Page 50 of The Gift
He’s more aware than I am, something steals his focus. Opening my eyes, I find him leaning over the top of my car, caging me inside as another car turns on to the road.
The car stays down there, but Koda squats next to me. “Bails, Ashton is going to drive your car back to our place. That okay?”
“I can stay at a hotel or go to Carmen’s.”
“You probably could, but I think we both know that won’t work for any of us. You take my bed, or one of theirs, and I’ll sleep on the floor near you. Have a shower, have you got a spare set of clothes?”
“Yeah, in the trunk.”
He pulls back a bit, his chin dropping down in mock indignation. “For work, hey? Cause, you know if you go, we’re going with you.”
My chin does the wobble thing again, that would be cute as fuck if I was three years old, but at nearly twenty-five it doesn’t hold the same charisma. “You all make me feel weak.”
His hands wrap around my face, and his brown eyes fill with so much… too much.
“Jesus, you’re the strongest fucking woman I’ve ever met. You’ve never been weak in my eyes. We all need someone to care for us. You’re gold, Bails.”
He cuts off our deep and meaningful, standing back up when Ashton goes around the driver’s side.
“Bailey, how are you doing?” Ashton asks carefully, opening the door and sliding in.
“Pretty crappy.”
He reaches over and rubs my leg, reassurance and comfort in his touch.
“No way, that’s exactly how I feel. Legit, I felt physically sick to my stomach with the knowledge that someone breached your privacy. And Henley, well he’s down there because he’s losing his shit completely. He fucked up big time back at Jenna’s, I mean we all did, and now this? He doesn’t want to scare you, but he’s angry. Not at you, at what has been done. How about you let me take you back to our place and we let Koda and Hen take a look at what we’re dealing with.”
“Where’s Reno?”
“Doing a dash to get alcohol and food. Apparently, doctor’s orders, our patient needs spoiling. What do you think?”
Koda squats back on the passenger side, surprising the hell out of me when he wraps one of his hands around my neck, pulling me in slow to kiss me in front of Ashton, until my head spins.
“Shower first. All I can smell is fucking Colton’s touch,” he says to me, although it feels like it’s an order for Ashton too.
“Yeah, we probably need to talk about CJ. And I want an update on the letter.”
“We can do that. Keys?” Ashton asks, his voice calm as he lets his scent of summer rain fill the car too. And it relaxes and soothes me.
I unclench my hand, clipping off my house key to give them both a key. Ashton drags his fingers over the palm of my hand before he links our fingers, making them sit on his thigh. And yeah, I read a lot into that touch. When my eyes jump to his, they’re full of the same things I imagined, or hoped for.
Koda closes the door and says goodbye with a wink. And Ashton drives off without another word.
My phone rings again, and Carmen’s name flashes up.
“Can you answer for me? She’ll get weird if I answer on my phone while I’m in my car. Trust me, she’ll know too. And I don’t need to run through the reason why I’m not driving right now.”
He nods and flicks the call through, not letting my hand go.
“Are you okay?” Her voice isn’t as loud as it should be. She’s rattled.
“What do you mean?”
“Henley called, or maybe it was Ashton. Fuck knows, don’t care. One of them said your apartment was broken into, but then I was like, yeah no, homeboy, we’ve got enough drama going on for one day with Donnie being a dick, Moaning Maddie taking one for the team and then what happened with Colton. And what appointment are you going to?”
“Yeah.”
“What? So, is it true?”
