The women exchange glances.Subtle.Quick.But I catch them.
They're worried too.
They’re trying not to show it, trying to keep me calm.But underneath the reassurances and the confident words, they're scared.
Which makes everything worse.
Time crawls.Minutes feel like hours.Every sound makes me jump.Every door that opens somewhere else in the clubhouse makes my heart stop.
But it's never him.
Never Devin.
Just brothers coming and going.Music playing somewhere.Normal clubhouse noise that feels wrong when everything inside me is screaming.
Then the door opens.
The main door.The one I've been staring at.
I'm on my feet before I fully register moving.Tea spills.Someone says my name.But I'm already moving.
Because it's him.
Devin.Walking through the door.Exhausted.Bruised.Knuckles bloody and swollen.
But alive.
Our eyes meet across the room.
And everything breaks.
I run.Don't think.Don't hesitate.Just run straight across the room and crash into him.
He catches me, arms coming around me immediately.Solid.Real.Here.
I sob into his chest.I can't help it.Can't hold it back.I cling to him like he might disappear if I let go.
"I told you I'd come back," he murmurs against my hair.
"You scared me," I gasp out.Then I hit his chest.Once.Not hard.I just need to do something with the fear and relief tangling inside me."You scared me so much."
"I know.I'm sorry."
I pull back slightly, just enough to look at him.Really look.
His face is bruised, swelling already starting around his jaw.His knuckles are torn and bloody.There's a cut above his eyebrow I didn't see before.
Panic spikes, sharp and immediate.
"Did he hurt you?"My hands flutter over his face, his shoulders, trying to assess damage."Are you okay?Do you need a doctor?Tank, you're bleeding?—"
"I'm fine."He catches my hands and holds them still."It's nothing.Just bruises."
"It's not nothing.You're hurt."
"Enya."His voice is gentle but firm."I'm okay.I promise."
I want to believe him, want to stop panicking, but I can see the pain in his eyes even if he's trying to hide it.
