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“He didn’t hurt me.”
Vaughn’s gaze held some doubt while Freddie was already back with the ice pack. Rome was just behind them, silent and wary. Liam and Milo were absent. Maybe they’d gone with Jasper to catch up to Mickey. I didn’t even care that I was naked. Freddie’s gaze was pinned to mine as he held out the ice pack.
“Boo-Boo, the red marks on your neck say otherwise.”
“So does your voice,” Kellan added, but then he raised a hand. “But I get it. You don’t think he was trying to hurtyou.”
No, he definitely hadn’t been trying to hurt me at all. “He was dreaming.” As pained as he sounded, though… it was a nightmare.
I’d woken up alone a few times after going to bed with Mickey. He didn’t trust himself or his dreams. Most of the time, he waited for me to go to sleep and then would leave. Tonight…he’d stayed.
Vaughn wrapped the ice pack around my neck. “He didn’t want to hurt me,” I assured Vaughn, and his eyes softened, their topaz hue seeming even more magical.
“I know he didn’t, Dove. Doc would never hurt you willingly.”
Tracking my gaze to Kellan and then Freddie, I searched for any disagreement. But all Kellan said was, “Are you bruised anywhere else?”
“No.” I folded my arms because the combination of marble countertop, ice pack, and nudity made for hard nipples and shivers. “He pinned me, but he wasn’t trying to hurt me. He didn’t even say anything, just—sounds.” Wounded sounds. They hurt to hear.
Had he been dreaming about Ms. Stephanie? The firefight where he was wounded? His wounds? I had no idea, but there was no mistaking the pain and thelossin those guttural sounds.
“Then I said his name…” I lifted my shoulders. I really didn’t know what else to say or to do. I hated that Mickey was going through this.
“Think you can go back to sleep?” Kellan asked. “And before you say you want to go find Doc, I think you should let Jasper and Milo talk him down first. There’s gonna be a lot of self-loathing he needs to deal with.”
I hated that.
“He may not be ready to see you yet, Boo-Boo,” Freddie told me. “C’mon, I’ll stay with you. I can slip out if he comes back.”
“Vaughn?”
“I’ll go help find him,” he murmured, pressing his palm to my cheek. I leaned into the contact, and he touched his lips to my forehead. “Try to sleep, Dove. Let Freddie look after you, okay?”
I nodded.
I slid off the counter, and Kellan caught me in a one-armed hug and I wrapped my arms around him. He didn’t say anything, just held me, and then Rome was there. Buffering and surrounding me in their affection.
It was only after they left, leaving me with Freddie, that I debated getting a shirt. Instead of grabbing one, I glanced at him in his t-shirt and shorts. He parked it on the edge of my bed and stared at me with a kind of open appreciation.
“Do I need to put a shirt on?” I didn’t want him to be uncomfortable.
“If you want,” he said, a hint of a smile on his lips. “You still have the prettiest pussy I’ve ever seen.”
A soft laugh escaped me as I shook my head. “The first time you met me, I was naked.”
“Yep,” Freddie said, then patted the bed. “You look great naked, Boo-Boo. I say you can be naked whenever you want.”
The open affection and acceptance there nudged me into motion. Freddie held out a hand, and I slid onto his lap rather than the bed and he wrapped me up in the best hug.
Tucking my face against his throat, I sighed as he ran his hand up and down my back. “Is this okay?” I asked.
“I got you, Boo-Boo.” The swift response sparked fresh tears.
I hated it when any of them were hurting. I hated the idea of them hurting atallor for any reason. Freddie murmured a litany of nonsense. I barely understood him, even as I swore I was soaking his shirt with the tears escaping me.
“I’m here,” he repeated, those two words breaking off from the rest. “Doc is gonna be okay, and so are you.”
Time lost meaning as I curled into him. Eventually, he coaxed me into the bed and slid under the covers. Freddie eased over to me and slid an arm around me.
