He returns it, shifting one hand to find mine. “You didn’t have to…” His pause is broken by a groan of discomfort. “…put me here.”
I take his hand, lifting it to kiss his fingers. There’s nothing to say to that. I need to start caring for him, patching him up… or make the impossible decision to call an ambulance. To possibly have to let him go, because I truly cannot imagine getting away with what I did.
“Let me grab the blanket,” I say instead. Leaning in, I press my lips to his and push myself to my feet. “I’ll get you some water, and then I’m going to give you a full-body assessment.”
“Sounds…” he says while taking a breath. “Like a dream.”
I smile. “Yeah, it—” A knock on the door cuts me off.
Grabbing the thick comforter and draping it over him quickly, my eyes lock on the door like it might tell me who’s outside.
“Keo, don’t.” Before I can move away, Ayden grabs my wrist, hissing discomfort through clenched teeth. “Don’t answer it.”
Another knock follows. It’s gentle, cautious, as if whoever it is, is afraid of disturbing us. That is, until the next one comes—loud, urgent, completely opposite of the first.
It’s the voices that have Ayden removing his hold on me.
“Eve, darling, they could be asleep.”
“I don’t give a fuck. They need to wake up.”
I move swiftly and open the door without hesitation. Standing side by side, dressed in casual clothes, are our neighbors: Evelyn and Levi.
“You look absolutely terrible,” she says. “Where’s Ayden?”
I glance over my shoulder and see him slowly starting to sit up, holding the blanket to his chest, his bruised shoulders exposed.
That seems to be her cue—she brushes past me, barging into our cabin. “And you look like complete shit.”
“Thanks…” he mutters.
A gentle hand presses against my shoulder, and I peer up at Levi. Although I’m far bulkier than he is, he stands a few inches taller than I do. “Are either of you in any life threatening danger right now?”
I shrug and step aside, letting him enter. “I don’t know, honestly…” My gaze drifts to Evelyn, who’s kneeling in front of my sunshine. “I don’t think so, but I haven’t had a chance to examine him fully.”
“Lie down. Let me take a look at you.” She pulls the blanket from his grip.
He glances at me, and I give a small nod. At this point, it’s clear the last thing they want to do is hurt us.
Evelyn adjusts her hijab, quickly knotting it at the nape of her neck, then begins her careful inspection.
Levi slips his hands into his pockets and walks slowly around me, moving through the cabin in silence. None of us speak, but I can hear the sharp groans of pain escaping Ayden.
“We need to call Olivia,” Evelyn says. “Nothing external I can see, but I’d rather be safe than sorry.”
“Alright,” Levi agrees. He turns to me with that same casual smile. “Once we are done here, we will have our on-call medic, Liv, come take a look at both of you.”
What…
“This is really awkward,” he says, a nervous chuckle escaping him. “But you need to understand what happened last night can never be spoken about.”
“What exactly happened… last night?” Ayden asks.
Evelyn tsks. “Something that never should’ve happened. I told this tall asshole we should’ve killed that ex of yours before it ever got to this point.”
My eyes widen in complete shock. When I look at Ayden, he looks just as stunned.
“Keoni,” Levi says. “Before we get into it. Where were you last night? And do you need a cleanup? We didn’t see your truck, and the Charger parked beside Michael’s… it had some suspicious stuff inside.”
