Page 47 of Fought and Freed

Skylar’s eyes rolled toward her. "Hey, Princess."

“Come on. Up you go.” Ryder lifted Skylar to his feet.

It took a couple of tries for Skylar to get his legs back under him.

“I’ll go get a bag of ice,” Jace sighed, before running down the stairs.

“I’ll go get the first aid kit.” Maddy hurried to the room Skylar shared with Jace.

As she stepped back out into the hall, Cody’s door opened, and he rubbed his eyes.

“Oh, now you did it,” Skylar mumbled. “Have you come to yell at me, big brother?”

Cody glanced at Maddy, then moved to help Ryder with Skylar. “No, little brother, I don’t want to yell at you.”

“Why not? When I screw up, you yell at me. That’s what we do.” He glanced at Jace as the other man returned with the ice pack. “Didn’t you tell him what happened?”

Jace nodded.

“Damn, I must be drunker than I thought,” Skylar slurred out. “I’m dreaming.”

“Oh, I doubt that,” Ryder said.

Ryder and Cody each took one of Skylar’s arms, and everyone headed into Skylar and Jace’s bedroom.

Cody looked at Ryder over the top of Skylar’s bowed head. “Were you guys drinking together?”

“Nope, he came in and broke up my fun.” Skylar flopped onto his bed.

Ryder glared down at him. “Your fun was getting the shit beat out of you.”

Cody’s brows bumped together in a scowl. “Did you let him drive home like this?”

“I’m not that stupid.” Ryder’s glare shifted to Cody. “I drove us home. He almost fell off twice, but we made it.”

Maddy sat on the bed next to Skylar. “Let me see your knuckles.”

He tried to hide his hands. “I’m fine.”

She huffed and took his left hand, placing it on her lap, then opened up an alcohol pad and dabbed at his busted knuckles. “This might hurt.”

He sucked in his breath before blowing it out. “Why do you put up with me? I’m such a screwup.”

Maddy’s nose wrinkled at the whiskey on his breath.

A lot of whiskey.

“It’s not putting up with you. I love you, Skylar.” She cupped the side of his face. “You’re not a screwup. Something life-changing happened that you had no control over. It wasn’t planned, but we’ll work through it.”

He looked up at Jace. “How do you feel about this?”

“I’m not going anywhere, baby.” Jace smoothed the hair back from his bruised face, his expression tender. “I’m one hundred percent behind you on this. Whatever you decide.”

Once Maddy finished patching Skylar up, they got him situated in bed, and as soon as his head hit the pillow, he passed out.

“I’m going back to bed.” Cody rubbed his tired eyes. “You should do the same, Maddy. You have to be up in a few hours to go shopping.”

“I will.” She kissed Cody. “Goodnight.”

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