Page 102 of The Villain

“Superficial, my ass.”

“You have blood all over your shirt.” Jace lifted up the edge and gasped when he saw my wound. “Were youstabbed?”

“A shallow prick, really.”

“Shut up, Cian,” Devlin growled.

My men surrounded us to pat me on the back and wish me well. A lot of them still gave Devlin a wide berth, which I understood. That would change, though.

We somehow made it up the stairs, which proved to be more painful than I’d anticipated, and I breathed a sigh of relief as we entered my apartment. “Need a shower,” I said. “I’m not getting in bed until I wash the past twelve hours off me. I can still smell Paolo’s cigar smoke, and it makes me want to hurl.”

Jace and Rhys stayed in the apartment while Devlin helped me with a quick rinse that was nothing but business. I could barely put weight on my left leg, and Devlin looked like he was two seconds away from passing out.

We emerged from the bathroom a bruised pair, and I was about done with this getting-beaten-up shit. I collapsed into bed with a groan just as Dr. Bev arrived, looking incredibly peeved. She stitched my side and confirmed the rest of my injuries were bruises that would heal with time. Devlin had a mild concussion. We were both dehydrated.

While we drank water and ate some of the food Jace brought us, I gave Rhys a brief recap of the shit show that was the last twenty-four hours. Devlin picked through a plate of Randy’s freshly baked cookies, claiming he was in search of the “chewiest one,” while I detailed how he’d saved our lives in the riskiest way possible. Rhys stared at him with a tense jaw, while Jace batted his eyelashes at Devlin in what I could only describe as hero worship.

“So we won’t get any blowback from this?” Rhys asked, refusing to verbally give Devlin any credit. “Who’s this Nik guy?”

“He’s not a liar,” Devlin said. “If he says he’ll take care of it, then he will.” He and Jace sampled the cookies while discussing their rating based on chocolate chip-to-dough ratio.

Rhys sighed and rubbed his forehead, fatigue and strain weighing on his shoulders in a way I hadn’t ever seen. “I’m tired of this shit, Cian. I’m just…” He glanced at Jace, who sat cross-legged in front of Devlin. Both of them had chocolate on their faces. “I’m tired.”

“I know,” I said as I settled back on the pillows. The stitches on my side pulled, and I winced. “Me too.”

A look passed between us, a promise to revisit this topic later. I had already made up my mind to mitigate the risk to the men I cared about. Or get rid of it altogether.

“Let’s go,” Rhys said to Jace. “They need to rest.”

“They always need to rest,” Jace grumbled as he walked toward the door. “How about everyone stops getting stabbed and shot? Wouldn’t that be nice?”

Rhys gave me another look. I nodded. When the door shut behind the pair, I settled my head on my pillow and pulled the sheet up to my chest. “I feel like I could sleep for a million years.”

Devlin lay down beside me. His fingers ghosted over the top of my head. “Well, maybe not a million, but sleep as long as you want. I’ll be here when you wake.”

“You sleep too.” My eyes were already closed.

“I will.”

I woke up with a hard dick and my arms empty. I was immediately pissed at Devlin for not being where he belongeduntil I opened my eyes to find him awake and reclined next to me on the bed. Sometime while I was asleep, he’d dragged the TV stand to the end of the bed. The screen flickered with some documentary, the volume on mute.

He wore a pair of tight boxer briefs and nothing else, with his legs stretched out in front of him and crossed at the ankle over top of the sheets. His hair stuck up in all directions, and his face was puffy from sleep. He drank from a glass of water and crunched an ice cube between his molars before he realized I was awake.

He glanced down and smiled. “You feel better? You slept like ten hours.”

Something soft brushed my cheek, and I glanced up to see that the stuffed orca and shark lying between our pillows, both of their faces turned toward the TV as if they were watching too. It was absolutely disgusting that this made me smile.

He picked up the orca and pressed the snout to my cheek while simulating a loud, obnoxious smacking kiss that I also found revolting when my heart skipped a beat.

I picked up the shark and made a chomping sound as the felt jaws touched Devlin’s thigh. He laughed, and I couldn’t believe how much I liked the sound of it.

What the hell? I’d gone soft and sappy. But I couldn’t seem to pull myself out of this moment, warm in my bed, breathing in the scent of Devlin’s clean skin while his laughter echoed in my ears.

“You slept too, right?” I asked.

“Yep. Just shy of nine hours.”

“You hungry?”