My eyes widen as he steps back, like he didn’t just threaten to murder everyone who has wronged me. It’s sweet, in an incredibly fucked-up way. But I’m an incredibly fucked-up person, so it’s fitting.
Colt turns to Hal but keeps his warm palm on my neck. “So, what exactly happened that resulted in Azrael putting his fucking hands on her like this? Because he’s a raging asshole most of the time, but this is pretty extreme, even for him.”
Hal sighs. “Azrael said some pretty fucked-up shit about Lark to Cooper Finch, one of our mechanics. Finch, rightfully, lost his shit on Az and started a brawl that Lark tried to break up. She crashed into him when he was in that headspace, and, well, you can imagine the rest.”
“Fuck,” Colt mutters while shaking his head. “That sounds like a shit show. He’s lucky I wasn’t there, because he would’ve gotten another beatdown for pulling that shit. Where’s Az now?”
“Dunno. Probably trying to drink himself into an early grave. I was too focused on Lark to give a shit about where he went, honestly. And it would’ve been better had you been there. Youwould’ve done something instead of standing there like a useless bonehead.”
I hate that Hal’s beating himself up over what happened, but I don’t know how to make him feel better.
Colt bumps his shoulder into Hal’s. “Hey, man, cut yourself some slack. You know you’re no match for Az. The only thing you would’ve accomplished would be getting beaten into a pulp, which wouldn’t have helped Lark.”
Hal shrugs and looks away. Colt sighs but drops the conversation.
My eyes bounce between the two of them for a long moment. No one says anything, each of us too lost in our own thoughts.
“For fuck’s sake!” a deep voice growls behind me, and I startle at the noise.
Breaking Colt’s hold and turning around, I choke on my spit when I see Rook standing on the second floor landing in black slacks, an unbuttoned white dress shirt, and nothing else. His washboard abs and defined pecs are free of the ink that decorates his collarbones and creeps up his neck a little.
“Can you fuckers not keep it down for two hours? You know I need to get work in after Az, Colt, and I go on a job.” Rook breaks off as he finally looks up from the laptop decorated with Post-it notes he’s holding in one hand. His eyes go comically wide when he sees me standing with Hal and Colt. “Lark! What a surprise. What, um, are you doing here?”
Before I can answer, a door bangs open next to Rook on the second floor and a rumpled Remy shuffles out. He’s still in his pajamas. His blue plaid pants and simple white T-shirt are wrinkled from sleep, and he’s rubbing his eyes tiredly.
“Brosephs, can you keep it down and let a brother sleep?” Remy rasps, his voice rough from just having woken up.
When no one answers him, his gaze bounces from Rook to Colt and Hal standing downstairs. When it lands on me, Remygrins before walking over to the railing and smoothly vaulting over it.
A scream of surprise gets trapped in my throat as I watch him fall a story. I needn’t have worried because Remy expertly rolls as he lands. He pops up to his feet with a giant smile on his face before sprinting toward me.
He’s totally going to slam full speed into me, so I close my eyes and brace myself for the impact, hoping he won’t rattle my already-throbbing brain too much.
“Stop,” Colt barks. When I don’t feel an impact, I peek an eye open and see Remy frozen in his tracks. “She’s hurt. Be gentle with her.”
Remy’s exuberant smile drops as he approaches me cautiously, as if I’m a wounded animal or something. “You’re hurt? What happened,alouette? What can I do to help?”
“Oh, you know, the usual,” I answer evasively. “And I don’t really think there’s anything to be done. I just need to rest and should be good by the morning.”
Even if I were a human, there’s nothing doctors could really do for me. My body just needs time to heal itself. Shifting might help a little, but I’m not going to risk doing that here.
“Az choked her and slammed her head into the concrete a few times,” Hal supplies unhelpfully.
Turning around, I give him a glare that doesn’t seem to faze him. He arches an eyebrow, wordlessly asking me why I’m trying to protect Azrael. Sighing, I face forward without giving him an answer.
Truthfully, I don’t know why I don’t want to tell anyone what happened. Part of it is not wanting to come between the obviously close friends. But part of it is that I have a disturbing lack of concern for shit like that happening to me.
I thought I was unfazed by Andrew attempting to off me because it happened the same night I found Wren. But now I’m wondering if there’s just something broken in me.
Remy’s expression tightens in anger for a beat before he smooths it out. He pastes on a smile that doesn’t reach his usually happy eyes. “Well, then, let’s get you resting. Can you take off your jacket and boots for me, or do you need help?”
As much as I want to protest that I’m fine, the world has started to spin around me. I feel like I’m going to pass out and throw up at the same time, so I should probably sit down.
“I can do it.” I shrug off my jacket first, and I’m thankful I’m wearing a cropped graphic tee instead of my usual skintight undershirt. I was too pissed off to bother changing out of the black shirt with a purple electric eel on the back when Azrael kidnapped me.
Once my jacket is off, I look around for a coat rack to place it on. Before I can find somewhere to hang it up, Hal takes it from me with a smile.
Not having the energy to argue, I unzip and pull off one boot, then the other. Without the two-inch boost my boots gave me, I feel even tinier around these massive men.
