Page 145 of Tangled up in You

“She’s sitting right here,” she groused, looking for and finding a box of tissues behind her on the desk. She grabbed a few and blew her nose.

“With me,” Chris said to Mark, “it’sliterallypainful when I’m triggered hard. Like a knife twisting in my gut. I feel it as a physical sensation.” He pointed at her again. “Now imagine having just survived what we did, hooking up the way we did—on top of our rocky initial meeting in the bar and how you talked to her—and then mishearing something. Remember, you’d already triggered her RSD once and made faulty assumptions about her.”

She remained silent.

To be honest, Chris was doing a damned good job hammering that nail without any help from her. Despite her now feeling ashamed she’d run instead of confronting them, everything he’d said was spot-on.

And while she had plenty of neurospicy friends she’d discussed RSD with, and had other lesser incidents of it, she’d never personally experienced it being triggered by a romantic partner, or being triggered that hard.

“Yes, it’s yours,” she said, finally meeting Mark’s gaze. “I haven’t been with anyone except you two.”

She didn’t think she imagined he relaxed a little.

“Apologize, Mark,” Chris ordered. “Now.”

MARK

He couldn’t stand the weight of Christopher’s anger and pain—which the average person wouldn’t have picked up from him—or Jesse’s tears.

Mark remembered all too well the incident Chris referred to. It’d nearly ended their relationship before they’d hammered out what they were to each other. He’d hated the pain he’d caused Chris and now went out of his way to make sure he didn’t repeat it.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m sorry we hurt you. That was never our intention. And I’m sorry I didn’t text or call you. I did warn you I’m a chronic foot-eater.”

At that she softly shnurfled, giving him hope. “Yeah, you did.”

“Full reboot,” Chris said. “Okay?”

Mark finally nodded. “Yeah,” he said. “Full reboot.”

Chris took her hand and gently coaxed her to her feet. Then the two of them surrounded her, with her facing Mark, and held her.

God, it felt good to have her back in their arms. He’d deliberately triednotto think about how perfect everything had felt despite their situation, knowing Chris would pick up on his pain and loss and that would amplify his own.

He buried his face in her hair. “God we missed you, sweetie,” he whispered. “We missed you so fucking much.” For the first time in months he felt that dark fist in his gut finally unclench, relax.

“I missed you, too,” she admitted. “And then…this.”

He rubbed his chin against her scalp. “Can you come to the house so we can talk? I have to work until five.”

“Yeah.”

“I’ll take her home with me,” Chris said. Mark opened his eyes and looked into his guy’s brown gaze. “I’d already cut out early before you called.”

“I don’t know if Daddy will let me out of his sight while we’re here,” she said. “He’s been clingy ever since we arrived. Like he’s afraid I’ll step off a boardwalk and disappear into thin air.”

“I’m more worried about your mom,” Chris said. “She’s kind of scary.”

“Josie?” She turned to face Chris. “She’s a sweetheart.”

Mark snorted. “She’s a momma bear,” he said. “If I had to choose to go up against that sow again or her, I’d pick the sow every time.”

“At least we could bear spray the sow,” Chris added.

CHAPTER 20

JESSE

It was Chris who opened the door. Josie still stood there, her arms crossed over her chest and eyebrows arched. “Well, gentlemen?”

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