“I guess it was a bit of a shock. I’ve never been hit before.” My fingers tightened around his and he pulled me closer, gently holding me. Against my ear, his heart beat loud. Odd. I’d never particularly been a cuddler before either. But I suppose everyone had their moments of…not weakness exactly. Something else.
“And you never will be again if I can help it,” he said, the words rumbling forth from deep within his solid chest.
“Seriously?” asked Mal. “Is no one going to say the obvious thing here?”
Over on the couch, Dave lifted one shoulder. “It’s a bit strange that Martha and Sam are hugging it out, but I guess it’s been an emotional day.”
“Not that. Man, and you call me the band idiot.”
I eased out of Sam’s far too nice arms, squaring my shoulders. “Now that’s finished, we can all get on with our lives.”
Mal clicked his tongue. “Not yet. Also, Davie, what you just said by the way says a lot about you and your need to get over the stuff that went down between you and Marty way back when. Because, dude, we’re all way over it. You forgave Jimmy, you can forgive her too.”
“I really wish you wouldn’t call me that,” I mumbled.
“Wish away,” said Mal, his expression serious for once. “Now, Marty, sweetie. Listen to me carefully here for a minute. I promise I’ll buy you every damn Gucci handbag in the country if the next time someone tries to mug you, you’ll just let the bag go. Okay? You hearing me?”
“Thank you,” said Ben, still quietly stressing and doing his best to repress his anger over by the wall. I don’t think I’d ever actually seen my brother so worked up. At least, not over me. Or not for a very long time. “A handbag is not worth more than your life,” he said. “What if the guy had a knife or a gun?”
“Well,” I said, searching my mind for a suitably clever response. “He didn’t.”
“He could have. You’re lucky to be alive.”
“Ben—”
“Your brother’s right,” interrupted Sam.
I scowled some more. “I thought you were on my side.”
First, the big man tipped his chin, then his hands slowly curled into fists. “Martha, since you don’t seem to have noticed, let me point out something important to you. Even when you’ve done something so breathtakingly stupid that I couldn’t figure out what the fuck you could possibly have been thinking, I have still always been on your side.”
My mouth, it gaped.
Meanwhile, the silence in the room was deafening. Only for all of about a second, however, until Gibby pulled his thumb out of his mouth and yelled, “Fuck!”
Sam sighed. “Sorry about that, Ben. I’m going to go check on things down at the gate. Excuse me.”
Ben just nodded.
More silence. I could feel various people’s eyes boring into me. Thankfully, Adam the baby rocker quietly started strumming his guitar. A moment later, Mal joined in with a whisper soft drum beat. “That was weird.”
David grunted.
“Of course,” said Mal. “It’s always weird when unresolved sexual tension boils over like that. Still, gives me something to report back to Anne tonight. We’ll have a good gossip about y’all then give making a baby another turn or two. Maybe even three if my wife is lucky. And that girl was born lucky.”
Jimmy’s lips flattened. “I think it’s great that you’re planning on starting a family. But I can honestly live without the daily updates regarding your sex life, man.”
“But you don’t have to, Jimbo. That’s the beauty of it, I’m more than happy to share.” Mal was clearly quite capable of needling Jimmy even while he accompanied Adam’s quiet guitar playing.
Ben slid an arm around my shoulders, his eyes still full of worry. “You okay? Did you see a doctor or someone when it happened?”
“Oh, I’m fine,” I said, a little distracted. “It really is just a black eye. I put some ice on it and then loaded on the concealer. It was fine.”
“If you say so. Sorry for raising my voice.”
I shrugged. “Guess I should have told you about it.”
“You need to learn to be more of a sharer like me, Marty,” volunteered Mal. “For instance, you could tell us your