Page 123 of Reckless Vengeance

“Can Rory sleep in my room then since you’re going to be useless?”

“Bite me, I’m suffering, bro. She can do all the work,” I chuckled, tilting my head to the side to look at him. “Thanks for suffering with me.”

“I’ll always suffer with you,” he promised, reaching over to pat my arm. “We need water though.”

I huffed, pulling myself up to sit. I had no idea how I was going to walk upstairs with my legs shaking so badly.

Caden got to his feet slowly, holding the treadmill beside him with a wince.

“We probably should’ve cooled down properly. I’m seizing up.”

“I need a bath.”

“Same.”

“Want to be bath buddies?”

“You’re pushing it,” he scoffed, limping towards the small fridge in the corner and grabbing two bottles of water. He handed me one, and I managed to get to my feet too.

Downing the cool liquid, I gave myself a second to make sure my legs would work before we left the gym and headed upstairs, finding the main floor silent.

“They didn’t leave, right?” I asked in a slight panic, but Caden shook his head.

“Nah. They'll be upstairs somewhere.”

The next set of stairs almost killed me, but I made it and poked my head into Rory’s bedroom, then Jensen’s, finding them curled up on his bed with a movie on.

“Hey,” Rory murmured as she sat up and climbed over Lukas, coming straight to me. I probably reeked, I was drenched in sweat, but she hugged me tightly anyway.

“I need a shower and a long soak in the bath. Since Holloway won’t join me, would you like to?” I asked, amusement coating her face.

“Only if you let me rub your shoulders.”

“And my cock?”

“Tempting,” she grinned, standing on tiptoe to kiss me quickly. “Come on. You stink.”

“You don’t like my manly smell?”

“You’ve passed manly and gone straight to road kill,” she deadpanned, taking my hand and tugging me towards the door.

Caden chuckled and headed to his bedroom, giving us some time alone.

I filled the bath so Rory could climb in, then I had a quick shower to rinse off the sweat and smell before joining her. She scooted back so I could sit between her legs, encouraging me to lean back so she could drape her arms over my shoulders to hold me.

“Want to talk about it?” she asked after a moment of silence, making me sigh.

“I just fucking hate her. I’m surprised she got my name right.”

“She doesn’t deserve you.”

“I’d never do that to my kids. Make them feel like they don’t matter. I always wondered what I’d done wrong to make my parents not want me around. I was nervous when Mom showed up, not really knowing how to react, but the second she started talking badly to Josie, it became clear that I wanted nothing to do with her. She can’t shamelessly let another woman raise her kid, then call her a bad parent, or bring up Tristan. Josie is an angel for taking care of all of us.”

Rory kissed my shoulder, nuzzling into my neck. “I agree. She’s helped me so much over the past three months.”

“I can’t believe you’ve only been in our lives that long,” I murmured, hating that I’d wasted the first month with our bullshit. I’d forever be sorry for what we put her through.

She was quiet, her hands wandering my chest as she probably thought about our short history too.