“We’re not that loud,” Blake protested.
Axel barked out a laugh. “Dude, last time Dakota crashed at your place, she heard Tessa speaking in tongues.”
“The priority right now is her safety.” Blake’s voice cracked like a whip. “Not your commentary on my sex life.”
“I do not want to hear this,” I warned.
“I’m just saying,” Axel continued, undeterred, “there’s safe, and then there’s scarred for life. You really want your sister’s recovery soundtrack to be,Oh God, Blake, right there, don’t stop?”
Blake’s face went through several shades of red. “My walls are not paper thin. And we can be quiet.”
“Sure you can.” Axel took a long pull of his scotch. “Just like Rainbow here can win Best in Show at Westminster.”
The dog chose that moment to sneeze directly into Axel’s face.
“Jesus!” Axel sputtered, wiping his face with his sleeve. “This thing is literally defective. It’s like someone’s science experiment gone wrong.”
“Focus,” I snapped, though watching Axel get sneezed on by a dog that looked like it had been assembled by a committee was almost worth the price of admission.
Axel’s smirk turned downright wicked. “Oh, I am focused. Focused on the fact that you haven’t mentioned YOUR brilliant plan yet, Ryker. Go on. Tell Blake where you think his baby sister should stay.”
I straightened my spine, meeting Blake’s glare head-on. The words came out steady. Certain. “She’s staying with me.”
The room went still for exactly one heartbeat.
Then Blake moved.
As expected, his forearm slammed against my throat as my back hit the wall hard enough to rattle the framed photos. Rainbow started barking, a high-pitched sound that could’ve shattered glass.
This is seriously getting old.
“Boys!”
Faith’s voice drifted from the hallway.
Blake released me instantly, both of us turning toward the sound. Rainbow immediately abandoned Axel’s lap, nails clicking against the hardwood as the dog raced to Faith’s feet, tail wagging so hard that its entire back end swayed.
She bent to scoop up Rainbow, burying her face in the dog’s ridiculous fur.
Blake moved first, crossing to Faith. “You should be resting.”
“I’m staying with Ryker.” Her words dropped into the room like a lit match into gasoline.
Blake’s entire body went rigid. “Faith.”
“It’s not up for discussion.” She lifted her chin, and for a second, I saw the fighter she’d been before all this. The woman who’d survived hell and was still standing. “I need to be somewhere that doesn’t feel like I’m drowning, and I’m not staying with newlyweds.”
Blake hesitated for a moment. Then his glower toward me softened into … what was that exactly? Appreciation? Surely, I was diagnosing that wrong.
“Now, I’d like to grab some more things from my place,” Faith said, still clutching Rainbow like a lifeline.
“I just gave you a sedative,” Blake said.
“Well, what can I say? Apparently, your sedatives are defective.” She scratched Rainbow’s lopsided ear. “I’d like to go back to my house now to grab the rest of my things.”
“I’ll go with you,” Blake and I said in unison.
Axel snorted from the couch. “Wow, synchronized protective instincts. You two should take that show on the road.” He stood, stretching until his back popped.
