Page 36 of When Kings Fall

Tonight. Tonight, I would.

I hoped.

Making peace with Mason and finally seeing eye-to-eye on something that had seemed impossible for ages, was going a long way toward calming me enough where I could manage that.

Almost.

But there was also Brianna.

She was hurting and there was nothing I could do about it.

Well, nothing she’d allow me to do about it.

None of us.

Mason had reminded me that giving her the space she’d requested was us doing something about it.

Of course, that didn’t compute with me.

Inaction never did.

But I was all about being a good team player and taking the cautious, smart route right now with things, so I’d managed to resist going to her, and I’d given her a breather.

As much as I loved the feel of the hot springs, actually relaxing for more than a couple of minutes was extremely difficult for me.

So, once again, I found myself texting the boys in our group chat.

Levi: Need me to fetch the first-aid kid yet?

Colt: Ye of little faith.

Mason: LOL. All good, brother.

He’d certainly been all about the brother since our peace talk in the shed a few hours ago.

I figured he was so overjoyed—and relieved—that we were in a really good place and sharing a deep understanding that we hadn’t had since the earlier days of our friendship before things had gotten so fucked up, that he was overcompensating with all the friendliness.

No matter, it would just take some time to settle.

Levi: So you actually kept to my frozen pizza idea for dinner then?

Colt: Pretty much.

Oh no.

Levi: Elaborate, cupcake.

Colt: Where’s the trust, Hellraiser?

Levi: We’re talking fire extinguisher territory, aren’t we?

Colt: You wound me. Keep it up and I’m gonna need you to take away the sting.

Levi: You want my fingers wrapped around your cock for a bit, just say it. No need for emotional blackmail.

Mason: Don’t get him worked up.

Colt: Too late. When Bree is out of her room she’s gonna love it. Remember her reaction last time?

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