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He gave me a small smile. “Yeah, I am. Thank you for asking. Are you okay?”
“Ye—No.” I picked at a fuzz on my leggings. “I’m not.”
Sammy wrapped his arm around my shoulders, pulling me into his side. “I got you and I will take care of you. If you want to just sit in silence, that’s fine and I will do that. Just do it with me, Red. Don’t shut me out.”
My chin wobbled, fresh tears rolling down my cheeks. I huffed, roughly wiping them away. “I’m sick of crying,” I mumbled.
“To be fair, you are pregnant with twins,” Cyrus pointed out. “Your hormones are going to be extra crazy right now. Besides everything else that’s happened of course.”
“Thank you. All of you,” I said as we pulled past the gates and into the long driveway that led to the large house.
Cyrus parked the SUV, his eyes catching mine in the rearview mirror. “We’ll talk later,” he told Sammy. “You need some rest, Amber.”
I nodded, following Sammy out of the back of the vehicle.
“I just got a text from…Krew, Tiny’s prospect,” Cyrus said, coming around to our side of the SUV. “They brought your mom to the funeral home. They’ll get her taken care of, but I imagine you would want her to wear something of her own.”
“Yes, I would.” I grabbed Sammy’s hand. “We’ll have to go to her house.” I started thinking of all the things I needed to do and people I needed to contact. “I don’t know how to do this.”
“I’ll help you.” Sammy brought my hand up to his mouth. “We all will.”
“He’s right.” Cyrus gave me a small smile. “I never met your mom and I only just started getting to know you but you’re family, Red. And you’re carrying my nieces or nephews or one of each.”
I laughed lightly, wiping away a lonely tear that ran down my cheek. “Thank you. We can start planning tomorrow, but I would like my mom to be buried at the same place as your parents. She said she had friends back home, but I think they were just using her. I should have gone home. I should have done a lot of stuff but now I can’t. I—”
“You need some rest,” Sam said, his tone leaving no room for argument.
“I need a shower first.” I looked down at myself, wishing I could have changed so many things, but I couldn’t, so I would have to move on. I was just thankful that our babies were okay. They were safe. That was all that mattered.
Sammy
As soon as Ileft my bedroom, I let out a heavy breath. It was like all of the weight from the night came crashing down on my shoulders whether I wanted it to or not. I leaned against the wall, sliding down until my ass hit the floor.
Rubbing the back of my neck, I blew out another breath. She was fine. They were fine. Our babies were strong. My girl was strong. It only made me feel a little better as the minutes ticked on. Amber had become quiet. Ever since she slipped into my shower and started the water, I could hear her muffled cries as she tried keeping them at bay, but it didn’t help.I could hear her.
“How’s she doing?”
My head lifted, finding Cyrus coming down the hall toward me.
“I don’t know.” I leaned my head back against the wall, bringing my knees up to my chest. “She’s quiet. I’m not used to her being quiet and I don’t like it. I tried getting her to talk. About shooting Will. About her thigh. About her mom. Just…about something…but she’s closed up.”
Cyrus sat on the floor beside me, mirroring my pose. “She needs time.”
“Will carved his name into her thigh,” I blurted.
My brother stiffened beside me, his gaze searing into the side of my head.
“Shit.” Cyrus blew out a slow breath. “Listen, I know you haven’t asked for advice but I’m going to give it to you anyway. First off, you need to be patient.”
I grunted.
“Second, whatever she wants, whether it’s to talk or just sit there in the dark and be quiet, she’s going to need you to be there with her.”
“I don’t want her to shut me out.” I looked at him then. “I can’t handle it if she did.”
“It wouldn’t be intentional, Sam. But she has to figure out how to deal with this on her own too. Our women are strong. They don’t want to have to depend on us to take care of them. As much as we insist on trying.”
“She hasn’t said much since we’ve been…home…” Was it even her home? Was that the issue? Maybe I should bring her back to her apartment. Or better yet, I could bring her to her mom’s sooner than she planned. I could drive and she could sleep.
