Chapter 13

Static

Gwen was avoiding me. Had been all day. I didn”t force the issue. I watched her come home from wherever Ricochet had taken her and there was a sadness on her face that cracked my damn heart in two. Our eyes had locked for a brief moment before she looked away and went upstairs. So, if she needed a break, needed space, I”d give it to her. As much as I wanted to follow her, pull her onto my lap, and let her spill all her worries and hurts onto me so I could shoulder them for her, it wouldn”t help right now. She didn”t trust me enough to do something like that.

And I only allowed myself to admit my desire to claim her a couple damn days ago. I couldn”t expect her to drop everything and do things my way just because I had finally made up my mind. I”d started falling in love with her almost a fucking year ago, and was only now accepting it. I could wait.

It was easy enough to do. I spent the afternoon with the guys playing pool and talking about what was going to go down tomorrow night. Everyone was ready to finally take these next steps. It was time to put Fremont out of his misery, one way or another. We were all ready to start. Keeping Toxic and Butcher out of trouble for the next twenty-four hours was going to be the hardest part of it all.

As the prospect, that duty had been assigned to me. And these assholes had me swaying on my fucking feet from all the drinking. ”How are your livers still func- working?” I asked them, switching it up when functioning got twisted up on my tongue. Using my pool cue to help myself balance, I blinked hard at the table. There were too many damn balls on there. It was past midnight and I was wasted. It wasn”t like I was a fucking lightweight. I just didn”t drink as much as these two.

”Got a spare one installed years ago. Had them put it where my spleen used to be,” Butcher said, matter of factly.

”He”s joking right? He must be, they can”t do that. Can they?” I slurred as I looked over at Toxic. He just shrugged.

”I”ve got it from here.”

Glancing over, I smiled at Lock. ”Hey.”

He chuckled. ”You let them talk you into going round for round, didn”t you?”

”Couldn”t let ”em insult my penis size like that,” I muttered. ”It”s not small.” I cast them a baleful look. They grinned back like a pair of hyenas.

”We”ve all made that mistake before,” Lock said, grabbing my arm before I face planted.

”I got it,” I told him, handing him my pool cue.

”Sure you do.”

Before I knew what was happening Hellfire was shoving me up the stairs. ”Fuck off,” I told him.

”Just be glad I”m not carrying you up over my shoulder,” he said with a laugh.

I chuckled at that. ”You would, too.”

”You do have a pretty ass, Static,” he replied.

Pausing, I glanced over my shoulder at him. ”I”ve been saying that for years.”

He threw back his head and laughed. ”Go to bed, asshole.”

He still followed me to my room, but once I shut the door in his face, he left me alone. Turning, I fell face first onto my bed and groaned. ”Going to regret this shit in the morning.”

Jolting upright,I scrubbed a hand over my face and through my hair. What had woken me up? Blearily, I stared at my clock, and it read three-twenty a.m. There was a second knock on my door. That was what it had been.

Tossing my legs off the bed, I grimaced when I realized I”d fallen asleep with my damn boots on. I jerked open the door and everything inside me gentled.

Grace stood there, clutching her stuffed bear to her chest, tears running down her face.

The look on her face had all the after effects of the alcohol I”d drank earlier mostly disappearing. ”What”s wrong, Sweetie?” I asked, kneeling down to her level.

”Something”s wrong with Mommy,” she sobbed. ”Sean can”t wake her.”

I didn”t bother to ask more questions. Grabbing her up in my arms, I rose and strode down the hall to Gwen”s apartment. I set Grace down inside. ”It”s okay. She”s going to be just fine,” I told her, but left her there to go see what was going on. As soon as I stepped in the room the hairs on the back of my neck rose because Gwen let out a scream that made my blood freeze. I looked over at Sean.

”She won”t wake up,” he said, shaking his mom again.

”Did she take something?” I asked. I went over to her nightstand and picked up the bottle sitting there. It was some kind of sleeping pill. ”It”s okay, Bud,” I told him, setting the bottle down. ”Go check on your sister, okay?”

He looked torn, but finally nodded and left the room.

”Okay,” I said in a soothing voice as I scooped Gwen out of her bed. She was thrashing and breathing heavily. I was still pretty damn drunk, but seeing Grace sobbing at my door, and hearing that scream had worked like a bucket of ice water over my head. I carried Gwen into the bathroom and sat with her on my lap on the edge of her tub. I turned on the faucet and let it run as I reached around her to untie my boots.

By the time I got them off the water was warming. I didn”t bother with our clothes. Gwen was clearly in distress and the fucking sleeping medication she had taken had locked her into her nightmare. I stepped under the spray, careful to shield her enough that it didn”t strike her directly in the face. ”Come on, Sugar. Wake up,” I murmured to her, wiping her wet hair out of her face.

