Page 119 of Crimson Tears

But as he begins to wash her hair and massage her scalp, carefully tending to her, I can see I am not the only one who is so lucky. She beams at him, appreciating every single touch. I help rinse her hair, and the two of us wrap her in a towel just as she steps out. Nessa heads to the private toilet room while Cillian and I dry off.

Cillian looks from me to the door. “You okay there, Old Man?”

He isn’t teasing. This is him legitimately checking in on me. It surprises me when it should not. Cillian is empathic, even when he tries to hide it.

“I am happy that she is happy. How are you, Kid?”

A smile I have never seen before raises. It is not unhinged, but not quite gentle either. It almost reminds me of a child when they meet Santa for the first time.Wonder.

“I am happier than I ever thought I could be.”

He stands under the spray at the opposite end from me, rinsing off before stepping out. After he wraps a towel around his waist, I watch him lift Nessa into his arms and carry her bridal style into the room.

In under a month, I went from living with my girl to now living with two people I consider family in the most intimate of ways. I can honestly say I never saw this coming, but I am so fucking glad it did.

Maybe I am not destined to be alone after all.

Chapter 33

My bag lands on Evie’s couch with a thud as I head into her house. The guys are staying at the club tonight to host some meetings with investors, and Alexi has someone there they plan to torture, so they‘ll be busy.

Laney and Akio are on their way, and I said I’d help Evie mix some drinks. I’m finally off the pain meds and most of the scabs have turned into scars. My feet don’t feel like they are going to bleed when I walk barefoot anymore, and I have to say that is probably the best part.

Thankfully, the burns weren’t as bad as we originally thought and healed on their own.

“On a scale of one to ten,” I say as I enter the kitchen area where Evie is pulling out bottles of alcohol from what seems like a hidden compartment in the back of the pantry. “How much do you think Laney is going to yell at me for not telling her about the whole kidnapping thing?”

Evie snorts a laugh as she grabs some mixers. We found some fun recipes we wanted to try online and may have gone a little overboard for four people.

“I think Laney is going to be more pissed at you for not telling her about the Cillian thing.”

“Oh,”How could I have forgotten to tell her that?“That’s so true. Damn, I feel like a year has gone by and it’s hardly been a month.”

Evie nods. “Yeah, I know that feeling all too well. Just imagine a whole year going by like that. It feels like I should be in my fifties.”

I startle when a shriek sounds from behind me, and turn to see a blonde girl in a two-piece, pink silk pajama set. I open my arms for her to run into and do my best not to scream when she squeezes my waist.

“Ness! Girl, I missed you! I feel like so much has happened. How are you? I need you to tell me everything. Last I heard you were headed to find the rogue ex-Shade. Did you find him? What happened?”

She stops to take a breath and grab a drink as a tall Asian man with longer black hair throws his arm around her shoulder.

“Breathe there, girl,” he says, and Laney giggles.

“I can’t help it. I’ve missed you.”

Akio separates from Laney and gives me a gentle hug. “I’ve missed you too.”

I smile at them both. It feels just like old times again. The four of us huddled around, laughing while eating dinner in the library together. It was less than a year ago, yet it feels like it’s been a lifetime.

A time when things felt so much simpler.

Actually, that’s not true. Evie was being hunted at that time. Laney was trying to navigate having two boyfriends, Havoc and Arrow, who were secretly in love with each other but refused to say anything. Then Akio was crushing on his dream man, Adrian, whom he was convinced wasn’t gay, even though we assured him he was.

We weren’t making assumptions, Evie asked Adrian one day when he was out on a run and happened to be out there too. But Akio was offended when we told him the good news because Adrian never hit on him.

When we told Akio that maybe he should just talk to him, he laughed in our faces. Come to find out, when he did actually just talk to him, Adrian admitted he had feelings for him too.

Men really should listen to us more.

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