable.
Clara will be fine. I nearly killed a man, but maybe Elias is right. Fuck that guy.
Dr. Ramirez is the next one to hug me, embracing me just as fiercely as her daughter. “Thank you, thank you, thank you…” She has to thank me a million times before Clara finally taps her on the shoulder, pulling her away so I can breathe.
Thank God Rowan doesn’t hug me. I’d never let him live it down. But he does shake my hand with a grip tight enough to make my broken knuckles twinge, wrapping an arm around my shoulders to pound a brotherly fist against my back. “Gracias, amigo,” he murmurs. “Asere, eres un héroe.”
I don’t argue.
Just let yourself be the hero, Elias had said.
Poppy hugs me next, then I get a handshake of respect from Cristian and then…
Then there’s only her. It takes Naomi several beats of silence to step forward. I can’t help looking her over, taking her in from her glassy eyes to the steady hand she offers.
A handshake.
A fucking handshake.
My jaw clicks audibly as I reach out and take it. Everything I do for this woman. The things I admit to her. The sacrifices I make for her friends, and she offers me a fucking handshake? Not even a hug? Not even the possibility of a kiss? No, that could never happen in front of her friends.
“Thank you, Graham. For being there for my friend.”
Thank you for being at our sex club on the right night at the right time. I don’t care that it wasn’t with me. I don’t care who else you fuck because I’ve got a dozen options of my own—
“I’m always here, mi reina,” I force through my teeth. How many drinks as she had tonight? Today? There are wine glasses on the table, which means surely one of them is hers. I refocus my gaze on her, and it’s clear she saw me looking. “There’s nowhere else I’d rather be.”
She removes her hand from mine first, going back to the couch with her arms crossed over her chest. I watch her for a breath before turning back into the hall. “I need a shower…”
“Of course,” Elias gestures to the stairs. “Don’t take too long, we’re going to eat soon. I’m sure your starving.”
I’ve actually never had less of appetite.
“You want us to put a beer in the freezer—”
“No,” I cut Rowan off sharply. I throw a look over my shoulder, toward Naomi as she picks up her wine glass. “I’m good tonight.”
She doesn’t look at me again. Not before I head up to shower. Not over dinner. Not before she leaves with Clara and Rowan.
No one else notices her finishing a bottle of wine by herself. No one sees her finish the dregs of the glasses she helps take to the sink. No one sees when she sneaks a shot of tequila from the wet bar after.
But I do.
I notice everything about her.
I always will.