It took a full minute, with my heart in my damn throat, but she finally jerked in my arms with a heavy gasp. Her beautiful blue eyes were cloudy and confused as she stared up at me. ”Static?”

”There she is,” I said with a smile. I kept my voice low and soothing. She needed calm and safety right now.

”What-” She looked down. ”Why are we in my shower?”

”You”re okay,” I told her. I stroked her wet hair back again.

”Why am I in my shower with you?”

”You were having a bad dream. I guess the sleeping pill made it worse,” I explained.

She wasn”t fighting to get out of my hold. She laid her head on my shoulder and sighed. ”I”m sorry.”

”There”s nothing to be sorry for, Sugar,” I told her. Reaching down, I turned off the water. I stepped out carefully, still holding her, then sat her on her bathroom counter. ”Stay here a minute.”

She watched me, quiet as a mouse, as I stripped off my soaking wet jeans and t-shirt. Her eyes widened, but she still didn”t say a word.

”Spread your legs for me, Baby Girl.”

Now her mouth was hanging open.

I grinned at her. ”I assume your towels are in that cabinet there?” I pointed to the cabinet door under the sink, directly under where she was sitting. Her cheeks turned a delicate shade of pink, a much better color than the stark white they were before. She spread her legs and I knelt between them to grab a few of the fluffy blue towels she had stowed away there.

Her eyes roamed over my chest as I stood. She was still trying to come out of the fog the sleep medication had put her in. I wasn”t going to take advantage, but it didn”t mean I wouldn”t tease her a little.

”Like what you see?”

She narrowed her eyes on me, but her lips lifted in a small smile.

”Hands up, Sugar.” Defiance flashed in those blue depths as she looked at me again. ”I need to get those wet clothes off you. The last thing you need is to catch a cold.”

”Not happening.” She folded her arms over her chest.

I put my hands on either side of her hips on the counter and leaned in. ”Hands up.” Our noses were nearly touching. ”I want to get you dried off so we can go reassure your kids that you”re okay.”

That cinched it. Her head turned and I had to put a hand on her thigh to hold her in place. ”Clothes first,” I demanded. ”Then we”ll go see them.”

”I didn”t know they were awake,” she whispered, looking horrified.

”Hey, hey,” I grasped her chin, gently pulling her face toward mine so she”d look at me. ”It”s okay. They”re alright. Let”s get you taken care of, okay?”

She searched my eyes, then lifted her hands up over her head. She held my gaze as I pulled her wet shirt up and over, then tossed it in the corner with my clothes.

I wasn”t a gentleman. And even if I was, there was no way for me not to get an eyeful of her small, perky tits. But I didn”t touch her, and I was pretty sure that should qualify me for sainthood. Instead, I grabbed a towel and dried her off. Her nipples were hard points as I ran the towel over her chest. Her eyelids lowered to half-mast as she watched me with a dazed expression on her face. She was still under the effects of the medication and the nightmare she had.

Blowing out a breath, I left her sitting there and opened up drawers on her dresser. I took a minute to try to adjust my hard dick, but there was no hiding it when I was wearing nothing but wet boxer briefs.

I grabbed a pair of pajama bottoms, a t-shirt, and a pair of panties at random and closed the drawers before heading back into the bathroom to torment myself some more. Could I toss them at her and demand she put them on herself? Yeah. Was I going to? Fuck no. One, she could fall and hurt herself. Two, I was a bastard and would be dreaming about her sexy body for a long time to come.

”Arms up,” I told her again. My voice was nothing more than a rasp of sound, but I ignored it. Just the same as I ignored the way her eyes were wandering over my body as I dried her. I dropped the oversized t-shirt over her head and gently pulled her arms through the openings. My hands went to her hips and I stared into her eyes. The groan was forced from my chest when she licked her lips. They looked soft and plump and it took all my self-control not to kiss her. Or to imagine them on my body. ”Arch your hips.”

She put her hands down on the granite countertop and pushed up as she did as I requested. ”I”m sorry,” she whispered.

Fuck.Now I had to choose between watching what I was unveiling and looking up at her. I chose the decent route and met her gaze. To my horror, I saw there were tears in her eyes. ”What for, Sugar?” I kept pulling her bottoms and panties down as I spoke. Better to keep her distracted because something told me my girl was shy.

”For waking you up. For...this.” A sob escaped her mouth and she wound her arms around me and buried her face in my neck. ”I didn”t mean for this to happen.” The words were mumbled into my skin.

