Page 48 of Grin and Bear It

“Yeah.” He shook his head slowly. “I’ve been real sad too, so I get it.”

“What the fuck, Mads?” Knox hissed.

“You don’t get to make all the decisions for us,” Maddox shot back. “Especially not after last night. You were maggoted.” He frowned. “I told you not to drink that much, but you still did.”

“Is that how Uncle Lin found out where I was?” Knox’s eyes narrowed. “You snitched?”

“Of course I fucking snitched.” Maddox stared into his brother’s eyes then, holding them for a long while. “What else was I gonna do? I rang him because you were out of fucking control, and if you weren’t going to get yourself back on track, someone else needed to. You could’ve died, Knox. You know that there’snoway that anyone here wants that. And you know that there’s no way that Mum or our dads would ever have wanted that.”

And just like that, the wind seemed to go out of Knox’s sails. He collapsed in on himself, the greenish tinge to his skin more apparent, as were the bags under his eyes. He was done in, beaten. For now.

“If you think it’s gonna be easier living with Pa, then you go do it,” Maddox said, shaking his head. “But I’m staying here. Just…” He twisted around in his seat to face me, and eyed me speculatively. “If you don’t want us to give up on you, then you can’t give up on us.” I grabbed his hand, giving it a hard squeeze, trying to let him know that I never would. “And don’t go getting all kissy face with Miss when we’re around. I get she’s your one true love or whatever, but that shit’s gross.”

“Knox?”

This time it was Ty who prompted him and, although Knox stared mulishly at his plate for a long moment, some of his resentment seemed to have faded away by the time he finally looked up.

“I’m in,” he mumbled it. Then his voice got more emotion in it. “But just how much work are we gonna have to do to pay for that bottle of Scotch?”

Chapter24

“Oh, you definitely want to ring this one back.”

Being dragged so rudely out of sleep was very disconcerting. As my head jerked up, for a second I just blinked, trying to orient myself. It turned out I was still lying on the couch, not in my bedroom as I’d assumed, and it wasn’t Lin leaning over me, it was Colleen. I groaned then cautiously rolled up into a seated position. Usually sleeping on the couch made everything hurt, especially when dealing with the aftermath of a bout of hyperfocus but, weirdly, I felt awesome. However, it still took me a few moments for my brain to fully come back on line.

“Who am I ringing back?”

“Whoever bought you food from Pizza Heaven.” Colleen picked the empty box up and waved it at me. “Was it Nash?” She waggled her eyebrows.

“No,” I croaked and wobbled down the hall to the kitchen to grab a glass of water. When I opened the fridge to grab the water jug, I found that all the leftovers had been tidied into containers for me. I heard Coll’s steps as she followed me into the kitchen but I was focused on holding the fridge door open with my hip while pouring my water, and trying not to spill any. The ice-cold water helped my brain start to feel a little more in order, so after I’d downed the glass, I poured another. “Lin.”

“Ohh, Lin,” she said, a teasing note in her voice. “Is he the one who looks like Ragnar Lothbrok’s hotter, younger brother? Kinda like if Brock O’Hurn and Lasse Matberg had a baby?”

“Ah, yeah…” Putting the jug back and letting the fridge door go, I turned to face her. “So, how do you know him, and Nash, and the others?”

“They run in the same circles as Dale does. I met Nash at a party.” She dropped the teasing smirk and her expression became serious. “They’re good guys, El.”

“Ohh-kay,” I said, eyeing her suspiciously, because she rarely, if ever, found something positive to say about any of the guys who wanted to hook up with me.

“So, what did you two lovebirds get up to? A walk on the beach at dusk? Went out to the cinema and then came back here for pizza?”

“Ahh, no. He offered, but—”

“Fuck, El!” Coll broke in over the top of me, shaking her head. “Not ‘Netflix and chill’. Please, for the love of god, no more bloody Netflix and chill.” She looked at me with concern. “Look, there’s nothing wrong with doing that some of the time, but you deserve to be wooed,” she said earnestly. I looked at her steadily, and she gained her equilibrium again, raising an eyebrow in question. “So, Lin. I reckon he basically looks like he’s a Viking. Maybe he could bring the head of the Midgard serpent back and lay it at your feet to prove his love for you.”

“Well, what actually happened was that when I told him I was too wrecked to go anywhere, he made me a pillow nest, bought me awesome pizza, watched K-dramas with me and he massaged my feet and my head until I fell asleep.” I shrugged. “It might not have been the most romantic date, but you know what? He paid attention to me, Coll. And that, to me? It was…” I took a deep breath, then shook my head. “To me it was perfect.”

I expected a fight from her, maybe recriminations about making sure I didn’t make things too easy for guys, but I didn’t get them. Instead she just smiled slowly.

“Well, alright. That’s acceptable. Just.” My eyes narrowed at that. “Though he needs to up his game next time.” As if in answer to that, a sharp knock at the front door had us both turning in that direction. “Maybe that’s him right now, asking if you want to go raiding the British coast and kill some Saxons.”

I shook my head as I walked down the hall to the front door, raking my hands through my hair and wincing as I felt the extent of my bed-head. Definitely not an impressive sight. When I swung the door open, this time it wasn’t Lin standing there, it was Cole.

“Hey…” He took in my dishevelled state with a quick up and down look. “I hope I didn’t wake you or anything?”

“No, no.” I smiled sheepishly. “But I have only just gotten up and I’m a bit of a mess. Sorry, did we have a meeting planned or…?”

What’re you doing on my doorstep, super hot man? That was my unspoken question because, while I still had my unicorn PJs on and my hair looked like a birch broom in a fit, he was something else.

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