Page 17 of Give Me Peace

We eat in silence. Lochlan’s turkey club looks a million times better than my chicken broth and plain toast, but I manage to eat more of my food this time. We’ve just finished when Dr. Ashburn, who I’ve yet to be awake to meet, comes in to speak with me. He goes over my bloodwork, informing us there was nothing noted in my toxicology report. Other than an iron deficiency, I’m otherwise healthy. Which is a miracle in itself. Nurse Karley makes her final check once he leaves and gives me my next dose of pain meds. She clears our food trash and promises to be here in the morning so we can say goodbye.

When it’s just us again, I press the button to lower my bed. It feels like I’ve been put through the ringer this past hour, both physically and emotionally. Lochlan dims the light, making sure to leave the bathroom open, and then takes his seat beside me. My eyelids feel so heavy I can hardly keep them open.

“Sweet dreams, Saylor,” Lochlan whispers, sliding his hand beneath mine as I sink into oblivion.

Chapter Nine

Roan

When I make it back to Saylor’s room, she’s already sound asleep. Selfishly, I was hoping to have a few more minutes with her. Maybe it’s because I’m so focused on her at the moment there isn’t room for anything else, but she quiets the acidic thoughts plaguing me. I don’t feel the constant weight of regret or inadequacy. I have a purpose—to keep her safe—and I’m not going to let anything hinder that, especially my own bullshit.

Lochlan is staring at Saylor, his hand holding hers, likely counting every breath she takes. I’d give him shit for it, but I doubt I’m any better. It’s hard to look away from something you’ve just found, when you’d been convinced it was lost forever. I soundlessly pull up the other chair, prepared to spend another night on hard, unforgiving plastic.

“She agreed to come back with us.” Loch speaks softly, not wanting to wake Saylor.

I had a feeling she would, but I’m fucking thrilled. It’s not that I don’t trust the agents that’d be tasked with looking after her, I just trust us more. She’d be an assignment to them, nothing more. And while some people are adamant that feelings shouldn’t interfere with your job, I not-so-politely disagree. They might be trained to protect Saylor with their lives, but if they’ve never been put in a position where they have to make a decision like that, then who’s to say how they’ll actually respond.

As for me and the guys? I know where we stand. If the choice came down to us or her, it’d be her. Every single time. You do whatever you have to when you care about someone. Saylor staying in our home will keep her safe and us sane. Denvers would’ve lost his shit on us if she had decided to go to the other route. We would’ve bugged the poor bastard to an early grave.

“Thank fuck for that.” I exhale in relief, kicking my feet out to gain a bit more room on my makeshift bed. “She laughed today.”

“Really?” Loch turns to look at me, using his finger to push his glasses back up his nose.

“Yeah.” I smile, remembering the soft, tinkling sound and the way her face looked in the moment. It’s like she forgot about all the bad shit for a second. I want to feed those glimmers of happiness. Until the good outweighs the bad and she no longer has that haunted look in her pretty blue eyes.

“What got that reaction from her?” Loch teases, probably wanting to know so he can recreate it and be the cause.

“Fucking Kash,” I snort. “I had the feed up for the kitchen cam, watching his dumbass prance around on top of the dining table because of a lizard. Krew threw it at him and the big baby went down. Completely ate shit while squealing like a stuck pig.” We both laugh, doing our best to muffle the noise.

“Figures it’d be him,” Loch scoffs, but I nod in agreement. Kash has more issues than I’ve got brain cells, but he’s funny as shit and knows how to keep the heaviness at bay. That’s something I’ve always envied about him.

“I called Kade back in.” Loch’s statement throws me for a second, but I shake off my surprise.

“Did you explain why?”

“No.” He shakes his head. “His flight leaves at 1pm tomorrow, so he should be home by six. We haven’t even explained the situation to Saylor.” Loch groans, clearly stressed about the revelations to come.

“In all fairness, there’s a lot we haven’t told Saylor. But we agreed it wasn’t the brightest idea to dump everything on her at once. That decision isn’t yours to bear on your own, Loch.” I grip his shoulder, giving him a good shake. “Let’s get some sleep, brother,” I change topics, knowing he won’t see things that way no matter what I say. “I mean, it’s going to be shitty sleep, but sleep nonetheless.”

“The shittiest,” Loch mumbles, his head already laid against Saylor’s bed. “I can’t wait to kiss my fucking mattress. I’ll never take it for granted again.”

“Worth it, though.” I grin, looking at the sweetest face, content in sleep.

“Definitely,” Loch agrees, his snores filling the quiet just a few minutes later.

“Ro.”

Someone kicks my foot, but it can’t be time to wake up already, so I decide I’m dreaming.

“Ro.”

The smack to the back of my head does it, and I pry myself up, cracking an eye open to glare at Lochlan. The clock reads 5:32am, and I’ve never hated him more than I do in this moment.

“What the fuck are you doing?” I growl, irritated and stiff from being folded over half the night. My hand must have a mind of its own, because it’s once again wrapped around Saylor’s ankle.

“The goddamn press is here. Denvers just called to give us a heads up.” Lochlan whisper-yells his outrage, but it succeeds in waking me up.

“How the hell did that happen?” I carefully move away from Saylor and start stuffing shit in my bag. Snatching our charging cords from the outlet, I hand them to Loch, who’s just about finished with his own crap.