Page 80 of Lock Up the Darkness

I wasn’t sure which thing was taking the top spot on his shock meter.

Was it the pastel-pink and purple bedding?

The dozen soft toy dogs taking up the other half of my queen bed?

The comic books interspersed among the soft toys?

The bruising and cuts over my face and body?

How about the fact that I was currently bleeding and it was dripping down over my fingers?

Or, was it that I didn’t have a top on and in my haste, my bedspread had slipped down, meaning my boobs were now exposed?

“Wow, this is… the words aren’t coming,” he uttered. “Nothing of substance anyway.”

He sucked in a breath, then found my tank and snatched it up and handed it to me.

Fortunately, now I’d been resting for a while and the meds were in my system, I was able to finagle it on. At least down over my breasts and one side. I had to leave it pulled up on the left side so it didn’t get stained with blood.

“That answers a question I’ve had for a while,” he commented, eyeing my breasts.

I rolled my eyes. “I’m surprised there was no locker room talk from Jonah.”

His gaze hardened. “I didn’t want it from his perspective, from his experience.”

Before I got a chance to even try to absorb that, he was shrugging off a backpack I hadn’t even noticed he’d had on with all the shock and commotion, then coming toward the bed.

“Wait, what are you—”

“I’m not going to hurt you.”

I glared at him. “You couldn’t.”

Expecting him to rise to it, for it to bring out that harsh side of him, I got another surprise when he smiled instead. “Glad to see that ball busting attitude is still holding strong.” He took a seat beside me, perching on the edge to avoid sitting on my legs, and placed his backpack down on the end of the bed. As he opened it and began rifling through it, he said, “Attitude is about all you’ve got right now, so try to chill.”

“Attitude isn’t all—”

“You’re hurt, Aurora. You can barely move. You’re barely awake because of it and those painkillers on your nightstand. And you’ve just ripped a couple of stitches. You can’t do much of anything, so I guess you’re just gonna have to suck it up and let me help you out.”

“You broke into my house.”

“You didn’t answer my texts.”

“I did.”

“Three hours ago, nothing since.”

I frowned and grabbed my phone while he was still rummaging away in his bag.

I swiped it open and, sure enough, there were several texts I’d missed. I scrolled to the first one I’d missed, then continued forward to the most recent.

Killian: Your boss said you’re away with a sinus infection. Which is it? Stomach flu or that?

Killian: Wondering why I’m pushing this? J’s acting suspicious as fuck. Usually means he’s covering for something Ash did. Left you with them 3 days ago and you’ve been missing from the world since. I’m doing the math here.

Jonah: Kill knows. Try to play it down for all our sakes. Fuck.

Killian: J spilled the details. Coming by to check on you. When works best?

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