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“What the fuck is going on?” I ask, moving to sit up and away from the guys. My head disagrees vehemently, causing me to fall back onto Adam immediately. “Is this an alternate reality?”
“No, baby,” Adam jokes with a laugh, that makes me question his answer. Adam doesn’t joke, especially not with me. “This is just the aftermath of your panic attack.”
My eyes widen in alarm, trying to look around to see if anyone else is here to have witnessed that. It’s bad enough I had that bad of a panic attack with the guys, I, at least, am starting to trust them oddly enough. However, a room full of people I haven’t even spoken to yet? No fucking thank you.
“It’s just us, Lay,” Riggs rumbles out, moving closer to check me over. “No one else saw anything, we made sure of that.”
“Okay,” I whisper, fully relaxing against Adam. My head is pounding intensely, making coherent thoughts difficult at the moment. “Can we go to your place now? I don’t really want to be in public after what just happened.”
“Of course,” Rhys answers, moving to help me stand up with Riggs. “You can come with us though. I don’t trust you to drive in this state.”
“I’ve been driving in this state the entire time I’ve been here,” I argue, my stubborn side coming out in full force.
“No, doofus,” Adam retorts with a full-bellied laugh, shaking his head at me. “He means your state of well-being not the fucking state we’re in.”
Fuck. Of course he did. That makes so much more sense. See? No coherent thoughts going on inside this head right now. Instead of answering, I flip him the bird while leaning on Riggs and walking out of the funeral home. I’ll be fucking damned if I say anything about the stupidity of my confused, stubborn-ass brain. I definitely need a few painkillers and a glass of water soon, though. No more talking until I get those and they kick in.
“Shotgun!” Adam yells as he races past with a shit-eating grin. Grumbling in pain, I flip him the bird one more time just as Riggs grunts out asshole making me chuckle.
These three fucking men are worming their way past my barriers and into my inner circle far quicker than I would like.
Chapter Nine
Alayna
Veering towards my car, I stumble a little bit when I step away from the solid wall of support that is Riggs. Motioning a little with my head towards my car, I let him know what I’m doing. Immediately, he moves with me, catching me by the elbow gently and supporting me once again. My purse is still in the glove box of my car and inside is the sweet, sweet bottle of extra strength pain killers that I am going to need.
“Why can’t one of you drive my car back for me?” I quietly murmur, splitting my focus between walking steadily and talking in coherent sentences. It’s a lot harder than it seems at this moment. I feel awful.
“I’ve been drinking so I can’t and Adam can only drive his own vehicle,” Riggs answers, looking away from me as he does. He looks uncomfortable with the topic which, of course, makes no sense to me. That doesn’t mean I’ll push the subject, it’s just not worth making that look on his face worse.
“Okay. No worries.” He nods at my words, a tiny grateful smile pulling up one side of his mouth.
The walk is slow going thanks to the weakness from my panic attack, but Riggs doesn’t complain at all. He takes every baby step and stumble without even a grunt or a groan. These guys seem to be slowly taking down the walls I’ve erected around myself. Maybe taking down isn’t the right metaphor, they aren’t making my walls disappear by bursting through or anything that would make me question my sanity. No, they’re moving the bricks, gently one by one, and creating a doorway into my bubble of protection. Maybe not asshole Adam, but definitely Riggs and Rhys.
It’s something I’ve never had to deal with before, the gentle protection and support that makes me want to let them in. My instincts aren’t screaming at me because they aren’t being aggressive or pushing boundaries outside of necessity, like touching me during my panic attack. The respect from them is, oddly enough, a breath of fresh air that’s confusing me. These fuckers are dangerous to my bubble of self-isolation.
Walking up to my car, I spot a bundle of something red sitting on my windshield. The closer we get the more I make out the distinct shape of a bouquet of roses, all of them slightly wilted with an envelope sitting in front of them with my name scrawled across the front in chicken scratch writing.
“That’s fucking weird,” I murmur more to myself, almost forgetting that I’m leaning on the big guy.
Riggs steps in front of me, protecting me from the roses. Why he feels the need to protect me from half-dead roses, I have no idea. Rolling my eyes, I slip past him to grab the bouquet and envelope. I may be weak right now, but I’m not a fucking Disney princess who needs protection from a few thorns.
“They’re roses, Riggs,” I scoff with a shake of my head. What did I just think about his protectiveness?It’s gentle and makes me want to let them in?Scratch that, it’s annoying as fuck.
“Who are they from?” he growls out, trying to step around me again. Throwing my arm out, I keep him back so I can actually see.
“How the fuck am I supposed to know when you won’t give me time to check?” I snap at him in exasperation.
He throws his hands up in surrender, taking the smallest step backwards to show he won’t interfere.
Pulling open the envelope, I tug out a single note on thick cream card stock. There’s one line written on it, nothing else. Reading it, my brows furrow in both confusion and pain. Reading with a bad headache is awful.
You look beautiful in black - J
“Looks like a creepy admirer or some shit,” I mumble nonchalantly, hiding the thread of unease moving through me. Fuck if I let it show to Riggs though. Don’t need him going full on protective caveman on me.
Riggs narrows his eyes as Adam makes his way over to us with a glare firmly in place. That’s the Adam I’ve come to know, always so quick with a frown or a bitchy comment. Not that teasing, laughing skinwalker from before.
