“It’s okay, I was just teasing, I find it comforting now.”
“You sure?” I ask, pulling back so I can see her face.
She nods. “Yeah, I’m not sure I could sleep without it anymore.”
Sly grabs her hand from where he’s still sitting on the couch and gently pulls her to stand between his legs. “I think maybe you’ve had a tad too much to drink, hmm?”
“I’m okay.”
“Okay, well, it’s late. Let’s get you some water and brush your teeth. You’re sleeping with Jagger and me tonight.”
I say a quick goodnight as she’s hustled off, and a part of me is jealous that I’m not the one getting to take care of her. A much smaller part is thankful that they are taking such good care of her, that they seem to understand her trauma, even if she hasn’t fully grasped it yet.
Psychological trauma can be complicated to come to terms with. If Robert had hit her, it obviously would have been really bad, but she would have known that it wasn’t right, that he was hurting her. The way he’s managed to inflict maximum damage while convincing her he cares is genuinely evil. I can’t wait to kill the bastard.
Dex and Pete help me clean up, throwing away the empty beer bottles and making sure the doors are locked and curtains drawn. Although this is a safe house, it isn’t like the one I'd led them to before. There is no secret room full of weapons. This is primarily used for people entering the witness protection program. It has a solid alarm system, but nothing else—no cameras or surveillance equipment.
Which is a real shame, because I am having trouble sleeping without my eyes on her. In the past, I’d have the feed to her bedroom on my phone, so I could watch her sleeping safely in bed as I fell asleep. While we travel, I’ve been having many sleepless nights, except for the few where I’ve been able to position a chair where I can see into the room she’s sleeping in and catch sight of her. That ischallenging when she’s sandwiched between two large men, though.
And now that we’re in a house, I’m not sure I’ll be able to do that. They were expecting me to sleep in the smaller bedroom, while they shared the two larger ones. I found that interesting; there was a fourth bedroom that no one was using. Pete or Dex could sleep there so they didn’t have to share a bed, even if it was a king-sized one.
Maybe Wren bed hopped during the night?
I pour myself a tall glass of water and lean a hip against the counter as everyone but Dex heads for bed. He gets himself some water and just stands there staring at me.
“What?” I finally ask when he continues to stare.
“You love her, don’t you?”
I turn to gaze into the living room as I tell him, “I’m not sure how that’s any of your business.”
“Because she’smygirlfriend.”
I take a sip of water, not wanting to get into it with him right now. These guys are so goddamned possessive of her, it’s nauseating. Mostly because I feel the same way, and yet I’m on the outside, looking in. Unable to touch, to hold…to claim.
“The others think you’re hiding something.”
I narrow my eyes on him. “I’m not.”
He nods. “I know. That’s why I think you need to tell Wren how you feel.” I frown, unsure what his game is here. “She loves you, too, you know?”
I scoff. “Yeah, like a friend.”
“Elias, were you playing the same game as I was over there?” He points to the living room. “She clearly responded to your answers. And I don’t know what you said to eachother in Spanish, but the way she squirmed in my lap is not the reaction she’d have to a friend.”
Shehadlooked like she was responding positively to me, but I thought she might have just been uncomfortable. Red cheeks and squirming could be because she was arousedorembarrassed. I eye Dex carefully, maybe the big guy was more intelligent than I gave him credit for.
“Wren, we can watch TV in bed,” Sly says as the woman in question comes darting into the room and practically leaps onto the middle of the couch, pulling a blanket from the back of it to encircle her.
“I told you, I’m not sleepy,” she says dismissively as she searches for the remote.
“Wren, it’s after midnight,” Sly says with a sigh as he stops at the edge of the living room, frowning down at her.
She shrugs. “I don’t care, I’m not sleepy. You said I don’t have to do anything I don’t want to do.”
He sighs and takes a seat beside her, grabbing her hand between his. “I’m just trying to understand what’s going on. You seemed ready to go to sleep a few minutes ago. There’s a TV in the bedroom, so we can lie down and watch it while you fall asleep.”
“I feel like watching it out here,” she says with a shrug, avoiding his gaze. Jagger comes out, crossing his arms as he frowns down at her, too.
