"He just... he just ran in, slammed the door, shot Joss, then came for me."
"It's okay. You don't have to talk about it," I reassured her.
But she wanted to get it out. "I went to run, but I felt something under my foot. Something sharp and metal. I knew I wasn't going to get away from him. So I just grabbed that, and hid it until I knew I could use it."
"Good. You did good, babe. It's all over," I added, squeezing her tighter. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?"
"He hit me with a bat," Shy declared, voice a mix of pissed off and almost offended. "Joss says I have a concussion."
"He's probably right."
"My head hurts," she whimpered. "It didn't feel so bad there for a little while, but it is bad again."
"The adrenaline helped you keep going past the pain. Now that you're safe, it is back. It might be back for a while. But I got some pills you can take to make it go away. I'm just going to pick you up," I told her.
"I can walk," she insisted.
"I'm sure you can, babe. But give me this. It's been a long fucking night. I want to hold you."
"Okay," she agreed, snuggling in as I got to my feet, carrying her back toward the end of the block, finding the guys standing there. One look told me all I needed to know. They hadn't gotten him.
"That motherfucker has the best luck," Huck declared. "Ran right up to a bus stop as it was about to pull off. There was nothing we could do. Che needed to get Joss to the hospital. He was starting to get pale and quiet."
"Oh, no," Shy said, stiffening in my arms.
"Nah, he'll be fine," Huck said, shrugging.
"You can't know that."
"He wasn't hit anywhere too bad. He just needs to get the bullet out, and get some blood in. He'll be fine. We will hear about him later," he added. "Let's get off the street. And get you somewhere safe," he said, nodding toward me.
Then just like that, we were making our ways to the cars, then on our way back to Teddy's.
"Babe?" I called as we climbed back out of the car. She hadn't said a word on the ride back, just curled tightly into me. I didn't want to press it in front of the guys, to embarrass her if she was upset. But they walked off ahead and Huck was hanging back to talk to the security that Teddy had called in for the penthouse, so we had a minute. "You're scaring me a bit here," I admitted.
"Head," she whimpered out, voice small.
"Yeah. Let's get something for that," I agreed, bringing her into the loft, and asking Teddy if he had something, or if we needed to send Seeley off to find some pills.
I'd just gotten Shy onto the couch and wrapped her in a blanket when Belle appeared in the hallway, eyes huge, looking very, very lost.
I guess, in their relationship, Shy—being the older sister—had always been the one with the answers, the one to comfort, the one to really soothe over hurts. Belle seemed unsure of what she was supposed to do or say.
"Is she..."
"She's alright. Got knocked in the head," I told her. "Concussion, seems like. But she's okay. Stabbed Anton in the thigh," I added, getting Belle's head to jerk up, her gaze holding mine.
"Good."
"We're not out of the woods with him yet," I warned her. "But he lost all his men tonight."
"Good," she repeated, taking a few tentative steps forward.
As soon as she did, Shy's arms moved out from under the blanket, reaching out for her sister. And Belle flew at her.
I wasn't sure who was crying the hardest right then, but I figured they both needed the outlet. So I moved away, let them have as much privacy as they could in the living room as I joined everyone else in the kitchen.
"What's the word on Joss?" Teddy asked.
"In surgery, but it looks good. We can probably visit tomorrow."
"Is Che good to stay there as a guard?" Huck asked. "We can send one of the single guys if need be."
"He said he would hang until the rest of us got some sleep," Remy said.
"Okay. Good. That's one thing. Any word on Betty? Anyone have any idea what we should be doing with her?" Huck asked.
"From what Belle could get out of her, she wasn't assaulted in any way. Just scared," Teddy informed everyone. "Apparently, she was so scared she wet herself once and one of them threw her into the bathroom and she hit her head. But that was the worst of it."
"Small miracle," Huck mumbled. "And what do we do with her?"
"We can't send her home, traumatized like she is, to her addict parents who don't even know she's missing," I insisted.
There was a chorus of agreement to that.
"She seems happy with the girls, with Belle especially," Teddy said. "Maybe they can hang onto her until Joss is free? School is out. No one has reported her missing."
"True. Maybe once Joss is awake, we can get him to leave his parents a message about taking Betty away for a week, just to keep them from asking questions," Huck said.
"Fucking ridiculous that she has to stay with those people," Remy grumbled.
"Maybe Joss can take guardianship one day," Alaric suggested.
"A twenty-year-old kid who works at a liquor store?" Teddy asked. "Not likely."
"Maybe a twenty-year-old kid who works as a mechanic, though," Eddie suggested, looking at Huck. "Good, stable work, lots of references. A network of friends, including women with kids..."
"Are you suggesting I take on Joss as a prospect?" Huck asked, looking frustrated, yet resigned at the same time.
"I'm not saying nothing, boss man. I mean, I'm not saying nothing until, you know, the man gets guardianship in writing and shit," he added, smirking.
"I'll think about it," Huck agreed. "But, yeah, we could use some more hands at the shop if you all are willing to put in the work to train him."
"We can do that," Remy agreed, nodding.
"When the fuck did we all become philanthropists?" Huck mumbled, reaching for a cup of coffee that his woman promptly plucked out of his hands, putting it back down on the counter.
"You've always been a good man," she told him, grabbing his hand, and starting to pull him away. "But even good men need some sleep," she added, half-dragging him down the hall to the bedroom.
"Not a bad idea," Remy agreed.
"Yeah, you guys get some sleep. I'm going to be up," I told them.
"Me too," Eddie agreed. "I'll keep the little whippersnappers awake too," he added, meaning Seeley's friends.
"Plus my security has a picture of Anton," Teddy added, pushing away his coffee cup as well. "He's not getting in this building."
"Why don't the rest of you take the bedroom Belle and Shy were in?" I suggested. "We're all gonna crash in the living room," I explained.
No one objected, which went to say how tired everyone was.
After everyone filed out, I brought Shy and Belle over some hot chocolate which they drank as they stared blankly at something they'd put on the TV.
Eventually, Belle got up to go check on Betty. And must have passed out in there, because she didn't come back.