Gage nodded. “And can we agree that the person to blame for Jez going after Knox is this Adrian character? And whoever else put him up to it?”
“No,” I said.
“No,” Heath agreed. His eyes met mine properly for the first time. “You could’ve looked into Knox’s background more. Not just taken some omega asshole’s word for what was going on.”
“Yes,” I told him, not looking away. “I should have done that, and I didn’t.”
“But we lucked out,” Gage said. “Because nothing that’s happened is permanent. Knox survived, and he’s going to be okay. And Jez, we can get you the surgery, so the mating doesn’t have to be forever.”
“Right,” I said gamely. “Things could have been way worse.”
Now that our mutual PTSD episode had subsided, it no longer felt like I was drowning in the bond. Instead, an echo of the same magnetic pull I’d felt when I was in heat tugged at my insides. I licked my lips.
“You... uh, you don’t have to try and keep the wall up all the time,” I told Heath. “If you can stand having me in your head, I mean. I think having the wall there feels worse than just having the bond.”
His gaze skittered to the side. “Oh. Well, that’s... just as well. I’m not sure I could have kept it up for much longer.”
“Okay, then,” I said.
“Okay,” he echoed.
I wrapped my arms around myself and squeezed, aware of what a pathetic bunch we were, expensive clothes and all. I wondered at what point Tony would realize he was sitting on the kitchen floor in a brand new two-thousand-dollar suit.
At least it was a clean floor.
Gage caught my eye. He looked tired, too... although not as utterly wiped out as the rest of us.
“You and Tony stay here for a few minutes while Heath and I go set something up. Promise?” he said.
I nodded. I was too tired to run anywhere, and Tony was still in shock, from the looks of it. “Sure.”
Gage reached down and grabbed Heath by the upper arm, hauling him to his feet.
“Get off,” Heath said—but there was no force behind it.
He let Gage shuffle him out of the room, giving Tony a wide berth. I kicked off my new red-soled pumps and leaned against the counter again, probably putting creases in the nice cocktail dress I was wearing. Tony didn’t move... didn’t even look up at me.
Eventually, he spoke.
“Was that as bad as I think it was?”
I considered. “I’m pretty sure it wasn’t. Now Heath knows how you feel, and it sounds like he feels the same. That’s a good thing, isn’t it?”
Tony hesitated for a long moment. He stirred enough to take off the expensive suit jacket, looking down at it in his hands like he wasn’t sure where it had come from.
“I don’t know,” he said. “Because now I have to do something about it. Before, I didn’t.”
It wasn’t like I was in any position to give relationship advice, so I just shrugged.
Gage returned a couple of minutes later. “Let’s go,” he said. “We’re sleeping.”
“That sounds good.” Tony accepted a hand up. “I probably shouldn’t try to drive. Where do you want me? A couch is fine.”
Gage took the jacket from him and draped it over a chair back. Then he reached a hand out toward me. I took it without thinking.
“You’re not listening,” he told Tony. “We... aresleeping. Come on.”
He led us deeper into the house, to a room I hadn’t explored before. It was some kind of big family room. There was a huge TV on one wall, and a sectional sofa pushed to one side. Someone—Gage and Heath, presumably—had dragged in a couple of huge mattresses and shoved them together. Piles of bedding and pillows lay all around. Heath sat crouched in the middle of the makeshift nest, his elbows resting on his knees and his face buried in his hands.
