“Don’t do it again.”
No, I wouldn’t. This was going to be so messy.
“Take a shower,” he said. “No one will bother you.”
He didn’t have to add the words “I promise.” I heard them loud and clear. Finally, I stripped off Pinetree’s pajamas. The doctor’s blood was still on my skin. But the tattoo on my abdomen was right there—thankfully. They’d discussed removing it, but they hadn’t.
Head up, wings out.
I could do that.
I could do this.
“I’m here, Starling,” Rome reminded me and I smiled again.
“I’m glad you’re here,” I echoed back his earlier words, then made myself move. I was shivering all over again and I needed to shower.
CHAPTER 31
ROME
Freddie was asleep before the food arrived. Liam stripped off his shoes, moved him more onto the bed, and covered him up while I waited for Emersyn to finish her shower. It had taken her a while to even turn on the water. The crack in the door let me check on her if I needed to, but I didn’t look inside.
The scent of the pizza reminded me I hadn’t eaten, but I didn’t care. Liam just stacked the boxes on the desk and moved to lean against the wall, arms folded. Neither of us would touch anything until they had eaten.
“She’s lost weight.” The comment from my brother only echoed my own thoughts.
“Mr. Cole.”
“I’ll find him.”
I didn’t even have to ask, Liam understood. In fact, he dragged out his phone and began typing things into it. He had connections. Ties. Resources. I didn’t usually think about them. He’d been using them while we were here. The life he led away from us opened doors sometimes. It also brought its own problems.
One problem still waited for us.
I couldn’t care about that guy right now. Ezra Graham attacked Liam. People who attacked didn’t deserve second chances. “She’s hurting.”
“I know.” His sigh said more than his words. He glanced up from the phone. “We knew it wouldn’t be pretty.”
Had we? I turned that over in my head as the water finally turned on. The fist in my gut eased back a bit. But only a bit. Since the moment I discovered she’d left, breathing had become an act of will. So had putting one foot in front of the other. Going to Lainey, bringing her back, getting Freddie in place, they had all been things to do.
The waiting though, I didn’t like it.
For the first time in days, my fingers itched for a can of spray paint. All of my supplies were in a bag that I hadn’t opened once. Now I wanted to paint. More though—I wanted to inflict harm on those who had hurt her. She’d been wounded before, black and blue with bruises, tender-headed, and troubled.
The one we blamed for that had suffered as she had suffered. It was enough.
Now?
“Got him.” The quiet mutter carried despite the water. The steam rolling out of the bathroom promised it was a hot shower, the scent of the shampoo and soap wasn’t familiar. We needed to get her the right things. There were clothes for her in our bags. Clothes I’d packed from Liam’s apartment. Things he promised she picked out herself.
When he turned his phone and showed me the picture of the man, I studied him. Big. Thick-muscled. Unsmiling, his eyes promised violence. I accepted the promise. “He works for her uncle?”
“Freelancer, it looks like,” Liam murmured. “I don’t know the company. Never heard of them before.”
I didn’t care about the company, unless they were part of hurting her. If they had, we would deal with them too.
The water cut off and I pushed up from the floor. Liam tucked his phone away and passed me a stack of clothes, including clean panties and a bra. Then he nodded to the door. “Gonna go grab some drinks.”
He was also giving her space. Freddie was still out.
After the door closed behind Liam, Emersyn said. “Rome?”
“I’m here,” I promised, right next to the door where I said I would be.
The huff of a sigh carried a relief I understood. Hearing her voice in Freddie’s messages had brought a kind of comfort I didn’t understand until now. I needed to hear her almost as much as see her.
“I have clothes for you.”
She pulled the door open. Wearing only a towel and with another wrapped around her hair, she looked so painfully thin and haunted. The shadows in her eyes had shadows.
“Thank you,” she said, then swallowed. Her eyes shimmered as she blinked. I passed the clothes to her, but her fingers brushed over mine. Stilling, I let her hold my hand. “Why?”
Head tilted, I met her watery gaze. “Because you’re you.” There had only ever been her. I understood what she asked. “You’re ours.”
A shudder went through her. Fresh worry assaulted me, but then she pressed forward and I moved the clothes so I could close my arms around her. The heat from her skin, the dampness, the feel of her heart racing beneath my palm—it was all my starling.
"You’ve always been,” I promised her. “Nothing that happened changes that.”
Her sniffle added another tally to the list of injuries I planned to inflict on those who had hurt her. “Even though I left?”
“Did you really want to go?” Freddie had said she didn’t. That she didn’t want to go back to them. The photos I found said she’d only done it to protect us. Liam hadn’t been wrong when he said we would protect her.
If they came for her again, they would have to go through us to get to her.
“No,” she whispered in a hoarse voice so thick with tears it made my own eyes burn. I didn’t cry. For Emersyn, I just might.
“You leaving doesn’t make you not ours,” I said. “It just means we have to come get you.”
The wet laugh escaping her made me smile. “I missed you.”
Closing my eyes, I cradled her closer. The world was better with her in it. It was perfect with her right here. As reluctant as I was to let her go, when she began to pull away, I opened my arms again. A long, shuddering sigh escaped her.
“I need to get dressed.”
I nodded. “And eat.”
This time when I gave her the clothes, she hugged them to her. When she hesitated, I turned around. I would have walked away, but she put her hand against my back.
“Thank you.”
I wasn’t going anywhere. The rasp of the towel let me know she dried off. Then the rustle of clothes as she pulled on the shirt—one of mine—and the sleep shorts. Those were hers. Maybe I should have gotten her pants.
“Do you have a comb?”
“Yes. Go sit on the bed.” I waited for her to pass, the lightness of her fingers brushing against my back so welcome.
When she was out of the bathroom, I gathered up the clothes from the floor. The visible blood inside them reminded me of what she’d said about the doctor. I’d talk to Liam about it later. After I disposed of the clothes, I carried the pizza box over and handed her a comb. Then I sat down next to her and kept one eye on her and the other on the door.
We didn’t say anything as she ate. Liam took a long time to return. I expected that. He probably had arrangements to make. She only ate two huge slices and drank water, pausing only to comb her hair.