Page 36 of Static

I laughed again, shaking my head. "I'm so embarrassed." I dropped my head into my hands again. "Between the therapy session and just...everything...I took some sleeping pills I got a long time ago but never used." I groaned as more flashes of what happened last night went through my mind. "I don't know everything, but I must have had a nightmare and Static came and took care of me."

Now they were all perking up, some eyes widening as they listened.

"I woke up, in his arms, in the shower."

"Naked?" Jordan asked.

"Not yet."

"Ugh, so close," she muttered.

"Wait, yet?" Kit asked with a raised brow.

I recounted what happened after that. "Guys. I was naked in front of him. Basically. He dried off my..." I sighed as my cheeks burned with embarrassment.

"The fact that he didn't try anything just tells you how hard he was trying to be a gentleman," Tori stated.

"No, it tells you how out of it she was," Seek argued.

"Yeah, these guys aren't the type to pass up an opportunity like that," Eva said.

"You'd know," Dani teased, making Eva's cheeks go pink.

Eva was still trying to find her footing amongst our group and we were doing everything we could to help her. We already loved her and never wanted her to go anywhere ever again. This was her home. It was home to us all. I wasn't sure what I was going to do once the threats were gone and I was forced to go back to my little house in Picture Rocks. Even the thought made dread creep along my spine.

"And Static may wear a suit for work," Kit added, "but he's no more a gentleman than any of them are."

"What do I do?" I asked.

"Uh, go jump him?" Jordan offered with a laugh. "Girl, you need to relax. What better way than getting under a hot biker?"

"Getting on top of one," Seek suggested. "I highly recommend it."

"Oh my God." I covered my face with my hands because it was flaming hot. "I can't just sleep with him!"

"Why not?" Dani asked, looking around.

"It's the lack of trust," Sloane said. Her voice was soft, but it echoed through the room like a shotgun blast. We all looked over at her. There was a forced smile on her face. "It's hard to trust again once you've been...hurt...like that."

"I'm sorry," Dani whispered, horrified. She looked between us both. "I didn't mean-"

"It's not your fault," I interrupted, reaching across the table to pat her hand. It wasn’t like Dani didn’t know all about losing that trust. Her ex-husband may not have beat her, but he left his own kind of scars on her. Smoke was helping to erase them.

"I get it," Jordan said with a nod. "It took me forever to trust Ricochet and it's not like my ex hurt me."

"In a way he did," I argued. "By hurting your dad, he broke that trust with you, too." I paused, then looked at her. "How did you put it behind you so quickly?" I wasn't talking about what her ex had done anymore, but what mine had.

Jordan shook her head, her black hair catching the light and shimmering. "I didn't. That's why I started going to therapy. Why I talked Ricochet into going, too. We both needed it." Her eyes were sad when she looked at me. "I tried to have that conversation with you so many times."

"But I wasn't ready."

She shook her head. "It killed us to see you hurting, though I didn't know it was so bad you weren't sleeping. If I had, I would have forced the issue."

"It's my fault for letting it get to this point." I gave her a grateful smile. "Thanks for letting me get here on my own though. I needed that."

"We're always here for you," Seek told me.

"Please don't make us corner you and drag your emotions out of you," Kit added.

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