CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
SILVER
40 MINUTES EARLIER
This woman has my insides tied in knots. There was something so captivating about her, I couldn’t keep myself away, even though I knew I should. She was far too good for the likes of me. Indy had told me that she wouldn’t care about it, but I cared. I wouldn’t want her mixed up with someone with my past, so I’d be a hypocrite to be with her.
But as I storm down the stairs towards my kitchen, it’s her husband’s I’m pissed at. I push the door open, and take a look at the three men trying, unsuccessfully, to clean my kitchen as I tell them, “You guys are idiots.”
Indy reels his head back in shock. “What do we do?”
“Maybe we aren’t the best at cleaning your kitchen, but I don’t think that makes us idiots,” Ryker adds.
“I’m not talking about the kitchen,” I say, waving my hands around whatever it was they were trying to do in here to clean up. “I’m talking about her.” I point up towards their room and woman on the second floor.
“Uhh… care to explain that a little more?”
“The three of you are her mates, her husbands, and you just left her at the moment she was feeling the most vulnerable.”
“What do you mean? Her wounds had healed, hadn’t they?” Ryker asks.
“Her physical ones, yes, but not her emotional ones. If one of you dick heads had taken a moment to actually look at her face, you would have seen she was crying, and you just walked out and left her like that. Like you couldn’t face her and didn’t care that she was upset.”
“Fuck you, Silver. I left so I wouldn’t say something I’d regret. Seeing her get hurt because she did something that we could have done for her… just makes me so angry.”
“That!” I point at Braxton. “That is exactly what I’m talking about. She thinks you’re angry ather.”
“No, I’m not mad at her, I’m mad at the situation, that I wasn’t there to help.”
“Iknow that. Butshe,” I point towards the room again, “Doesn’t. Which is why she was crying.” I watch his face and see it the moment he realizes what I’m talking about.
“Fuck, was she really crying?”
“The second the three of you left, she burst into tears. I didn’t leave until I was able to calm her down, no thanks to you idiots.”
“Silver, I’ve never heard you speak so much in the weeks that we’ve known you,” Ryker says with a wide smile.
“Yes, well, I’ve never had anything important to say before now. But you guys are acting like morons, and I’m going to call you out on it, especially when you’re doing it at her expense.”
“I’m going up there,” Ryker says, tossing his broom to the side.What was he even sweeping?
“No, wait, we should all go, we all messed up,” Indy suggests. “Let’s finish cleaning up this mess and we’ll go together.” Ryker nods.
“Uhh… Silver? How do we clean this up?”
I sigh, pointing to the fireplace. “The mess is in there, see the frying pan and the grill? We need to get those out and cleaned up,and then we should remove all the bacon that dropped in there.”
We make quick work of cleaning out the fire pit before washing our hands and heading upstairs. As I reach the bottom of the steps behind them, I stop in my tracks, my foot raised above the first step. I realize that I’m not part of this, I’m not part of their little family. Reluctantly, I pull my foot back and watch as they bound up the stairs and burst into her room. Good, this will give them some time to get things settled between them. I hated seeing her so upset. I understood both sides, the men hated seeing her hurt, but she felt like they were angry at her for hurting herself.
I turn and head to the bar, deciding to get myself a quick drink. It’s still early, but this morning has been a crazy one already. Earlier, when I was walking through the tavern getting ready to open and I heard her scream, I swear I felt ice run through my body as I ran back to the kitchen. When I saw the fire practically attacking her, her men nowhere around, I felt angry. But it wasn’t directed at her, it was just directed at what was happening to her. I couldn’t help but worry about her, care for her. Even if she wasn’t mine to care about.
I take a swig of my drink when I hear Braxton’s loud, booming voice. “WHERE IS MY WIFE?” My gaze darts to the top of the stairs where he’s standing, looking down at the tavern with an angry glint in his eye, his hands tightly gripping the railing.
The other two dart out of the room after him, looking frantic as their heads scan the tavern. They all run down the stairs, and I suddenly realize what Braxton said. “What do you mean? She’s not in her room?”
“I wouldn’t be yelling for her if she was,” he grits out between his teeth as he storms towards the exit. I hop over the bar and chase after the three of them as they start calling her name down the rainy street.
“The market,” Ryker says, pointing down the road. “I bet she went there.”
