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“What?”
“He just… you weren’t here. Fuck, I mean you were, but you directed us to do everything you did instead of you actually touching him,” Emmett explains as I try to wrap my head around when and how I actually touched him.
“I only placed my fingertips over his pulse to check it,” I start, but the rawness in each of their gazes tells me that was still a step too far. “I won’t lie to him,” I add, my chest tightening in a mixture of pain and concern for him.
“It’s for your own good.” I frown at Gray’s statement as I turn to face them fully again and throw my hands out to the side.
“Why?”
Ryker scoffs, irritation getting the better of him, as he glares at me. “Because the last woman to touch him without his permission is dead, and the reason he’s in this fucking state is because of the trauma it caused him.”
TWELVE
Axel
My head throbswith every breath I take, every inch of my body aching in some way as I attempt to run my tongue around my dry mouth. What the fuck have I done? My brows wrinkle even though my eyes remain closed, and it only makes everything feel worse.
Am I dying?
Fuck, I’d rather be dead than deal with this bullshit.
I attempt and immediately fail to blink my eyes open, the world spinning around me as I quickly lock myself away in the darkness again where it’s safer.
What was I doing last night? Shit, I don’t even remember. I really need to get a hold of myself, but it’s fucking hard, now more than ever.
Lifting my hand to my face, it feels like I’m carrying one hundred tons of cement as my muscles burn with the movement. I really did a number on myself last night.
“Oh good, you’re awake.” The sound of Ryker’s voice makes me freeze, my fingers pressing into my temple as I try to process what in the fuck he’s doing here. When I don’t respond quick enough, he continues, “I can see your fucking lids moving, man. Let’s not be a coward now and open them.”
A coward? What the fuck is his problem?
“Why are you fucking shouting?” I grunt, confused as hell with his presence, but the scoff I get in response tells me he’s pissed. Great, that’s all I need on top of everything else I’m feeling already.
I slowly blink my eyes open, fighting against the burn from the dim light coming from the lamp on my nightstand. When I can focus properly, I find Ryker, Emmett, and Gray hovering around my bed with a mixture of emotions playing across their faces, but one remains the same on all of them—exhaustion.
Ryker stands with his arms folded over his chest, his jaw tense, with bags under his eyes as he glares at me. Emmett has his hands stuffed in his jeans pockets as he looks at me with concern, while Gray has his hands on his hips, yawning with tiredness as his gaze flicks between the rest of us.
“What time is it?” I ask, pressing my palms into the sheets as I attempt to sit. I wheeze through the pain until my back is pressed against the headboard, but even then, none of them have changed their stance. Letting my head fall back for a moment, I slowly catch my breath as pain continues to radiate through me.
“Fuck what time it is, Ax, that’s irrelevant. There are far more pressing matters to discuss first.” That comes from Gray, who offers a tight smile, but it does nothing to ease the tension rising inside of me.
What am I missing?
“Don’t be fucking nice about it, Gray. It’s a colossal ticking bomb we need to discuss,” Ryker grunts, making my spine stiffen and my defenses rise as I glare right back at him.
“What the fuck is your issue this morning, man?”
“You.” He barely lets me even finish asking him before he blurts his response, and I’m sure I’m missing something because it’s not often Ryker gets pissed like this, and for it to be aimed at me, that’s never the case.
Shit.
“What the fuck, Ryker?”
“Oh, hell no, you don’t get to Ryker me right now. At this moment, you’re speaking to your Prez.”
I hear Emmett clear his throat as I swing my legs over the side of the bed and face Ryker head-on. “Okay. What the fuck,Prez?” I repeat, using the title he wears, but that doesn’t seem to improve the situation at all.
“Do you recall anything at all from last night?”