My flesh pebbled where her lips moved against it and I was trying my fucking hardest to keep my cock under control. This wasn”t the time for an erection, but the damn thing had a mind of its own. And the woman I”d realized I was in love with was half naked on the counter in front of me. I pulled her closer, forcing her legs apart as I stepped between her knees so I could comfort her.

”Hey, hey,” I soothed. ”There”s no reason to be sorry.” My arms wrapped around her and I held her close, grasping the back of her head and moving it so that her ear was pressed against my chest. I knew she was listening to the steady thumping of my heart and some of the tension drained out of her. I stroked her hair as I continued. ”These things happen. It wasn”t your fault.” I wasn”t honestly even sure what she was upset about yet, but that didn”t matter right now.

Her breathing was jerky as she continued quietly crying. I let her get it all out, holding her and murmuring words I wouldn”t remember in the morning. Eventually, the tears stopped and she pulled back, knuckling away the last of them. ”Feeling better?”

She nodded, and I noticed a faint blush working its way into her cheeks. It was time to finish getting her dressed. I grabbed the panties and stepped back half a step so I could put them on over her feet. She groaned and I looked up. She had her eyes squeezed closed. ”This is so embarrassing. I”d do it myself, but I feel so...out of it, I”m not sure I can,” she admitted.

”Don”t be embarrassed, Baby Girl.” I didn”t bother to explain that I planned to bury my face between those sexy legs of hers the moment she let me. It wouldn”t help the situation. It wasn”t easy, but I tried to remain as passive about the situation as I could as I eased the scrap of cloth up her thighs. ”Arch.”

She did, huffing out a breath as she complied.

”How about this,” I offered as I settled the material on her hips. ”Once you”re feeling better you can undress and redress me.”

Her laugh was soft as I repeated the process with her pajama pants. ”Careful,” she warned, ”or I might take you up on that.”

I”d let her do whatever the fuck she wanted to with my body. Mostly. I might have a few boundaries, but they were things I was sure her innocent mind wouldn”t ever come up with in the first place.

”Anytime, Sugar.” I scooped her into my arms and settled her back into her bed. I wrapped one of the damp towels around my waist. Grabbing the bottle of sleeping pills, I brought them with me. ”I”ll be right back.”

She just blinked at me, her eyes still glassy as she watched me go.

I hated seeing her like this. She was usually so full of life and vibrant. Even after the attack her smile lit up the room. I knew she was struggling. I could always read it on her face, but it didn”t change the fact that she was such a presence around here. Opening the bedroom door, I went out into the living room and smiled down at Sean and Grace. They were asleep on the couch. Grace”s head was resting on Sean”s shoulder. I picked her up and cuddled her close to my chest. ”Sean.”

He jerked awake, worried eyes meeting mine. His eyes didn”t look like a nine-year-old”s at that moment. They were so filled with concern, I got a glimpse of the kind of man he was going to grow into. Gwen had done a hell of a job raising him so far.

”Come on.”

He followed me into the bedroom. I sat Grace down at her Mom”s side and she curled into the warmth of her mother”s embrace. Sean climbed in on the other side. He studied his mother”s face, but didn”t say anything. He seemed to realize she wasn”t completely with it and just needed comfort. He needed that, too.

Gwen”s eyes met mine. ”Would you stay?”

”Yeah, let me go get some dry clothes so I don”t get everything wet.” I left her towel in the little kitchen and walked down the hall in my underwear, not really caring until Lock and Toxic came stumbling up the stairs. At least my dick had finally settled down and I didn”t have to worry about that.

Lock paused, eyebrows shooting up as he balanced an extremely drunk Toxic under one shoulder. ”Do I want to know?”

”It”s not what you think,” I told him.

”Just don”t let Ricochet catch you coming out of his sister”s room in your skivvies,” he said, shaking his head. ”I swear to Christ it”s like herding cats,” he muttered as he dragged Toxic away.

I wasn”t sure how our president ended up pulling the short straw and having to take care of all the drunk men downstairs, but he wasn”t one to bitch. Much. He just rolled up his sleeves and pitched in. Most of us had been drinking pretty heavily all day as we waited for what was coming later tonight. And most of us were going to end up regretting it.

I tossed the pills into my garbage can, then ditched the wet boxer briefs and pulled on a new pair and a set of gray sweat pants. Since there were going to be kids in the bed, I also put on a dry t-shirt. The kids were already asleep by the time I got back and Gwen wedged Grace between her and Sean so I”d have a side to sleep on. Crawling onto the bed, I wrapped an arm around her.

She laid her head on my shoulder and asked in a sleepy voice. ”Will you wake me if I have another bad dream?”

”Of course,” I told her, turning my head and brushing my lips against her head.

”Thanks for helping me, Static.”

Jesus. If I didn”t realize before that I was in love with this woman, I”d know it without a doubt now.