I don’t know who’s come in, but I start talking anyway. “We need to call the doctor.” I let the air in my lungs leave me before seeing Jase and Declan walk in and each take a seat. Jase sits easily in the chair in front of the desk on the right. Declan leaves the one on the left, presumably for Sebastian or Daniel.
Sebastian got in late last night to his place, where he slept, going against what I recommended, and he’s on his way here now. I need him here. I need my friend to help me figure out what’s wrong with me.
Declan leans against the bookshelf, slipping his phone into his pocket and letting his head fall back against the wooden slat to ask me, “The doctor?”
His brow is pinched and I take a moment to really look at him. He’s aged so much in the last few years.
I can hear Daniel’s heavy steps sounding down the hall as I nod at Declan, feeling my throat getting tighter even though I attempt to relax and lean back into my chair. “Aria hurt her shoulder last night.”
The pain in my chest radiates. “Last night was difficult.” I can’t look my brothers in the eyes, and Daniel walks in just then. The door closes quietly as I peek back to the sofa I slept on last night and then to Daniel, who asks for the time.
“We have six minutes,” Jase answers him and quickly gets back to me and my lost thoughts. “What’d she do?” he asks me.
Shame is bitter. It tastes so fucking bitter.
“Is she all right?” Declan asks, and Daniel is quick to ask what’s wrong as he takes the left seat across from my desk.
“Aria hurt her shoulder last night is all. She’s fine,” I say. It’s a lie and with how silent the room is, my brothers know it too. I can’t tell them what happened though. I can barely stand to look at myself, knowing what happened last night.
“Five minutes.” Jase breaks the silence, lifting his arm to check his watch. The light glints off the shiny metal and I welcome the distraction. I wish I hadn’t brought it up at all, but I’m not used to hiding anything from my brothers.
“When we’re done, I’ll handle that, but this call will hopefully give us something.”
“Just so you know, we gave the last case of guns to Romano and pulled everyone.”
“So they have everything they wanted?” Daniel clarifies with Jase at the news, and Jase nods.
We’ve been involved enough, and Talvery doesn’t have the men to threaten us anymore.
“Good,” Declan remarks, “Let the two of them kill each other.”
My grip tightens on the smooth leather of the armrest as I stare at Jase and tell him, “All I want is to keep them all away from here.” He nods easily at first, in complete agreement but when he looks back at me, his expression becomes more serious. “No one gets close,” I say, and my voice hardens, thinking about keeping Aria safe. I won’t let her die.
“Of course,” Jase tells me, his gaze searching my face for what’s changed since I last spoke to him yesterday about pulling everyone. I know I’m still shaken and out of everyone, I know Jase can tell something’s off.
I’m saved from his inquisition as the door opens, and Sebastian comes in. His hair is longer, his scruff now a short and neatly trimmed beard. His eyes have aged, but the man I once knew like a brother, walks into the office and I can feel the tension start to leave my body almost immediately.
“Sorry I’m late.”
“Welcome home,” I tell him, meeting his gaze, but my own words are drowned out by those of my brothers. When we were younger, Sebastian was all we had to guide us.
My body’s stiff as I make my way around to greet him. Seeing him is bittersweet. Time has passed, and both of us have changed. But in this cruel world we live in where you have to fight to survive, there’s nothing like a friend who’s been there every time you’ve needed them.
In Sebastian’s case, every time but one, but there’s no time to dwell on the past. Again my gaze shifts to the empty sofa as I head back toward my seat.
I’m still so fucking cold, and for a moment I feel like I can’t breathe again.
“It’s good to see you guys again,” Sebastian says and then takes us in one by one.
“I wish things were different,” I tell him and no words could speak more truth.
“It’s only a little bloodshed,” Sebastian offers, smirking and leaning back against the wall.
“You all right?” he asks me, and he doesn’t hide the concern in his question. He never has, and with those words I’m taken back to when I was only a child and all the times he asked me the exact same thing.