“I would’ve made empanadas,” Emilio said, “but those are harder to get into a syringe.”
Gray laughed and glanced my way. “Did you make me soup, too, D?”
Now it was my turn to laugh. “Heavens, no. I don’t cook, Gray. I have a staff for that. But before you think me a heartless brute, you should know that while your preciousRonandid little else but brood like a sullen teenager—”
“Not true,” Ronan said. “I also sulked.”
“I stand corrected,” I said. “While your multi-talented demon boy practiced his dark cloud routine, I read to you every night without fail.”
“Like bedtime stories?” she teased.
“Of a sort.”
“Goodnight Moon?”
“More like legal briefings from my defense attorney days, if you must know. It’s what I had available at the time.”
“Seriously?” Gray laughed again, and in that moment I was nearly certain I’d give up my immortality if it meant I could keep hearing that music. “No wonder I was unconscious for so long.”
“Now you know why I sold my practice and went into the club business.”
She sat up again, continuing to stare at us in wonder. “I feel like I’m starting to remember some of that—like the taste of the soup, maybe? And some of the reading. And some kind of… singing?”
“Singing?” I asked.
Ronan turned away, but not before I caught sight of the blush on his cheeks.
“You?” I asked him. “Really?”
Ronan shrugged. “Guilty.” He turned back to Gray with a wink. “But I’ll never tell you which song. Not even if you torture me.”
“That’s funny,” I said, “because I’d bet hearing you sing is its own torture.”
“I wish I could remember more,” Gray said. “I feel like I should thank you.”
“It will come to you in time,” Emilio told her, rubbing a hand down her back. “And you do thank us. Just by being here. Just by being you.”
Gray turned her gaze back to me, her blue eyes bright. “I can’t believe you guys never said anything. Especially you, D. God, all that time making deliveries to Black Ruby, I was totally scared of you.”
I nodded. “I understand, love. I am an apex predator after all.”
“Hello?” Gray rolled her eyes and smirked. “You’reallapex predators. It’s just that you happen to have the sharpest teeth.”
Her gaze lingered on my mouth, the heat of that penetrating stare sending an inconvenient surge of desire right below the belt. Thankfully I was still on the floor, the—ahem—hard evidence not quite in view of the others.
Gray swallowed hard, the lightness of the moment evaporating. “I don’t even remember how I got on that boat. I was in Portland before this, and somehow I just… ended up here.” She shook her head, but her eyes grew cloudy.
“Anyway,” Ronan said, “after all that, you stayed with me, and the other guys backed off. We didn’t want to overwhelm you. Figured it’d be better to see what you remembered on your own.”
“When it was clear that you didn’t,” I said, “it just became easier not to mention it at all. You and I had our brief interactions at the club, but it’s not the sort of thing you bring up when signing for a delivery, is it?” I shook my head, clearing the images of her shivering, broken body. “None of us like remembering those days, Gray. You were badly wounded, and… Well, you’re obviously fine now—strong enough to take on vampires and men twice your size, and who knows what other foul beasts.”
“Oh, yes,” she teased, flexing a bicep. “I’msuperhardcore.”
“Clearly my chicken soup worked its magic,” Emilio said.
“Or perhaps my soothing voice, coaxing you back from the brink.” I winked at her, but our story had come to an end, and I didn’t have much time to get home if I wanted to beat sunrise.
I got to my feet, the rest of them following suit. Gray looked a little tired on her feet, but otherwise surprisingly okay, given her ordeal tonight.
