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It wasn't a full sentence. Hell if I didn't have her in my arms I never would have known what exactly she had said to begin with. Did she just Alexandra? My muscles tense. I hated that bitch from the beginning but she left me alone so I never bothered to look too closely at her. If she is who harmed a single fucking hair on my Princess's head I will kill her.
"I'm on it, Sky," Steel answers. He must have been able to piece together what she said because he was already pulling out his phone and walking toward the door. "Rome! Let's go! You're with me. Valentina can stay here and watch Emma."
I'm glad he only said to watch Emma. No way in hell does Sky need a babysitter. She has me here and even Gunner, who has been suspiciously silent since she showed up at the door. I look around the room to find my brother standing against the far wall of the room. His back is plastered to the wall and his fists are plastered against his sides. I can tell he is barely holding himself together. After I get Sky showered and in bed, I'll need to talk to him. He needs to snap out of whatever the fuck is going on in his head. Our girl needs us. Now.
"Sky, I'm going to take you to the shower now." I gave her a warning but I wasn't going to let her protest at all. Leaving everyone behind, I carry my girl into my room completely ignoring my bed and walking straight into the shower. "Are you going to be able to sit on the counter for me for just a second? Or do I need to hold you while I start the shower?" I hate the idea of putting her down but even I have to admit it'd be a little difficult to start the shower while holding her. I could do it but I'd rather not have to juggle her when she has been through so much already.
"I...," she pauses and lifts her head from my shoulder before dropping it back down.
"Okay, forget the shower." I shake my head and move toward the bathtub instead. I keep her in my arms as I squat down to start the water. I know she is going to want it scalding hot but this time I'm keeping it on just the warm side. We just need to be in there long enough for me to get her clean. As I watch the tub start to fill I sit her on the ground completely with her back leaning against the side of the tub so I can get her undressed.
"Baby, I need you to lift your arms," I instruct, pulling her shirt up. She does as I ask without fighting me. I leave her bra in place for now once I see the far-off look in her eyes. She's not here, at least not in her mind. She's shutting down, which means I need to get her cleaned fast. I move on to her black jeans and unbutton them quickly. She automatically lifts her hips with very little prompting so I can get the jeans down past her hips. "Let's get you in the tub."
I check the water quickly and it's the perfect temperature so I shut it off and stand quickly. I make fast work getting out of my own jeans and t-shirt before lifting Sky into my arms. She isn't going to be able to sit up and wash herself in the bath which means I need to help her. I'm sure as fuck not going to complain about it either. I can't stand not touching her.
"We will make this quick, Princess," I murmur softly as I lower our bodies into the tub. I place her in front of me and begin putting water in her hair before I grab the bottle of shampoo sitting on the edge of the tub. Squirting a little in my hand I begin massaging it into her scalp and then wash it out once I'm sure her hair is thoroughly clean. I do the same with the conditioner before grabbing the wash cloth and her favorite cotton candy scented shower gel. No one needs to know I purposely had it in here waiting for her return. I wanted something that would be familiar and comforting to her.
"Sky, I know you are stuck in your head right now, but I need you to talk to me. At least say something," I push, basically pleading with her. I don't like how quiet she is. I don't like that she hasn't even made a smart-ass comment to me about the body wash or me taking care of her. Even though my voice was calm, pleading a bit even, I was freaking out inside. I just knew those feelings wouldn't help her at all.
She still doesn't say a word. Even after I wash her body down, pushing her bra and panties to the side to get her completely clean, she doesn't say a word. Instead of fighting with her, I pull the plug on the tub and let the water start to drain. At the same time, I pick up Sky and get both of us out of the tub. Holding her against me with one arm I grab a towel off the warmer next to us and wrap it around her body.
"Your bra and panties are going to need to come off. You can't sleep with wet clothes on, you'll get sick." I looked her in the eyes to see if my words had registered at all, but they hadn’t. She still had a far-off look in her eyes.
Fuck. This is not good at all. What the fuck am I supposed to do?
Getting her dry and into fresh clothes is step one. Then she needs to sleep.
When I get her skin dry and as much of her hair towel-dried as I can, I remove her bra and panties and wrap the towel around her body, lifting her into my arms. Gently I carry her to my bed and place her down gently. She doesn't even stay sitting up, instead choosing to lie on her side and curl up in a ball with just a towel wrapped around her. She looks so small and curled up there and it makes my heart break.
Damnit.
Marching into the closet, I grab one of my black t-shirts off a hanger and carry it back into the bedroom walking right up to my women. I pluck the towel off her body, throwing it to the far side of the room and lift her just enough to slide her into my t-shirt. When I have it pulled down to cover her ass, I lift her and slide the covers of the bed down just enough to get her under them before pulling them up to cover her body.
"I'll be right back, baby," I whisper, leaning down to kiss her cheek. I hate seeing her like this. I hate leaving her when she's like this. I just wanted to curl into bed behind her but Emma was right. She needs food and water. Which means I need to leave her for a moment.
Standing up, I watch her eyes and close and stay closed. When I'm almost positive she fell asleep, I slip back into my closet to grab a pair of boxers and then walk out of the room. Completely ignoring those remaining in the suite I head directly to the kitchen where there are already two glasses of water and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich waiting for me.
Okay, maybe Trevor's wife Emma isn't terrible. She did set out food for Sky and that earns her some points in my book. "Thank you, Emma" I state, my eyes looking up around the room until I find her. She doesn't respond but she does give me a soft smile and a nod before returning to her conversation with Valentina. That's a good enough answer for me.
"Gunner," I ground out through clenched teeth when I walk over to where he is still standing against the wall.
"I can't, Bas," he mutters, shaking his head. Terror fills his eyes as he looks between me and my bedroom door.
"You can, and you will," I demand. This isn't his fault. None of it is his fault and I will do everything in my power to make sure he knows that. The fault lies in those behind Sky's kidnapping and no one else. "Sky needs you. She needs all of us."
"I... She... It's my fault," he stutters, in an attempt to string words together.
"No," I growl. Moving until I'm standing almost chest-to-chest with him. "The fault lies with the assholes who took her and no one else. She is back now, safe with us. She needs us. She needs the men who love her surrounding her and showing her that she isn't alone. She is going to be plagued with fucking nightmares from this ordeal. Nightmares that we need to be there to help her with. She. Needs. Us!"
My breathing is hard as I continue to stare down my brother. If it wasn't for the fact I was holding food and water for my girl, I'd probably punch him in the face just to hit the point home but that isn't an option right now. So I do the best I can by staring him down. Gunner has demons. Ones that I know still plague him from childhood. He's done good finding ways to bury them but they are still there. Losing Sky the way we just did, I know brought back those demons for him but he needs to shove them back into a book. Sky is our priority. Once she's okay then we can deal with our own damn emotions plaguing us.
"Sebastian is right," Emma calls out, clearly having overheard our conversation. "Sky will need all three of you right now. Don't blame yourself for something that isn't your fault. Be there for your woman. Take care of her. That will mean more to her than you blaming yourself for what happened."
"I...," he sighs, shaking his head. "Fine. Lead the way."
I'll take that as a win for now. Tomorrow, we can talk about everything. For tonight, we need to have our woman wrapped in our arms. Safe between our bodies. Tomorrow is another day.
"I'll move Sky into the center of the bed. If she wakes, the food and water will be on the nightstand for her." I wasn't really talking to Gunner in particular but I just in case he was awake when she was he would know where things were for her. "Take a quick shower and then join us in bed. You stink. Oh, and you can grab some shorts out of my closet to borrow to sleep in if you want."
