“Hey.” I stepped in front of him, blocking the nearest bench he looked one second away from launching across. “We don’twaste energy chewing glass. You want to kill someone, wait until the league review drops.”
Rhett’s nostrils flared, his jaw ticking.
Then—a very decisive click of heels.
She was there.
Wren.
Hair pulled back, coat still on — and a look in her eyes like she’d just walked through fire and hadn’t noticed. The moment her gaze hit Rhett, he stilled. That wildness in him pulled back like the tide retreating from the shore.
When she shifted that look on me, it was all I could do not to wrap her in my arms and bury my face in her neck.
“You okay?” she asked. It wasn’t just her words, but how her voice was low, soft, and checking on me, even as she held herself under the firm grip of control.
I nodded. “You?”
She didn’t answer. Just moved past me and into the medical room, crouching next to Jay’s bed like she belonged there.
Jay blinked at her. “Hey, boss lady.”
She smiled. Then curled her hand around his, brushing her thumb gently over his knuckles.
I stepped back, gave her space. Rhett did too, watching the quiet scene from the hallway.
It hit me then what just happened. Not the win or the rage bubbling beneath my ribs or the violence of what happened and needed to be repaid in kind. It wasWren. The three of us andher.
The way she’d come in and calmed Rhett with a look. The way Jay lit up when he saw her. The way my heartbeat evened out knowing she was with us now.
She had become our gravity.
Despite everything I promised her about not using her heat to bind her to us, every damn one of us was already caught in her orbit. I couldn’t be mad about it. It washer.
Jay's eyelids fluttered again, half-lidded and heavy. He was fighting the fog, but not well.
“His pupils are better, but I don’t like the way he’s still drifting,” Doc said with a frown that didn’t ease even as he pulled back from the bed. “I’d prefer he get a CT and full evaluation. I want to transport him to the hospital, rule out anything more serious before I even think about letting him out of my sight.”
Jay groaned. “Doc…”
Wren didn't flinch.
“That’s fine,” she said, already rising from the chair beside him. “I’ll follow you. As soon as I handle the press, I’ll meet you there.”
Jay shifted, brow furrowing. “You don’t have to?—”
“Yes, I do,” she said simply, smoothing her hand down his arm. “So try not to fight me about it. You’re staying with me tonight once we get the all clear.”
There was no anger in her words. No push. Just certainty and it worked.
Jay blinked up at her again, like she’d hung the moon. “Okay.”
My shoulders loosened a fraction. That right there—that’s what he needed. Not orders. Not pressure. Just her, steady as hell, making it all make sense.
“I’ll ride with him,” Rhett said, stepping up beside the bed, and I knew without him saying it—he was making sureIdidn’t have to go. He was covering Jay. And leaving me to cover Wren.
I caught his eye and gave him the smallest nod.Got it.
Doc still didn’t look thrilled. “You’re not family,” he pointed out, directing that at Wren.
