Page 101 of Knotted Laces

I grind my back teeth together, but I get the message loud and clear, so I nod.

She nods in return then steps back to the computer. Her fingers fly across the keyboard for several moments.

Moments that Lex spends sighing and shifting next to me, clearly impatient for me to explain exactly what the fuck-all I’d been thinking going into the warehouse alone.

Ihadn’tbeen thinking.

I’d been reacting.

Which is why I’m lying here with four weeks of rest ahead of me, listening to a doctor play typewriter on an industrial keyboard as my best friend in the entire world gets more pissed at me by the moment.

Stupid as hell.

So much of the last week is stupid as hell.

But that’s a problem for tomorrow me—when the drugs wear off.

The doc pushes in the keyboard, says, “I’ll send the nurse in with your discharge instructions.”

“Thanks,” I mutter.

She nods. “Be careful out there.”

“Always am.”

Lies.

Something else she sees, though she doesn’t call me on it. She just flicks up her brows, glances at Lex, and then slips out into the hallway.

Of the hospital.

I should have gone home, should have taken care of it myself, but…

Cam.

I had neededCam.

And Lex.

My family.

Because…I was scared and in love and miserable and alone and?—

Evenifthe stubborn fucks had called an ambulance—though I told them both not too because I was fine—and I’ve now spent the last hours getting patched up in the emergency department when a couple of butterfly bandages and some gauze would have done the job…I can’t be mad.

I love them.

And I need them.

And—

“Whythe fuck?—”

I hold my hand up, barely able to bite back the wince—because, yup, the good drugs are starting to wear off now. But Idomanage it and say, “It was dumb as hell. I know that.Youknow that. But the girls were getting ready to be shipped outand theoldestone is sixteen.” I drop my hand to my side, and I grimace, though at least Lex is doing the same. “Theoldest,” I repeat. “I couldn’t?—”

He exhales and shoves a hand through his hair, and I know I’ve won, at least a little.

He wouldn’t have been able to walk away either.

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