Page 39 of Fractured Memories

Lochlan steps around me, offering a shrug. “You do have the most whiskey out of the three of us now. It’s only fair we raid yours.”

I don’t argue. Normally, we spend most of our time at my house. Rohan prefers his space and privacy. Lochlan prefers not being home. Mine has always been open to them, and more often than not, I’d find one of them barging in at all hours of the day—though they did learn to announce themselves after Eden moved in.

I know I need to go home, and even if I won’t say it out loud, it’ll be easier to do so with them at my side. So I follow after them, my boots clicking against the ground as I approach the bridge. I tug my gloves on before stepping onto the thick metal that will take me back to the one place I’ve been avoiding.

“You sure you don’t want to go to Lo’s?” I ask as we approach the steps to my home. “Mika might be there eating all your sweets.” It’s a pathetic effort on my part, but I’m not exactly at my best right now.

Rohan glares at me. “No.” He shoves open my front door without another word.

Lochlan looks over at me, his dark blue gaze soft. “It’s been that bad?”

No. I’m not going to talk about this shite with him.

I shove inside as I pull my gloves off, ignoring the question. I follow after Rohan, fully intending to go to my sitting room where I’ll numb every memory until they can’t cut me open anymore.

Or that was the plan.

Until I turn a corner and find Rohan frozen. I step to the side of him, spotting Eden a few feet away. They must have nearly run into each other.

Lochlan bumps into me as he comes around the corner. “What the fuck—” He moves around me, and I can hear the smile in his voice. “Oh, hey, Eden.”

She’s staring at the three of us wide-eyed, and Rohan’s normally expressionless mask has slipped. I realize then that while Rohan and Lochlan have listened to me bitch, they haven’t actually seen her again. Even if Rohan likes to act emotionless, I know he cares for my wife just as much as Lochlan does.

Glancing between the two of them, I see the relief on their faces. One of their closest friends is home, and they are finally seeing her again.

But Eden doesn’t look anywhere near as happy. She’s tense as fuck, and I see that it weighs just as heavily on my friends as it does on me.

“I was just going to my room.” She drops her gaze, taking a step back, and I hate it. I hate that she has lost the family she had, that her fire has been replaced with uncertainty, that she doesn’t want to even be in the hallway with the three of us.

But then I notice her hand brush alongside her thigh where she used to keep her knife sheathed, and I wonder if my Eden is still in there. If there are parts of her that are lingering just beneath the surface. She’s never been any better than me at expressing herself, so why would this be any different?

It’s enough to make me want to push.

“I’ll walk with you,” I offer, shooting Lochlan a glance.

He immediately understands, slipping past me. “We’ll see you later, Eden,” he murmurs, shooting Rohan a look over his shoulder. Rohan follows after him quietly, giving Eden one last glance before they are both gone.

Leaving Eden and me alone.

And this time, I’m not holding back.

CHAPTER 13

EDEN

Given everything Mika has told me, I can only assume the two men that just slipped past me were Rohan and Lochlan. Seeing them has me feeling on edge in a way I haven’t felt in days. I’m not sure what it is about Rohan’s dark gaze or Lochlan’s soft smile, but my chest feels oddly tight, even though they’re gone.

Kieran’s stare scorches my skin, and I force myself to meet his green eyes. Trapped alone with him, I find myself wishing Mika was here. She’d know how to break this tension.

“I can walk on my own,” I say, remembering his offer.

I haven’t seen Kieran in days, and a part of me has been waiting for him to reappear. The longer it took, the more I kept replaying our limited interactions. Ones that always end in him snapping and walking away. But I’ve come to realize that his parting words every time have given me insight into what he is feeling since he doesn’t seem to be interested in just telling me.

Not that I am any more talkative. That has become apparent to me as I’ve spent more time with Mika.

What a great couple we supposedly are.

He shakes his head, taking a step toward me. My entire body flushes with heat, and it erases the touch of hesitation I’d been feeling. Instead, I feel that spark of anger that only seems to flare to life around him.