“Easier said than done,” I muttered, my shoulders tight. “We had an argument before she was taken.”
Giant turned around with a different white box in his massive hands, removed a strip of tablets and passed them to me. “The whole club knew you’d argued.”
“Of course they did,” I muttered. “What are these for? How many and how often?”
“Sleeping pills for you.” I jolted, transferring a glare from the pills to my brother. “You’re dead on your feet, but adrenaline and instincts will keep you awake. You’re no help to anyone sleep deprived.” He almost rested a hand on my shoulder but pulled back at the last moment. I appreciated the gesture, though. “Everyone knows we wouldn’t have found them without you. You gave everything, worked yourself to death, and survived on taurine and spite.”
I choked on a laugh. “Put that shit on my headstone. Survived on taurine and spite.”
“You can rest now, Cobra,” he said, gentling. “They’re home.”
A lump formed in my throat, refusing to deflate even when I swallowed. “If I sleep—”
“She’s not going anywhere,” he said, anticipating my argument.
I sighed. Expelled all the breath in my lungs. “Fine. If I can’t sleep, I’ll take one of these.”
“Good man.” Giant lifted his head when movement came from the door.
Tybalt aimed a disturbing smile his way. “Hey, man. Do you have any of that sedative I used last month? For, uh, no reason.”
“No reason, huh?” Giant mused with a knowing smirk.
I left them to it, pocketed my sleeping tablets, and caught Ndidi’s eye. “Does she need to stay in here tonight?”
She seemed to understand what I asked.Does she need surgery?“Nothing so dramatic,” she replied, moving to put away supplies that littered a nearby surface. Lynn was the last to be examined; she insisted everyone else be seen first with an impatient flap of her hand. No words, I realised now.
“Hey, you,” I murmured, making sure she saw my hand before it landed on the back of her neck, my thumb stroking over the tense line of her shoulder. “Ready to get out of here?”
She sighed in relief and stood, following me wordlessly from Giant’s clinic.
27
Cobra
“The knife was probably overkill,” I remarked, letting myself into my room after raiding the kitchen for whatever was leftover after the Knights had already cleaned it out. For obvious reasons, Sweetie hadn’t had anything waiting for us, so I’d put together a shit mezze of crackers, cheese, pastrami, and chilli jam because Lynn loved that spicy stuff.
On the way back, I took a detour to her room to pick up some extra clothes and found a knife stuck in her door. Then of course when I got back she’d already changed into one of my old shirts, her bare legs tucked against her chest.
She shrugged.
“Didn’t want anyone bothering you?” I guessed, frowning when I had nowhere to put the fucking food. I couldn’t believe I was contemplating buying an end table. WhowasI? “Good call; I would have broken their fucking nose.”
She smirked weakly. I locked down my expression, even if I wanted to weep with relief. So my woman was in there, she was just struggling to speak.
“Thief,” I quipped, pinching my shirt hanging off her shoulders once I’d settled both the food board and myself on the bed. “Here, eat something.”
A furrow cut between her dark brows.What the fuck is this,I imagined her snarling.
“I believe grown-ups call it a charcuterie board.” I sat close enough to feel her heat without touching her. God, I wanted to touch her. I wanted her in my arms for eternity. I was so goddamn serious about never letting her out of my sight. “But for you, madam, this is a Lunchable.”
She slid her gaze in my direction, held eye contact for the longest three seconds of my life, then shuffled closer, resting her head on my shoulder. All the breath left my lungs.
“Fuck knows why you like these things,” I muttered, grabbing a cracker only once she’d built herself a stack and eaten it. “Crackers are dry and dusty as fuck.”
She jabbed my ribs with a finger, and the careful lid I’d kept on my emotions blew off like my heart was packed with explosives and her touch was the trigger. At first it was one sob, and then two, and then I was out of control, my eyes burning, spilling tears, everything I’d held back pouring out.
Lynn scrambled closer, throwing her arms around my shoulders, clutching my head to her chest. Fingers stroked over my scalp. A hysterical laugh-sob tore free when her crunching filled my ears.
