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Giant growls a rumbling warning.
Bender just laughs at him.
They're all idiots.
"Catriona isn't pissed," I murmur. "She's scared. Her brother was just released from prison. Her life is finally exactly what she's dreamed about for so long. She's afraid of losing it."
"Shit," Giant mutters, his expression falling.
Bender sobers too, falling quiet. My brothers may be assholes, but they love fiercely and they protect our family above all things. Catriona is family. When one of us bleeds, we all bleed.
"Samara was the same way," Hands says, dropping the final piece of gravel into the bin. "Hand me the bottle of sterile water and the betadine."
I pass both to him, relieved that the worst part is over. I need to go find my wife and remind her that I'm not going anywhere, not ever.
"When you've been through hell, I think it's instinct to wait for the other shoe to drop," Hands continues as he cleans the wound. "You get used to shit going wrong. It's hard to imagine it actually going right."
"Shit. I feel that," Bender says. "I didn't think life would ever settle down around here."
"True story," Giant agrees.
"The girls love just as hard as we do. They worry just as much as we do," Hands says quietly. "As much as we wish they didn't, they do. So it's our job to make damn sure they know that we're coming home everytime we walk out the door. It's up to us to ensure they know, regardless of what comes, we'll be here to help them face it. That responsibility belongs to every single one of us."
"Well, damn," Giant says after a moment. "I guess there is a reason you're the VP."
Hands flips him the bird.
"It was a compliment, brother," Giant says, serious for once in his life. "You're right. We may joke about this shit with each other, but it's not funny to them. I'm an asshole."
"We already knew that," Bender mutters.
"Tegaderm," Hands says, holding out a hand for the clear bandages.
Giant slides them across the bartop to him before looking at me with an apology in his gray eyes. "I should have kept my mouth shut."
"We're cool," I promise. Giant is who he is. I wouldn't change a damn thing about him. It's not on him that Catriona's upset. That's on me. And it's on me to fix it.
As soon as Hands finishes bandaging me up, I go in search of my wife. My heart cracks in half when I find her in our room, wiping tears.
"Rabbit," I whisper, pushing the door closed before I cross to her. My leg throbs in protest but I ignore it. The pain doesn't matter. The beautiful little goddess in front of me does.
"I'm sorry," she says, brushing tears from her cheeks. "I know I should be used to stuff like this by now. I grew up around motorcycles and MCs. But..." she trails off with a shrug, her bottom lip quivering.
"You don't owe me an explanation, rabbit." I sit beside her on the bed before pulling her into my arms.
"Andreas, your leg," she protests.
"Will be fine. But you aren't fine right now," I murmur, refusing to be swayed. "I need to hold you, Catriona."
She huffs quietly, her resistance dying as she climbs gingerly into my lap. She moves comically slow, as if she's afraid one wrong move might send me writhing in pain. I'd laugh if I didn't think it'd only upset her more.
"I'm okay," I whisper into her hair, pulling her close once she's finally settled in with her head on my shoulder. "And I'm going to keep being okay for the next eighty or ninety years."
"I thought I was going to lose you," she whispers, pressing her face to my throat. Hot tears wet my skin as she shivers. "When Giant called, all I could think was that I was going to lose you and you'd never know...."
"You aren't going to lose me," I promise, rubbing her back and raining kisses across her crown. "I may come home scraped up and bruised on occasion, but I will always fight to come home. I don't take risks, rabbit. Not when they might cost me a future with you and our kids."
"I love you so much."
