“I’m okay… or I will be,” I tell him honestly.
“The nightmares…”
I nod as he steps back.
“They’ll fade again,” I tell him. It’s now I get a look at him. “You walking around here naked, man?”
He chuckles. “No. I helped Linc.”
My teeth grind and I nod. Those bastards. They’ll pay.
“You’re gonna need it too.”
“Yeah. He okay?” I ask before we go into mine and Linc’s suite.
“Pissed off, but calmer now that he’s home.”
“I can understand that,” I reply. I need to see him.
When I get into the room, there he sits. My big fighter, bruised, battered, and broken—just like me.
“We’re quite the pair,” I say, announcing my presence.
Knox looks up from the magazine he’s flipping through.
“Babe,” he mutters, so much pain in his voice—I’m not sure whether it’s for me or him, maybe both.
I walk over to him and sit next to him. We hug, but not tight.
“We’re nearly identical,” I whisper against his shoulder.
“Your face is way worse.”
I nod. “Your shoulder…”
He grunts. “Your hand.”
I sigh. “It’ll be a while before I can strum the chords.”
We don’t pull back, and Kennedy just remains sitting in the chair in the corner, silently. He’s the only one who’s ever seen us like this—this intimate. He’s the only one we’ve trusted enough—from day one. He never judged, never teased. It never mattered one way or another to him—just as his preferences don’t matter a fuck to me.
“You need to shower,” Linc informs me.
I nod. “There’s blood everywhere.”
He pulls back. “Kennedy helped me.”
We stare into one another’s eyes, knowing how much that meant to him, knowing Kennedy doesn’t think Linc’s going to grope him or get hard just because he’s helping him. It’s everything.
“I’ll help you, too, if you’re ready?” Kennedy asks.
I swallow hard, trying not to cry like a girl. I’ve never been a crier, but this—this touches my heart.
I nod. I press a palm to Linc’s cheek. “I’ll be right back.”
Linc nods.
When we close the bathroom door, I turn to Kennedy and embrace him—not in a way that would make him uncomfortable. This is an embrace of gratitude and brotherly love.
