I extend a hand to help him to his feet. “Still, it was a dick move on my end. I kicked you out of your bed and you ended up sleeping on the floor because I was having a bitchfit. Not my best moment.”
He takes my hand, but doesn’t let me support any of his weight. “You’re fine, stop,” he decrees as we head towards the kitchen.
I hop up on the counter out of habit, a small pang of longing stabbing me in the chest when Elias doesn’t join me like usual. “It was that noticeable?” I ask, slightly mortified.
He smirks. “Just a little.”
He makes breakfast while I check my tattoo and apply the special lotion they gave me to it. My side is bruised to hell, but I’ll live. It helps to draw my attention away from the stinging in my leg, so that’s a plus. Another day and I suspect my ribs will be the only thing to bother me. I can push through it without much effort, though; this isn’t my first rodeo.
Vyrian joins us at the table when food’s ready and the three of us fall into a similar pattern of yesterday. I have to wonder if Yri had a similar reaction as the others with all of my tossing and turning. Did Soren have to toss him back to his room, or was he more immune like Ren seems to be?
“Where’s Caius?”
Yri’s unusual red eyes glint in amusement. “He had to go to work and was gone long before any of us woke up.”
Soren chimes in, “Where’d he finally get hired?”
Yri smiles. “Lumberjack. He might actually have it rougher than I do.” His smile falters as he glances at me and back to his plate. “If I still have a job tomorrow, that is.”
Shit. Soren was right to use impulsive as an insult. I didn’t even think about how this might affect them, was too caught up in my own issues.
“They won’t fire you,” I state with absolute conviction. “I’ll make sure of it.”
He reaches over and pats my hand as he heads to the sink to start cleaning up. “If they do, so be it. That job is hard as hell in the first place; I can just find somewhere new if it comes down to it. Really, Ezra, don’t make things more stressful on yourself for my sake.”
I groan, which promptly has Soren insisting to check my wounds despite my protests. I shoo him away so that I can start helping clean up, unused to just sitting around as much as they’ve had me doing.
“Time to rip off the band aid,” I decide, knowing I can’t put it off any longer. “You might want to stay here, Ren; this is likely going to get ugly.”
He scoffs. “All the more reason to be there then. I’m not about to hide behind you while you fight battles for me anymore than you wish to be treated as such. I refuse to let you face things alone when they’ll no doubt be livid you didn’t come home last night and return covered in my scent.”
He’s going to quickly build up an immunity to me if he keeps saying stuff like that. Fuck.
With a deep breath and a nod, we head back home, Yri insisting on not being left out. He’s easy to be around, comfortable. If this is what dating is supposed to actually feel like, I’m all for it. No cringe worthy awkwardness, no pressure; just hanging out together.
“Ez,” Kinsley sighs in relief, tugging me into a tight hug. At my hiss, he promptly lets go and tugs my shirt up to get his first look at my ribs, looking repentant. “Fuck, that looks bad. Want an ice pack?”
I bat his hands off. “I’m fine.”
“You have two fractured ribs,” Soren growls. “That’s not ‘fine’.”
Kinsley looks between him and me, grabbing my arm to pull me closer and smell my hair. “Ezra, what did you do?” he demands.
I get pissed. Really fucking pissed. “You really just don’t have any faith in me, do you?” I spit.
At this point, Kaiden and Elias show up behind Kinsley in the doorway, Kaiden shoving past him to check me over. Elias looks more nervous, staying back and just watching for now. After the way we parted, I’m not surprised.
Kaiden catches Soren’s scent all over me first, interpreting his own version of events, and whirls around like he’s going to try to beat the shit out of him. I wrap my hand around his wrist, glaring at him.
“Hold the fuck up here. You all agreed I could date as long as I kept the chastity belt in place, so you don’t have any right to be mad! Especially because if you actually fuckin’ asked me instead of jumping to conclusions, you’d know thatnothing happened!”
I don’t release my hold, staring him down in challenge. Elias is completely right; I pull my punches because I don’t want to hurt them. If I didn’t, it wouldn’t matter that I’m banged up; I will kick his ass right here and now if he continues to push the issue just to make a point.
It’s not healthy. It’s a barbaric and savage way of living, but they’re the ones that encouraged it. I don’t want to have to come to blows to make a point and I don’t want to scream at them. I don’t want to lash out and hurt them just because of how deeply they hurt me.
But I will if I need to, because I’ve reached my breaking point.
They were right; now that I know, I can’t go back to living the way I’ve been. I can’t trust anything out of their mouths if even this one thing they gave their blessing on, they act otherwise. They’ve spent so much time trying to protect me from a war-stricken world, they’re blind to the way I’m already burning.
