“Today, even though I knew what I would face when I fell asleep, you made me feel like everything was going to be okay. Can you do that again?”
He nodded and pushed my hair behind my shoulder. Pointing at my temple, he said, “We should really take you to get this looked at.” Knox bound his arm around my lower back and climbed to his feet without letting me go. To help him hold me and because I was scared I was going to fall, I quickly wrapped my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist. He carried me out of the closet, and I saw Colt, Creed, and Keelan all waiting in my room. Creed was leaning against my dresser with his arms folded across his chest, Colt was sitting on the floor by the closet door, and Keelan was sitting on the foot of my bed. All of them wore somber expressions, but perked up as Knox carried me past them to my bathroom. With one arm under my butt to hold me up, he used his free hand to flick on the light before setting me on the counter.
I winced at the bright light. Knox gently brushed my hair back from my temple. “Yup. You’re going to need stitches.”
“I don’t want to go to the hospital,” I said.
“You need to go, baby girl,” Keelan said from where he stood by the bathroom door. The muscles in his jaw clenched as he stared at my temple.
“Alright, let’s get her some shoes and grab her purse,” Knox said to Keelan and the two of them walked out of the bathroom. As soon as they passed the threshold, Colt and Creed barreled their way in.
Colt got to me first. His hands wrapped around the back of my neck and he slammed his lips on mine. “You’re not allowed to do that again,” he said, pulling away. He took in the side of my face with a curse.
I nodded. “I’m sorry.”
He shook his head. “Just don’t shut us out. You are not alone anymore. You suffer, we suffer.”
“Okay,” I said.
Keelan returned with a pair of sandals from my closet. As he handed them to Creed, his eyes met mine. “How would you feel about staying with us for a few days?”
“I think that’s a good idea,” Creed said and the three of them looked at me expectantly.
I had a knee-jerk reaction to say no. I had become so used to running away—not wanting them to see me continue to make poor decisions. “I’ll need to pack some stuff.”
“I can do that for you,” Keelan said, backing out of the bathroom.
“She’ll want her Batman pajamas. They’re her favorite,” Creed told Keelan before he could get too far. “She loves to wear dresses and she has a pile of new hair tie things on her dresser. You’ll need to pack all of them because she loses them left and right. I swear I found, like, six of them in my truck yesterday.”
Colt snorted. “She keeps a stash of them in my locker and I’ve lost count of how many I’ve found in my car.”
If it weren’t stupidly hot here all the time, I wouldn’t feel the need to constantly put my hair up. I almost smiled. Creed was right…about everything. I loved my Batman PJs. I’d worn them the morning I’d first made him breakfast. I thought that was why I favored them. Every time I saw them, I thought of him. And I did love to wear dresses. They made me feel pretty and they were a lot more comfortable to wear in the heat.
Keelan looked at Creed. “Do you want to help me pack?”
Creed handed my sandals to Colt and left with Keelan. Colt pushed my hair off my shoulder. His eyes followed the trail of dried blood down the side of my face to the top of my green shirt. “Let’s get you cleaned up a little before we go.”
14
I ended up with four stitches along my hairline by my temple. The only plus side was the fact I could hide my Frankenstein look with my hair and the drugs they gave me at the hospital. Colt had held my hand the entire time while Keelan had praised me, calling me a “total badass” because I hadn’t even flinched when the doctor had started sewing me up.
During the drive home, the pain meds fully kicked in and were making me really sleepy. I could feel the guys watching me as my eyes repeatedly slid closed and I startled awake a minute later. None of them suggested I sleep. They didn’t utter a word until we arrived back home. They all climbed out of Keelan’s Jeep with ease. My movements were sluggish and it took me longer than it should have to get my seat belt off. Knox opened my door and scooped me up. Keelan got their front door opened and Knox carried me in. Without stopping, he took me to his room and laid me on the bed. I kicked off my sandals, letting them drop off the side of the bed to the floor, and curled up on my side.