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“Reporters are here.” Caiden’s mouth was set in a flat line. “My dad said they’re outside his house, Cass’ parents’ house, and the offices. But there’re more here and outside your dad’s.”
“For fuck’s sake.” I rubbed my hand over my face, blinking away the last vestiges of sleep. “Can we do anything?”
“They’re beyond our property boundary, so no. But that means they can’t do anything, either. We’re not going anywhere, so they’re not gonna get anything from us. The Alstone Holdings’ lawyers have prepared that statement we discussed, too. They can freeze outside, waiting for a scoop that’ll never come.”
“Fuck. It’s too early for this shit. I need coffee.”
“Yeah. Does Fallon want one?” He shot me a sly look, and when I narrowed my eyes, he smirked. “That serial killer stare doesn’t work on me, mate. Never has.”
“Fuck off.” I shoved at him as we moved towards the stairs, and he shoved me back, grinning, but then his smile dropped.
“Seriously, though, you know we won’t give her shit anymore. After what happened, and the fact that you and the girls all trust her, know the rest of us have her back, too. I’m happy for you, Z. If she’s the one or whatever.”
“I have to hope she forgives me first,” I muttered as we reached the bottom of the stairs.
“The fuck? For what?”
“She…she was there when her brother fell. She saw us together.”
“Fuck,” he breathed. “It was an accident, though, wasn’t it.”
The way he worded it as a statement, like it was fact, made something go warm inside of me. I gave a short nod. “Yeah. But I didn’t get to him in time, and now he’s gone, and I can’t do anything to get him back, and she thinks that I…” Fuck. I trailed off, unwilling to put it into words. Did she still believe that I’d caused her brother’s death? Yeah, I felt guilty as fuck, and I did feel responsible, but… It really had been an accident. A nightmare, but I would never have done anything to purposely hurt Tim. He was her best friend as well as her brother, and so I’d always done my best to be careful with him.
Yet that sick feeling of guilt lay heavy in my stomach.
As we entered the kitchen, Cade shook his head at me, his brows pulling together. “It wasn’t your fucking fault. Okay?”
Thank fuck everyone jumping on us saved me from replying because I had no idea what to say.
“Z!” Mack bounded up to me, a grin stretching across his face. “Glad to see you took my advice and included me in this.”
What? It was then that I noticed who was crowding into the kitchen. Cass, West, Cade, Winter, Lena, and Jessa were the obvious ones. But as well as them, there was Mack, our friend Obie, and Kinslee. And Granville, of course. He was making himself useful for once, brewing coffees for everyone while Cass and Jessa were cooking. I inhaled the smell of bacon, heading for the cupboards to grab plates. Piling them up next to the oven, I turned to Mack. “Alright, mate?”
“Any ideas for your next tatt? Or do you want a piercing? Cade told me to bring everything. You owe me for making me lug all my shit over here.”
I glanced over at Caiden, one arm around Winter’s waist, her back to his chest, while he listened to whatever Kinslee was saying to them. He caught my glance and shot me a small smile. Right after that, West slid a coffee under my nose, and Cass began plating up the bacon and eggs, giving me the first dish. I exhaled, reminding myself to breathe. Fuck. These guys were my brothers, and they were showing their support without making a big deal out of it.
It was then that I realised that I didn’t need to feel the pain anymore. But I wanted to be inked. I glanced down my body, thinking. “Can you do me a lightning bolt?” Lightning was the closest description I could come to when it came to my scar, and when it eventually faded to the same silvery white as the others, I wanted to remember. How I’d been so fucking low then, and how I’d pushed through, and I was still here.
“Course.” Mack smirked at me, following my gaze. “If I’m going into uncharted territory, you’d better make sure you cover your dick.”
“You pierced my dick, fucker.”
His grin was evil. “As if I could forget that.”
“Mack,” I growled.
He threw up his hands, his grin still plastered across his face. “Okay, okay. Bloody hell.”
I cuffed him around the head, and after he punched me in the arm, we made arrangements to do the ink after we’d eaten. It was a good excuse to get my mind off all the other shit that was happening. With the tattoo’s positioning, the top of it would end up being just below my Roman numerals Four tattoo.
Mack was about to say something to me when his gaze shot to something behind my head, and his eyes darkened. “Fucking hell,” he mumbled, and I spun around to see Fallon poised in the doorway.
Fuck me. Her platinum hair framed her face, a little messy from being in bed but still dropping down her back in a silky waterfall. She didn’t have any makeup on, and she didn’t need it because her huge, fucking beautiful eyes, fringed by long lashes, stood out without any help. Her soft lips were a pale pink, and I wanted to fucking bite them, to redden them so everyone would see the evidence that she was mine. But it wasn’t even her gorgeous face that captivated me, nor her sexy-as-fuck, perfectly proportioned body. It was what she was wearing.
One of my T-shirts—an Alstone College one in black, which hung off her body, slipping down to expose her collarbones. And just visible below it was a pair of my fucking boxers.
Fuuuuck.
