“Don’t get your head bitten off,” Ramsay murmured under his breath. He left with Tansy and Crystal, who was shooting Eric concerned looks the entire time.
When Eric and I were alone, I let out a sigh. It seemed like I hadn’t been alone with him for a long time. It reminded me of when we first started courting, and how much happiness it brought me when I finally realized he loved me as much as I loved him.
I gave him a good, hard look now as he sat on the couch. Our argument hadn’t made me love him any less, but hewasfinally going to open up to me, whether he liked it or not.
“Okay. Now,” I said gently as I opened the kit and took out the necessary items. “Are you gonna tell me what the hell’s going on?”
Eric shut his eyes, then slowly opened them. The amber-brown of his irises was darkened by pain, and I knew not all of it was physical.
“I don’t want to,” he said without conviction.
I carefully stretched out his injured arm on my knee and dabbed an alcohol-soaked cotton ball around the wound. “I don’t care.”
“I know you don’t,” he muttered. There was just the slightest hint of familiar sarcasm in his voice. He winced at the sharp sting of the alcohol.
“Sorry.” I took a good look at the injury. It wasn’t deep, thankfully, but it looked nasty. When it was clean, I applied a bandage, not too loose or tight. “There. Now you owe me an explanation.”
Eric exhaled through his nose and slightly raised one brow. “Do I?”
“I’ll rip that bandage right back off,” I growled.
The corner of his lip twitched--and I knew I won.
“Fine,” he said as he stood. “But let’s go somewhere else to talk. Without eavesdroppers.”
I frowned in confusion, then glanced up to the top of the stairs where three people were huddled together in a very non-secretive way. They yelped quietly and disappeared.
I followed Eric out of the house. The evening air was cool, and Eric’s body seemed warmer than usual as his body temperature rose to fight infection, so I stuck close to him. Or maybe that was just the excuse I told myself to have an opportunity for physical contact.
When I linked our arms together, he didn’t comment. But he did hold my arm a little closer.
“Thanks, by the way,” he mumbled after a while. “For fixing me up.”
“Oh. You’re welcome.”
It might have been the first positive thing he’d said to me in a week, but it was enough to make my heart flutter. I didn’t want to admit it, but I’d missed him. Desperately.
Eric and I walked under the deep blue sky with the first twinkling of stars overhead. I didn’t know where he was taking me, and I didn’t care. All that mattered was being close to him without the invisible barrier of our argument standing between us.
Even if the asshole still hadn’t told me what the hell was going on yet.
“There was an issue I didn’t want you knowing about,” Eric said suddenly. “That’s why I kept disappearing.”
I listened and didn’t interrupt.
“I thought it would be easier for everyone this way. But in hindsight, it probably would’ve been easier just to tell you.” He added, with a hint of snark, “I should’ve known you would get sassy about it.”
“You’re the one who’s sassy, since you started this fight in the first place,” I muttered.
Eric smirked for a moment before his face took on a serious expression. Now I saw up close how deeply tired he was--the darkness under his eyes seemed etched into his skin.
He continued. “There was an issue outside my border. West Pack’s border.”
“Am I allowed to know what this so-called issue is?” I asked.
Eric hesitated. “Humans.”
“Oh,” I said. “That’s it?”
