Page 206 of Barinov

“It’s fine, I can just go.”

“I said I’m coming, baby.” His voice leaves no room for argument as his towering frame instantly casts a protective shadow over me.

“I’ll go start the coffee,” Cade says, rubbing sleep from his eyes.

These last ten days have been a challenge to say the least.

When we left the hospital, we had every intention of settling back into our apartment on the thirty-first floor. Lock the world out, order takeout, and finally lose ourselves in each other. Lord knows I’ve spent long enough imagining their hands on my body, rewriting the horror show of my time in Eden with their warmth.

We figured with Nate and Tex living in their old rooms in the penthouse, it would be all good. Not an issue or anything.

The universe however, laughed in our little naive faces.

The first night back, Marisol was pounding on our door before the clock even struck midnight. Her face was pale and streaked with tears because she, Tex, and Nate couldn’t pull Zeke out of the dark. When we rushed in, he was drenched in sweat and thrashing so violently he nearly fell off the bed.

It took almost all of us just to finally wake him. The second his eyes snapped open, he swung. A brutal and blind right hook that Lex caught a mere inch from my cheek.

The sheer look of horror on my brother’s face after he realized he almost hurt me broke something inside me. He sobbed, apologizing until his voice cracked into nothing. None of us blamed him.

Well, I guess that’s not entirely true. Lex did. His protective instinct is a lethal, volatile thing, and it took everything Cade had to talk him down from the ledge that night.

After two more sleepless nights in our apartment, the three of us admitted what we already knew. We couldn’t keep sprinting between floors every time Zeke woke up screaming. So we decided to pack everything we needed and move into my old room in the penthouse for a little while.

It’s been an agonizing, beautiful mess. Definitely not the way I ever envisioned my boyfriends bonding with my brother. But watching them navigate Zeke’s fractured pieces has become the only thing keeping me grounded lately.

Lex never flinches anymore when one of my brother’s fists fly his way. He just blocks it with ease and waits for the storm in Zeke’s dark eyes to calm. He’s never once mentioned the bruises the next day.

Cade somehow coaxed Zeke’s appetite back by turning our kitchen into a literal bakery. He makes enough pancakes and pastries to feed a small army every single morning. The first time I walked out onto the terrace and saw the two of them eating in absolute, understanding silence, I just stood there and cried.

They are so patient with him.

And God, they are patient with me. I’ve missed them so much. Honestly, I have. But after months of my uncle’s disgusting hands on my body and touches that made me want to claw out of my own skin, the thought of intimacy makes me freeze. They haven’t pushed. Not one single time.

Lex bolts past Marisol and heads straight toward Zeke the second we hit his room. Zeke is already rearing back, his eyes blown wide and muscles coiled to strike at Lex.

But Lex is faster now. He’s learned Zeke’s movements. He steps into the blind spot, slipping behind my brother and trapping his arm against his lower back, pulling Zeke’s spine flush against his chest in a violent but protective lock.

“Stop it, Z,” Lex commands, his voice low. “Snap out of it, man. You’re alright.”

“I’m sorry,” Marisol whispers, her voice trembling. She’s over by the dresser, her black and pink waves spilling over her shoulders as she wraps her arms tightly around herself. “I thought… We had two good nights. I thought we were finally past all this.”

I swallow the lump in my throat, stepping past the chaos to reach for her. “It’s not your fault, Mar.”

When I pull her into a brief, tight squeeze, she leans into me and lets out a shuddering breath.

That’s another new thing to add to the endless list of things I never saw coming: Marisol Vega being someone I actually enjoy having around. Before all of this, I literally loathed her. Too much history. Way too much drama.

But watching her navigate the wreckage of Zeke’s mind and seeing the fierce way she loves my brother has changed everything. This time, she didn’t run back to daddy when things got ugly. She stayed in the trenches with him, even when he was drowning in his own darkness.

And then she did something I never thought I’d see. The bitch grew a spine. Finally, she chose my brother over everything.

Sabine and I nearly choked when we overheard Marisol telling her father to shove the cartel up his ass because she wasn’t leaving New York. Not while Zeke needed her.

Anyone willing to stand toe-to-toe with a monster like Alejandro Vega and walk away without flinching earns my absolute respect. Ironically, I think that’s why he finally named her his successor. For the first time in her life, she stopped trying to be the annoying daddy’s little girl and became the woman she was always meant to be instead.

She chose love over power. And Alejandro rewarded her with both.

“Baby,” Lex rasps, his biceps straining as he holds Zeke’s thrashing weight. “A little help here.”