West’s gaze never peeled its way off my face. “Yeah, sure. I’ll be just outside.”
And after he closed the bedroom door behind him, I let the tears fall. “Is he going to be okay, Lexi?”
She threw her arms around me and laid down in bed beside me. “He’ll be hurting for a while, but yes, he’s going to live.”
I sighed with relief. “Thank fuck, because that was so much damn blood.”
She giggled. “It actually wasn’t as much as it looked like. Blood has a different viscosity than water, so it always looks like more than it is.”
I shook my head. “I don’t know how you do it.”
“Well, now you know how I feel about you and your profession. I still don’t understand how you interpret all those numbers and symbols for a living, much less how they somehow have holes in them. That still doesn’t make sense to me.”
That got me to smile, even as the tears continued to fall. “You know, when Asher came bursting through that front door, all I could think about was my inability to protect Natty.”
“That wasn’t your fault. I would have never expected you t—”
I shrugged as I flopped onto my back. “It doesn’t even matter. I should’ve been able to protect her. You trusted me to protect her. And then she was taken, and it was all my fault because I couldn't bat those men away. I couldn't get a grip on them and—”
She took my hand, threading our fingers together. “It was never your fault, Chloe. I need you to hear me when I say that. I was the one that got into the altercation with those idiots in the first place, and when we stood up to them? It made all of us a target. It put everyone I cared about in danger, and I never should’ve done it in the first place.”
My face wrinkled as tears flooded my cheeks. “What are we gonna do, Lexi? When do we get our lives back?”
She pulled me into her arms and we cried together. Our shoulders shook with our sobs as I pulled the covers over our head like we always did back at home. I cried until I couldn’t cry any longer. Until my body was so weak and useless that all I could do was curl close against my best friend’s body.
And after her tears dried as well, Lexi changed the subject. “So, a little birdie told me that you and West took a joyride earlier.”
I groaned. “Jesus, really? Everyone knows about that?”
She cackled with laughter. “Everyone heard Stone yelling about it, so yes. Everyone knows.”
I tossed my arm over my eyes. “Great.”
“How was it? Was that your first time on the back of a bike?”
I smiled softly at the memory. “It was, actually. I was nervous at first, but West went slow in the beginning and slowly picked up the speed as I grew more comfortable. It was really nice. He took me up and down the Pacific Coast Highway before we stopped at one of his favorite coffee shops.”
Lexi smiled brightly. “You so have a type.”
“I do not.”
“You really do. West is, from top to bottom, the exact guy I’d put you with if I were given a choice.”
“Whatever,” I murmured.
She scooted closer. “Do you like him?”
I turned to face her. “What?”
“Oh, come on, this is me you’re talking to,” she said coyly. “Do you think West is hot?”
“I think most of these guys are hot. Have you seen them in leather jackets?”
“I mean, yeah. But do you think West is hotter?”
I rolled my eyes. “You’re terrible at this.”
She slid her leg between my own. “Do you find yourself wanting to talk with him more than the other guys?”
