Page 46 of As Thick As Thieves

“She’s not, she’s just sick of my whining,” I deadpanned, not thinking for a second that Beckett Donovan was all of a sudden my new bestie.

It didn’t take long for Cruz and Knox to join us, Knox silently running his eyes over both of us while Cruz slid an arm around my shoulders and kissed my cheek. “Hey, you okay?”

“Yeah. Beckett was being nice to me in her own weird way and now I’m kind of scared,” I joked, making him grin.

“You’ll be having slumber parties in no time.”

“Doubtful,” I scoffed. “She thinks I need to start strength training now.”

“We can talk about that later. Right now, we need to go. Things have a tendency to turn nasty at Donovan get-togethers, and I don’t want you here when it happens. People get shot at these things,” he grunted, steering me outside. “Once we get home, I’ll run you a bath. Are you hurting?”

“A little,” I admitted, sliding my phone from my pocket to find multiple texts.

Zavier: Are you okay? Donovan said Cruz got shot.

Zavier: I know you’re alive but can you please reply so I’m reassured.

Zavier: Whitlock, answer me.

Cruz grumbled about Zavier being a pain in the ass, but I quickly typed out a response to stop him from worrying.

Penn: Sorry, I’ve been at Rory’s and didn’t know you’d messaged. I’m just heading back to the house now.

Zavier: Me and Lavaro are staying with Riley and Luna. Luna’s freaking out that whoever shot those bullets will come back for her, so Riley convinced us to play security for the evening to calm her.

Penn: I’ve got the guys so I’ll be fine. Stay safe.

He didn’t reply so I put the phone away, letting Cruz maneuver me into the backseat.

The drive home was quiet, other than Drake tapping away at his phone screen. I was more than happy to sit in silence.

Seeing Stone had brought too many emotions to the surface, and I did well to contain them. I wanted to talk to him, to find out the exact truth about why he’d handed me back to my father, but I didn’t want to do it with an audience. The guys were likely to tear him apart too. Knox kept glancing at me in the rearview mirror, but I averted my eyes to look out the window. I didn’t want him thinking I wanted to talk about tonight.

Cruz winced as we got home and he climbed out of the car, not being able to hide his discomfort.

“You go to bed,” Knox ordered, pointing at him. “Take pain meds with you in case you wake up through the night.”

“I’m fine, I’m helping Penn—”

“I can run a fucking bath and deal with Penn’s back. I’ll bring her to bed when she’s done,” he argued, looking at Drake sternly. “You can make sure he stays there.”

“I’m only allowing you to boss me around because it makes my dick hard,” Drake grumbled, sliding his worried eyes over me. “You’ll be okay with Knox?”

“Kind of hoping he chokes me out and puts me out of my misery,” I muttered, pulling a smirk from Knox while the other two glared at me. Cruz dropped a kiss on my lips, cupping my cheek affectionately, and tried to relax his expression.

“Fine. I’ll see you when you come to bed.”

Drake kissed me too before ushering Cruz to the bedroom, leaving Knox to steer me into the bathroom. I watched him fill the bath, raking my eyes over him while I had the chance.

“Did you talk to Stone before you left the compound?” I finally asked, his eyes flicking over his shoulder with a scowl.

“Yes. He seemed surprised I’d leave with Drake. Don’t worry about him, he dug his own hole.”

“In his defense, I’m a little surprised you left too. When I first met you, you wouldn’t have.”

“I wouldn’t have let Drake leave in the first place,” he grunted, turning the taps off before walking towards me. “It’s not too hot or it would’ve hurt your wounds. Arms up.”

I hesitated before doing as he asked, letting him strip me and remove the bandages so I could climb into the bath. He sat on the edge, making me frown. “You aren’t joining me?”

---