Piney pointed at her.“See?Firecracker.”
McKayla sighed heavily and rubbed at her temple.“Please stop calling me that.”
“No promises,” Piney chuckled.
I watched her carefully while everyone talked.Doc was right.The exhaustion was catching up to her fast.Her blinking slowed, and her posture sagged little by little.
“You’re tired,” I said.
Her eyes shifted to mine.“It’s been a weird night.”
“Understatement.”
Pearl stood.“We’ll show you around in the morning.”
Shay nodded.“And the kitchen.Lost gets cranky if people touch his coffee maker wrong.”
“I heard that,” Lost called.
“You were supposed to,” Shay shot back.
That earned another laugh from around the room.
Normal.
For a second it didn’t feel like a place where bodies washed up.
I moved closer to McKayla again.“Come on.”I bent slightly to pick her up again.
Her hand immediately landed against my chest.
“I can walk.”
I looked down at her.“You sure?”
“Yes.”
“You fall again, and Anchor’s gonna yell at me.”
“Pretty sure Anchor yells at all of you anyway.”
“Also true.”
I hesitated another second before finally stepping back.I didn’t like it, but she was already glaring at me for hovering too much.
McKayla pushed herself carefully off the couch and steadied.She was wobbly, but upright.“See?”she said quietly.
I stayed beside her anyway, just in case.
The hallway leading toward the bedrooms was quieter than the rest of the clubhouse.Softer lighting.Worn hardwood floors.Doors lining both sides.
McKayla moved slowly beside me while the sounds of conversation faded behind us.
“You all really live here together?”she asked.
“Most of us.”
“And nobody kills each other?”
