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Articus laughed. “Don’t be like that. I mean, you gotta admit—this is pretty hilarious. It’s serious, but it’s also pretty hilarious. I mean, maybe not to you, not right now. But I assure you, when you look back on this in a few months, you’ll see just how hilarious it is.”
Rowan shot his friend a wicked look and Articus quietened. “Ignore him. How do you feel?”
“Like crap,” Blake admitted. He tried to get up but stumbled. Rowan and Articus grabbed an arm each and helped him to his feet.
He looked back at his truck. The left rear door had caved in completely, with sharp metal poking through the dent. The windows had shattered from the force, and his windshield was wrecked. Just how much force had Xander hit him with?
Blake reached into the car through the broken window and grabbed a sweat suit. He dressed quickly while his friends turned their backs to him. Everything hurt, and it took him a little longer to get dressed than it should have.
“What happened?” Blake asked Rowan when he was decent. Articus started to speak but both men gave him sharp looks and he opted for silence.
“After he hit you, we had to stop him from going further,” Rowan explained. “He was like a crazy beast. I have never seen him so mad before. Anyways, we managed to hold him down and Articus not so subtly threatened to rip out his jugular if he didn’t calm down.
“He did, got in his car, and just left. So I guess the question, Blake, is this—why the fuck was your best friend trying to kill you?”
Blake thought about telling them everything but already knew what their reaction would be. The last thing he needed was for his friends to judge him too. He also didn’t think he had the energy or the will to explain himself.
All he wanted to do was go home and crawl into bed for weeks. His relationship with Xander had run aground, smashed to bits against sharp rocks. He couldn’t see a way back for either of them. He’d slept with Xander’s sister, and Xander had attacked him.
They had crossed lines today. He didn’t want to process any of that. He really just wanted to get home. His head was a ball of fire and pain. Tomorrow, he was going to allow himself to deal with this. Today, he wanted to sleep.
“Blake?” Rowan said, snapping in front of his eyes. “Are you okay?”
“Does he look okay?” Articus asked. “I think we should take him to see a pack doctor.”
Blake realized he’d dozed off again. He shook awake and saw the worried looks on his friends’ faces. “I’m fine, guys. I just need to get some rest. I should be all stitched up soon.”
They didn’t look convinced, but Blake didn’t care. He got into his wrecked truck and turned on the ignition. It was a sturdy truck, and he knew it would get him home safe. He pulled out of the lot without hesitating and drove off toward his own town.
He saw Rowan and Articus through the rearview mirror, watching him with worried expressions. He really had lost a lot of blood and his head felt light, but all he wanted to do was go home. When he got home, he could mourn the loss of his brother. He was determined not to do so until he was safely locked inside his bedroom.
***
Blake could sense Eleanor from the front door. She was downstairs. He thought about how he looked, and wondered what he was going to tell her.
His head had stopped bleeding, and his eye had been healing steadily over the last hour, but he could tell there was still some bruising visible. He realized he didn’t have the energy to lie to her. He hoped he could get past her without attracting any attention, but that seemed unlikely.
He sighed and turned the doorknob as gently as he could. Eleanor was sitting in the living room, watching the door expectantly. Her expression changed as soon as she saw him, and she rushed to her feet immediately.
“Blake? What happened to you?” She looked horrified and Blake wondered just how much of a mess he looked. “There’s blood on your face and neck, and look at the black eye! What the hell happened?”
I see I’m not getting out of this easily, Blake thought with exhaustion. He really could not catch a break today. He considered walking past her and going up to his room, but he knew she would just follow him up and keep at it until he spoke to her.
“I went to see Xander in Deepwood,” Blake said as her eyes flew open. “When you sat in my lap last night, he kinda sensed that there was something going on between us. He looked angry, but there were too many people present.
“We set up a meeting today and he asked me point-blank if there was anything going on between us. I tried to explain that what we had was temporary, and that we were just friends with benefits. He got angry and…and well, this happened.” He gestured at himself.
She didn’t need to know that Xander had knocked him out. That was humiliating enough. “Anyways, our friends stepped in before things escalated, and broke it up,” Blake said. “I’m fine, I just want to go get some sleep, please.”
While he rattled on about what had happened between him and Xander, Eleanor froze. Now that he’d finished speaking, she watched him quietly without giving a response. Maybe he shouldn’t have told her everything—what he’d just said was pretty overwhelming.
Several moments passed and she just watched him quietly. Blake couldn’t place the expression on her face, and he was too tired to try to guess. He could see tension, panic, worry, and determination? He couldn’t be sure.
He’d been hoping she would say something in reply to all he had said.Oh well, he thought.I guess I’ll just go up now.
He had a foot on the stairs when she eventually spoke, and nothing in the world could have prepared him for what she said. Nothing could have been more devastating for him to hear either, with everything that was going on.
“I’m pregnant.”
