Cole was tugging on his earlobe, glaring at our friends. “Ye both know better than that. Let Reid talk.”
I smiled, reaching over to squeeze Cole’s fingers. “Thanks, lovely.”
“Do ye need yer Loops?” Mac asked anxiously, fishing in his pocketfor them.
“No.” Cole flashed a reassuring smile at Mac. “So long as the two of ye can keep it below a hundred decibels, I’ll be okay.”
“We will,” Mac said.
“We’ll try,” Bryce added with a sniff. “I make no promises. I might need to do some more yelling.”
I grinned at him. “God, I’ve missed ye.”
Some of his ire melted. “I’ve missed ye too, ye eejit. That’s why I’m so upset.”
“I get that.” I twisted my hands together in my lap. I should’ve poured myself a drink when I made theirs. Alcohol might not affect me in the same way now I was bonded to Evan, but anything to take the edge off would’ve been appreciated. “Believe me, distance from ye all is the last thing I wanted. If there’d been a way around this, I would’ve found it. To answer your questions, the attack was before Christmas. Chester is fine, but only because Finn, Evan, and some of their friends were close by and intervened.”
From the corner of my eye, I saw Evan stand quietly and disappear in the direction of the kitchen.
Bryce’s eyes narrowed as he watched him leave. Then, he was surging forwards, taking both my hands in his. “Reid, are ye in danger right now?”
“No.” I squeezed his fingers lightly. “I’m safe. My family have backed off and I don’t expect them to come back.”
Not anytime soon, anyway.
“I don’t mean that.” Bryce was talking fast, keeping his voice low. “With Evan?”
I frowned. With Evan? Why would I be unsafe here? “What?”
Bryce clicked his tongue impatiently. “Come on, Reid. You hated the bloke, and now you’re living with him?”
“We’re worried about you,” Mac said quietly. “Are ye being abused?”
“What?” The idea was so absurd that I laughed. “No, of course I’m not!”
“Ye don’t have to tell us if ye are,” Cole added. “Just give us a signal and we’ll get you out of here.”
Through the bond, there was a sad ache. Even with them whispering, Evan was hearing all of this. Probably thinking he deserved it too, given our past.
“That’s enough,” I said firmly. “Thank ye for being concerned about me, but you’ve got the situation completely wrong. I’m in love with Evan. Completely and irrevocably. He treats me better than anyone ever has before, and if I said I wanted to leave with you tonight, he’d let me walk away without a word.”
He would. It’d break his heart, but he would.
Good thing we both knew I’d never do that.
I gentled my voice. “Thank ye for offering though, it means the world to me. If Iwasin that situation, you giving me this lifeline would be everything. But I’m not. Evan’s great, and I know you’ll all love him too.”
“I’m not that great,” Evan rumbled from behind me. “Reid’s just biased.”
He dropped a kiss onto my head before pushing a wine glass into my hand. “Here ye go, sweetheart. Thought you might like this.”
“Thank ye.” I lifted my head to kiss him. He’d hadn’t read my thoughts; the bond didn’t work like that. But he knew me well enough to know that a glass of wine was exactly what I needed. “Love you.”
“Love you too,” he murmured before addressing my friends. “I also want to thank ye for what you just did forReid. You canna know what it means to me for him to have friends like you.”
Mac winced, carding a hand through his hair. “Shit, man, you weren’t meant to hear that.”
“Do ye have the hearing of a bat?” Bryce asked indignantly.
