Page 69 of Unraveling Connections

She laughs and pulls me in for a hug, whispering in my ear, “Are you okay, seriously?”

“I’m good,” I reply, surprisingly honestly as I add, “I’m just absolutely exhausted and none of us expected any of that to happen today.”

“No, I imagine not.” She replies.

Emmerson has woken up and gets out of the car, reaching back in to carry her brother.

“Oh no,” Rylie says, “Luc told me about your ribs. You are not carrying him; he can go in the wheelchair, and I'm taking you both to the infirmary, and staying by your sides until you are fighting fit again.”

Emmerson grins, “Thanks, Rylie.”

“Don’t thank me, it makes me uncomfortable," she teases, "let's go." Before they walk off, she turns back to me, “I’ll keep you updated, there’s nothing more that you need to do here, go home and rest, before something else crops up.”

“Thanks, Rylie, you’re the best,” I grin.

“I know.” She starts to walk toward where Emmerson is putting Joe in the wheelchair but stops and turns around, “Shit, I almost forgot, Mr R told me to tell you that the blood is definitely Luc’s mom’s, so you’ve got confirmation of that now, and if you still want to come on that job with me, it will be a while as we’ve got to finalize a few things first.”

I nod, “Yeah, I still want to come. That actually works out better for us. We have got this Hunt lead that we need to follow.”

Rylie nods, “Great, let me know if you need a hand although I’m going to be keeping an eye on these two for a bit.”

I nod and thank her again before I climb back in the truck. I'm surprised when a set of strong arms pulls me along the seat, and I practically melt into Atlas as he holds me tightly and the car starts.

“I needed a cuddle,” he mutters into my hair.

“Me too,” I reply.

“Me three,” Trick adds, making me giggle, “but I’ll get mine when we’re home.”

“Don’t think you’re left out of the cuddles, Pete,” Atlas adds, looking at Peter, who is now in the front seat. “I think we all need cuddles after that.”

“Definitely,” Pete replies. “I’ll be really surprised if I don’t have nightmares of eyes tonight.”

“Me too,” I admit, “that was so fucking freaky. I feel really bad though. I must have scared the crap out of him when I screamed.”

Pete shakes his head, “I screamed too, and I hate to say it, but us screaming is probably the least scary thing that he’s seen in his life.”

“I hate that you’re right,” I reply. “Rylie said she would keep me updated and let me know if they are both okay.”

“Good,” Trick replies.

The drive is a blur. I am so freaking tired, but I still won’t let myself fall asleep not until I'm with all of my men. I may have had a jump scare today, but they then helped open several more crates, and I know that some of those had people who didn’t survive; I want to make sure that they are okay.

When we finally get home, we are all exhausted. We all trudge through the front door, dragging our feet, and having left all of our equipment and the go bags still in the cars, we can deal with them after we have gotten some sleep. Shadow greets us happily, bouncing around, barking, and obviously getting some love from all of us, and apologies for being away for so long; none of us thought that we would be gone that long.

“Wait!” Jensen yells.

The majority of us groan at the loud exclamation, and Trick asks, “What?”

“Sleepover, in the front room, no arguments. Go get your shit now,” Jensen orders.

It is rare that he gives orders, but when he does, the rest of us tend to listen, we are all tired and all want to sleep, but for me, at least, having one of our sleepovers together sounds fucking perfect. It must sound perfect to the others as well because they all do as Jensen has told them to and head off to get their stuff.

It is not long before we are all curled up, watching a show that is a favorite for all of us, and we are curled up together. Runa and Shadow are getting in on the action too.

I fall asleep feeling safe, happy, and content, surrounded by my men and bestie.

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