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Well, shit.
Her crazy ass creams helped.
The ribs felt like crap, but I had busted a rib or two in the past. It was nothing I couldn't handle as I went to grab new pants and a hoodie that I could slip on and zip up without having to lift my arm too much.
Then I went out into the compound to find Lo and Cy sharing coffee in the kitchen.
"Oh, wow," Lo said, nodding. "Remind me to have Ashley and the other medical people at my place consult with Rey about those salves of hers."
"Where is she?" I asked, seeing the clock declaring it was just barely seven in the morning. If she wasn't in the kitchen with them, where could she be?
"She passed out with her animals," Cy explained, shrugging it off for me even as I felt a small punch to my center, strong as an actual strike. "Think she just needed some comforts of home, bro. Don't think too much into it," he told me as he reached up to grab me a mug for the coffee.
"Do we have tea up there?" I asked, never having the need to know that before.
"I think Summer has some stashed," he said, rummaging around. "Yeah, here. She has chamomile from when she was in her funk about her old man."
I waited for the water to boil, steeped her tea, and went off in the direction of the room her zoo was tucked away in, being greeted by the dogs who had been waiting by the door.
"Can you take them out?" I asked Cy as he passed by.
I walked in to find the light already on, Bing and Frank preening their vivid feathers from the tops of their play stands, Gandalf making slow progress to a bowl that seemed to be boasting some lettuce and fruit. Charlie was perched on a top bunk, the edge of the blanket in his giant foot as he shamelessly put holes in the fabric.
And, among all this, still fast asleep, was Rey, curled on a bottom bunk, her long legs on full display, likely freezing with no blanket draped over her. Her pale hair was half-covering her face, her hands steepled under her cheek.
I moved slowly across the floor, putting both our mugs on the ground as I sat in the empty space above where her knees were cocked up.
My hand reached out, stroking her soft hair behind her ear, my hands freezing as soon as I did.
Because Rey hadn't just wanted to be around her animals, to soothe them in a new space, to have her home comforts around her after a stressful night.
Oh, no.
She wanted to be alone so she could cry unobserved.
With her milk and honey skin, there was no mistaking the red streaks down her cheeks, the swollen puffiness to her eyelids.
In my chest, my heart squeezed with a familiar pang.
I knew she hadn't been fine.
I knew it wasn't possible to be fine after a night like that.
I should have pushed.
But the pills had created a swirling lightness in my brain that made sleep easier than it usually was.
She had needed some reassurance, some comfort. She had needed me, and I had failed her.
That was no shocker, I guess.
I was good at failing people.
Fucking story of my life.
More reason I had no business having her.
She deserved more.
More than what I had to offer her.
"You're supposed to leave it on," Rey's quiet voice called, breaking me out of a familiar, negative circle of thoughts.
"It was flaking off," I countered, trying to be light, not wanting to confront her right upon waking.
"Yeah, but... it's okay. I'll do another coat later," she said, reaching up to scrub at her eyes, the cheek she had been sleeping on creased with the imprint of the top of her hand she had been using like a pillow.
I was really not looking forward to that. But if it made her feel better, she could coat me in cow shit for all I cared.
"Babe," I said, voice going for soft. "Why'd you lie to me?"
Her body stiffened immediately, lips parting, eyebrows creasing. "What? I didn't lie to you."
"Got a crying hangover that says different." Her gaze fell from mine, clearly uncomfortable being caught.
"I cried. But I didn't lie to you."
"I'm listening," I offered, watching as she took a deep breath, and looked up at me.
"I didn't lie to you. I was handling it. I'm fine."
"Don't want you to just be fine, Rey."
To that, her eyes rolled a little as her lips twitched. "Listen, I had to run for my life with a gun, hide in a glass room, be rescued by a stranger, and uproot my life. In a matter of hours. I think that fine is a pretty good place to be in about it."
"If you were fine, why were you crying last night? Alone in this room..."
