I take the mug and hand her my coffee.
“Thank you.”
“It has a shot of Bailey’s in it. Hopefully, it will help settle her nerves a little.”
I lean over and kiss her forehead. “She’ll get through this, I promise.”
“She’s already been through too much, Ambros.”
I tip her head back, seeing fresh tears in her eyes. “She’s a survivor. She doesn’t know how to be anything else.”
She nods as I let her go and walk over to my woman. I crouch in front of her and hold the cup out for her. It takes her a second to focus, but when she does, she reaches a shaky hand for it. Iwrap my hands around hers, helping her to steady it, and wait for her to take a sip before I speak again.
“Are you ready to talk? You can absolutely say no.”
She glances over her shoulder and sees Havoc and Nevaeh watching before she looks back at me. “They’re going to hate me.”
“Nobody is going to hate you, Citi, I promise.”
She takes a deep, shuddering breath before nodding. “Okay.”
“Okay,” I whisper, taking her in as I signal it’s a yes to Havoc.
Her face is so pale it’s almost translucent. The dark circles under her eyes almost make it look like she’s been punched. Havoc managed to get a doctor to check them both over when she refused to go to the hospital. And though the doctor said they’d both be fine, I can’t help but fear that nothing will ever be fine again.
“Do you want to get cleaned up first?”
She shakes her head. She refused to clean up when we brought her in, nothing beyond wiping the blood from her hands and face. Not wanting to push her while she was still in shock, I let it go. But right now, I want nothing more than to carry her upstairs and clean every inch of her, though I know it won’t wipe away what happened.
“I wish I could take this all from you. I promised you’d be safe, and I let you down.”
“No. I knew you’d come. It’s what made me fight as hard as I did. I knew you’d come for me, and you did.”
“Not soon enough, though.” I sigh, leaning forward and pressing my lips to her forehead.
“I spent fifteen years waiting to be found the last time. This was nothing.” She tries to joke, but her words get stuck in her throat.
“Here, take another sip.”
She does just that as I sense people moving closer and see them pulling the tables and chairs out of the way and moving around so Citi can see them. Surprisingly, everyone takes a seat on the floor, leaving just Citi and Star in an elevated position. I realize it’s been done intentionally so she doesn’t feel small and cornered. I take her drink from her and place it on the ground before sitting on my ass.
Circus is the only one still standing. I brace myself as he walks closer, and my alertness triggers a response in Citi. She yanks her head around so hard it must hurt. She whimpers when she sees him. I’m about to tell him to back off when he sits on the arm of the sofa and takes one of Citi’s hands in his. Tears run down her face, but she doesn’t make a sound, the silent heartbreak making me feel like she’s taken a knife to my gut.
“We don’t have to do this now,” Havoc says softly, shuffling closer, Nevaeh following suit.
“I…” She shakes her head. “I have to get it out. I just don’t know how.”
“You just start from the beginning. We’ve got you,” Circus tells her as her eyes slip closed.
“We finished tutoring early. C…Capone said I’m doing well.” She blows out a shaky breath as I wrap one of my hands around her calf so she can feel me here with her.
“He talked me into going to the diner. He had a crush on the waitress there, and by the time we were done, she finally agreed to go out with him.” She looks up at me with devastation in her eyes. “I have to tell her. He wouldn’t want her to think he stood her up. He really liked her.”
I draw circles on her skin with my thumb. “We’ll tell her. We’ll go together.”
She nods her head rapidly. “Okay.”
She takes a second to compose herself. “We went our separate ways at the diner. Capone to fetch Star, and me togo to therapy. I wanted to run some errands first, so Con said he’d take me, which he did. When I got to therapy, I was a few minutes early.”
