Bella pulls back just enough to cup my face, eyes scanning me like she’s doing a medical assessment. “How are you feeling? Are you okay? Do you hurt anywhere?”
“I’m okay. I just needed some sleep. But I’m good now.”
Bri’s eyes shine, and she pulls me back into another hug. “We love you so much.”
“Yeah,” Bella adds fiercely. “Like, aggressively.”
My chest does that warm, achey thing and I hug them back, just as tight. “I love you guys too.”
Switch clears his throat behind them. “Okay, okay, break it up before she suffocates.”
They finally let me go, and that’s when I really take in the disaster zone that is my kitchen counter. “What… is all this?” I ask.
Bri grins. “Comfort food.”
Bella gestures at the spread. “Muffins, donuts, fruit, and I think that casserole is some kind of breakfast thing with eggs and cheese and maybe hash browns? Switch said it was important.”
Switch shrugs like this is very serious business. “You gotta eat.”
“I also brought coffee,” Bella adds quickly. “Real coffee, not whatever fancy stuff you usually drink.”
“I feel extremely loved and mildly attacked,” I say.
Rev’s lips twitch, but he doesn’t say anything.
I grab a mug and let Bella pour my coffee while Bri starts opening containers like she’s setting up a brunch buffet. “We figured,” Bri says softly, “you probably weren’t going to want to cook or think about anything today.”
“Or make decisions,” Bella adds.
“Or be alone,” Switch finishes.
My eyes sting a little, and I focus very hard on not crying into my coffee. “I really appreciate you guys,” I say quietly.
Blade finally speaks, voice low and steady. “That’s what family does.”
Jax chooses that moment to crawl over and latch onto my leg, peering up at me like I’m his personal jungle gym. “Well, hey there, little man,” I laugh, crouching to scoop him up, and he immediately goes for my glasses.
Bella snorts. “Yeah, he’s getting very grabby lately.”
“I can tell,” I say, laughing as I gently wrestle them out of his surprisingly determined little fists and set them safely on the counter. “Sir, these are not teething rings.” He responds by smacking my cheek with an open palm and grinning like he’s very proud of himself. I bury my face in his adorably chunky cheeks and plant way too many kisses on him until he squeals.
Holding him makes everything feel lighter somehow, like the world shrinks down to soft baby giggles and warm weight in my arms instead of bruises and bad memories.
I glance up and catch Rev watching me. Our eyes meet for half a second, and there’s a whole lot unspoken there, but neither of us says anything.
Bri bumps her hip into mine. “Okay, time to eat. We’re not taking no for an answer.”
I let myself be guided to a chair by Bri who takes Jax and a minute later Switch arrives with a plate loaded up with way too much food. I feel something close to normal settling into my chest.
ELEVEN
REV
I lingernear the doorway longer than I probably should, pretending I’m listening to Switch talk about something I don’t actually care about while my eyes keep drifting back to Brooke curled up on the couch between her sisters, a paper plate balanced on her knee, fingers shiny with sauce as she laughs at something Bella just said. It’s not forced. Not brittle. It’s the real laugh I’ve seen before, the one that creases the corners of her eyes and softens her whole face like the world hasn’t just taken a swing at her.
She looks… normal.
A little tired, sure. A faint shadow under her eyes. But she’s smiling. Eating. Leaning into her sisters like she always does. Breathing easy for a moment instead of holding herself tight like she has been since the attack.
