Page 71 of Raff
I wanted to see her.
But the guys’ words weren’t lost on me, either.
I paused outside the door, taking a few slow, deep breaths, trying to smooth the sharp edges of my panic and anger. Only then did I reach for and turn the knob.
Lula’s whole body jolted as the door opened, making my stomach clench.
But then it dropped to the floor as I looked at her.
There were deep black rings around each eye that I knew from experience would only darken over the next few hours.
Her nose was bloody, her lip fat, blood stained her chest and tank top, and there was a darkness around her throat that, I realized with a sick twist in my gut, was from someone strangling her.
“Oh, gorgeous girl,” I said, my voice as broken as I felt looking at her.
Her gaze flicked over, her lower lip starting to tremble.
“Probably not so much anymore,” she said. As she spoke, a small bit of blood escaped her mouth.
My jaw went granite.
“Nothing could take away all that pretty,” I said, forcing my voice to go light, knowing she didn’t need my intensity right then as I grabbed a tissue and moved over to wipe the blood away. “Did you knock a tooth loose?” I asked.
“Out,” she clarified.
Dammit.
“Where?”
She pointed toward the back of her mouth.
“Okay. Ama will look at that too.”
She was going to need a bridge or an implant if she wanted to replace it. But this was not the time to talk about future plans.
“Lula,” I called, watching her gaze fall to my chin. “Hey, look at me,” I demanded, gently snagging her chin and tipping her head up. “It’s going to be alright. None of this is permanent, okay?”
She gave me a tight nod, her gaze on my chin.
“Why won’t you look at me?” I asked.
“I screamed for you,” she told me, her voice cracking.
Fuck.
It felt like someone stabbed a knife into my gut and pulled upward.
“Where were you? Did you go home—never mind.”
So.
That was what this was about.
She thought I’d left her to go hook up with some other chick. Like it was possible to even think about someone else when she was around.
“Arty called,” I told her. “I wanted to drop by and see what he found out.”
Her gaze lifted.
