His mouth curves. “And lip gloss.”
I sniffed, which hurt my face, and gave him the best glare my swollen eye could manage. “I hate you.”
His smile finally broke through, slow and quiet and so painfully beautiful I almost got mad all over again.
“No,” he said, lifting my hand to his mouth and kissing my knuckles like he had all the time in the world to keep proving it. “You don’t.”
And for once, I didn’t argue.
Because I didn’t.
Not even a little.
33
Cade
By the time the doctor cleared Bliss to leave, the hospital room had become less of a medical space and more of a Bennett family hostage situation.
There were too many people in it, too many voices, too much coffee, too much controlled panic disguised as bossiness, and too many protective men to give even a single shit about the hospital’s visiting policy.
Daniel stood near the foot of the bed with discharge papers gripped in one hand like they had personally offended him. Knox was beside the window with his phone in one hand and his expression locked into cop mode, which meant every inch of him looked calm except for the muscle jumping in his jaw. Ryker had not sat down once. Kellen leaned against the wall with both arms folded, firefighter hoodie stretched tight across his shoulders, while Emmitt stood near him with that police-academy posture he probably thought made him look controlled and mostly just made him look like a Bennett trying not to combust. Lyon had one hand shoved through his hair and the other on his hip, staring at Bliss like if he looked hard enough, he could physically hold her together.
Aura and Charm stood on the other side of the bed, both of them too composed in ways that told me neither of them was composed at all.
Bliss sat propped against the pillows in the middle of all of it, drowning in an oversized hoodie someone had found for her, hospital blanket tucked around her waist, bruises darkening along her cheek and throat while she looked ready to fight every person in the room with nothing but attitude and a pudding spoon.
“I can go home,” she said for the third time.
“No,” Daniel, Knox, Ryker, Aura, Charm, and I said at once.
Her swollen eyes narrowed carefully, like she had already learned that full-force glaring made everything hurt worse. “That was cult-like.”
“It was family-like,” Charm corrected.
“Same thing with more casseroles,” Bliss muttered.
The nurse, who had been trying to explain the discharge instructions for the last six minutes while the Bennett men silently vibrated around her, gave Bliss a sympathetic smile. “You need to rest, avoid physical strain, take the medication as directed, and you should not be alone for the next forty-eight hours. With the concussion symptoms, rib injury, and swelling, someone needs to be with you in case anything changes.”
Bliss lifted one hand weakly toward Daniel. “Great. Dad has a couch.”
Daniel’s face tightened.
Before he could answer, I did. “You’re coming to Hockey House.”
Every set of eyes in the room swung toward me.
Bliss stared at me.
I stared back.
“No,” she said.
“Yes.”
“Cade.”
“Pip.”
