He knew like everyone else that there were plenty of rooms for him to put Glimmer in, but Gideon felt like she deserved the best space in the house, and that was without a doubt his room. He would make sure she was comfortable there and sit with her until she woke up. That was his word, and around here, his word meant a whole damn lot.
Glimmer’s eyes popped open,but she didn’t move. In fact, she stayed very, very still as she tried to figure out where the hell she was and what the hell had happened. And then it hit her.
The wedding.
Her heart hammered as she slowly remembered the events of the day. She had been unconscious for hours. Long enough for night to greet her through the large window on the wall across from the abnormally large bed she lay in. Tears filled her eyes as panic overtook her.
I fucked up. I fucked up. I fucked up.
Her first thought was of her parents. They were as good as dead because of the stunt she pulled. She didn’t understand how she could be so stupid to put them all in this situation.
As she blinked to clear her vision, she allowed her eyes to roam around the room. When her gaze landed on a large man sitting on the edge of the bed and staring at her expectantly, she screamed.
He jumped as if she had startled him and then tried to shush her, which only made her scream louder.
“Aye, chill. Chill! Glimmer, right? Haze is coming. Deja and Kyomi too. I just texted them to tell them you’re awake.”
His deep voice sent vibrations through her body and somehow immediately calmed her. It wasn’t even the words he spoke or the names he mentioned that she hadn’t heard in so long. It was quite literally the soothing tone of his voice that instantly made her realize he wasn’t a threat.
She clamped her mouth shut and eyed him. When she tried to sit up, she cringed. That was when she noticed she was hooked up to an IV.
“What happened?” she asked in a raspy voice as she struggled some more to sit up.
“May I?” the man asked as he stood and gestured toward her.
Glimmer’s eyes grew wide at his size. He wasn’t fat, but he was a big ass nigga.Big and fine.She shook her head.What the hell is wrong with me?She continued to peer at him. There was something so familiar about him, but she couldn’t place it. His locs were neat and pulled away from his face, and he looked mean as hell. His muscles flexed under the plaid shirt he wore, and he smelled good as hell.
He helped her sit up, and Glimmer couldn’t help but notice how gentle he was with her. Once she was sitting, she looked under the blankets and noticed two things. Her foot was wrapped in a thick bandage, and she realized it throbbed slightly when she tried to move. Her cheeks heated as she noticed she no longer wore her wedding dress. Instead, she wore a comfortable two-piece tank top and sweats set.
“Don’t worry. Kyomi and Deja helped clean you up and dress you. Doc had you on a heavy sedative. Said your blood pressure was high, and you were dehydrated. You needed that rest.”
Her eyes burned as she thought about her old friends. The tears fell when she thought about how vicious her groom was. “Trick, did he follow me here? He’ll find me . . .”
“Who?” the man asked before the door swung open.
A sob escaped Glimmer as her eyes landed on Kyomi first and then Deja. Haze walked in right behind them.
They had all grown so much. None of them were the teenagers they’d been when they last saw each other.
Kyomi had the same toffee-colored skin with freckles dotting her face, but her brown eyes seemed more mature, and her auburn hair was cut shorter than Glimmer had ever seen it. It sat right at her shoulders in a curly bob. She looked gorgeous.
Deja had caramel-colored skin with a big booty. That hadn’t changed. But her hair had grown and was straightened and pulled back into a long ponytail. Her dark, slanted eyes peered at Glimmer as if she couldn’t believe she was there. Glimmer couldn’t believe it either.
Then there was Haze. She’d never had a brother before, but Haze had always filled that role. He was always a silent, brooding protector, and he loved Glimmer just as much as he loved his own sister and little cousin. She noted the tattoos that littered his body and the way his muscles had filled in. He was tall as hell, too, but standing next to the giant beside him, he seemed like a short nigga.
“Glimmy.” Kyomi flung herself onto the bed and gently hugged Glimmer. She had always been the most sensitive out of the three of them.
Deja got onto the bed and joined their hug. The men hung back and allowed the women their moment. They cried for quitesome time and mumbled things between them only they could seem to understand.
Finally, when their tears seemed to calm, Haze stepped forward and gently grabbed Glimmer’s hand that had the IV in it.
“Glimm, what you doin’ here? It’s been years . . .”
Fresh tears spilled out of her eyes, and she sobbed as she did her best to explain the situation. Before she knew it, she spilled all the tea. She told them about the conversation she heard between her parents so long ago and how Trick was the reason Big Henry was dead and why her dad made them distance themselves from the Laurent family. After that, Glimmer told them about how Trick slowly dismantled her father’s empire and how they had to go into hiding and live miserably for years until Juke was behind bars. She sobbed extra hard when she told them how Trick snatched her up the same day her father was arrested and how she was kept locked up in his mansion and forced to plan their wedding. She told them about earlier in the day and how she was all set to marry the man who had turned her life into a living hell, but how she couldn’t do it, so she ran.
“When I realized what side of town I was on, this was the only place I could think to come. I didn’t even know if y’all still lived here, but it was my only hope, for real.”
She looked up at the four people in the room, who looked back at her with various expressions. Haze looked like he barely controlled his rage. Deja looked concerned. Kyomi cried for her friend, . . . and then there was the giant of a man. He looked at her like he would burn the world up for her if she so much as asked.
