Page 17 of Vows of Ruin

He groans, handing me his coffee. “Fuck. Okay, okay. Just lemme grab my shoes.”

“Appreciated.” I sip his coffee but before he can walk off, I glance at both of them “You keep your mouth shut. Both of you. I’ll tell the others soon enough.”

As Wrecker is leaving Max and Liam step inside, shirtless, sleep-warm and barefoot. I barely stifle a smile. Max crosses his arms over his chest, eyebrows raised. “Imagine my surprise when I woke up holding Reaper instead of you, Sparrow.”

Liam’s expression is dry. “Oh yeah? Imagine mine, when I woke up with your face nuzzled in my neck.”

I can’t help it, I giggle, hand pressed over my mouth, Elias lets out a bark of laughter, already dragging his chair closer like he’s watching the best episode of reality TV.

“Please,” Elias says through wheezing laughter. “I will pay money to see that. Do it again and let me take pictures.”

“You know what makes it funnier?” I tease, glancing between the two of them. “They were both naked.”

“Sparrow,” Max growls out, half-hearted and amused.

Liam just laughs and crosses the space between us, pressing a soft kiss to the top of my head like it’s the most natural thing in the world.

Elias has fallen out of his chair from laughing.

“What do we owe the pleasure of being up so early?” Max asks, eyeing me with that knowing tilt of his head.

“No big thing,” I say breezily, walking past them to the door. “Just need to run an errand.”

“Wrenley—” Liam starts, but I cut him off.

“Wreckers taking me,” I assure them. “I’ll be back soon. Just… keep everyone here, okay?”

Max and Reaper exchange a look, but neither stop me. Not yet. They trust me. They don’t know what I’m about to ask of them. But I will protect them. I have to. Even if it means burning a few more secrets to the ground.

The drive is quiet, but I notice Wrecker glancing at me a little too often. His hands flex on the steering wheel, and he keeps adjusting the rearview mirror like we’re being followed, which we aren't. He's nervous.

“Okay, spill it. Why are you so twitchy?” I ask him with a pointed glare.

He shakes his head, adjusting the rearview mirror again. “I’m not twitchy, it’s just early. What if she’s sleeping? No one likes getting woken up at the ass crack of dawn, we could go get food and come back later?”

“There’s nothing to worry about, Doc knows we come to her at all hours. It’s fine.”

Wrecker shakes his head no but doesn’t push it any further. When we pull up in front of Doc’s house, I’m out of the car before he’s even fully parked. I walk straight to the door, boots crunching gravel. Wrecker slowly follows behind, like he'd rather be anywhere else. I knock twice.

The door swings open and there, standing in nothing but a towel, is Torque.

“Torque?!” I blurt.

He freezes, eyes going wide. “Fuck,” he mutters.

I see his gaze lift, straight past me, to Wrecker, who’s now standing sheepishly behind me.

“Really, man?” Torque growls.

Wrecker throws up his hands. “She’s a tiny terror, and I’m scared of her, okay?” What did you want me to do?”

Before either of them can argue further, Doc leans around the corner, towel-drying her hair, looking completely unfazed.

“Well, this secret’s shot to hell,” she says casually, stepping into view. She’s in pajamas and a coffee in hand.

I smirk, crossing my arms. “You could’ve told me you were dating Doc.”

Torque rubs the back of his neck, grumbling something about ‘privacy.’