“You brought an ex-con here?” Ty thunders, moving around to my other side where I’m standing in front of Lexi.
“Look,” I say exasperated. “She’s bleeding, can you just fix her up and then I can take her home?”
“Un-fucking-believable.” Luke storms across the warehouse and turns as he pulls open the door. “I’ll get my kit, but you owe me one for this, Evan.”
I salute him and take a breath of relief when the door closes behind him, that is until Ty growls, “As soon as she’s gone, I want you in my office.”
I turn to look at him, seeing the anger roll through him in waves and nod. The last thing I want is to do this in front of Lexi, who right now starts to sag in the chair and closes her eyes.
“Lexi?” I crouch down in front of her. “Lexi!”
“Will you stop shouting? I just want to have a few seconds where I don’t get daggers stared at me.”
“You need to keep your eyes open; these guys won’t hurt you.” I turn back to Ty. He must see something in my eyes because he backs away a step and lets his arms drop to his side as he gives me a nod of acknowledgement. “I
can promise you that.”
The sound of the warehouse door opening gains my attention, and I stand, waiting for Luke to come over and fix her up. Only it’s not Luke, and my day just became a whole lot more difficult as Seb and West come walking inside.
“What the fuck?” Seb practically shouts
“Balls,” Lexi whispers. “You didn’t tell me the evil twosome would be coming here.”
I smirk and hear Ty chuckle behind me despite his angry mood.
“What have you done to her?” West asks, coming closer but with a look of concern on his face. “Gran is gonna be pissed.”
The room is silent for a beat, the atmosphere crackling as they stare at her, waiting.
“He hasn’t done anything. I had a fight with a floorboard,” Lexi says, blowing out a breath before she turns and winces. “Floorboard won.”
They both seem to breathe a sigh of relief, and I can’t help but wonder why. Why do they care so much?
“I can see that,” West chuckles, coming to stand beside me.
The door opens again, only this time it’s Luke, complete with his kit. “Can’t believe we have an ex-con in the fucking warehouse,” he mutters.
“Try living with one,” Seb groans.
Luke whips his head around to him, his brows raised. “You live with her?”
My nostrils flare and I move in front of Lexi protectively. I don’t like the way he’s acting, and there’s no way that I’m going to force him to do this. I have enough connections, I’m sure that I can find another way to get her eye stitched up without having to take her to the hospital.
“Watch your fucking tone,” I growl, causing all eyes to swing my way. “If I thought bringing her here was a danger, then I wouldn’t have. I’m asking you to fix her eye, not be her best fucking friend.”
The atmosphere becomes thicker as we stare each other down. I’m never like this, and they all know it. I never ask for their help, but when any of them need anything, I’m there, no questions asked. It’s time that they started paying me the same no-questions-asked respect that I give them.
“Jesus Christ, Evan,” Luke grunts, running his hand through his blond hair. “I can’t believe—”
“Don’t,” I warn him because I know exactly what he’s going to say, and right now isn’t the time for that—I don’t know if it ever will be.
He raises a brow at me and then lets his shoulders sag, pulling his kit in front of him. “Fine, but you need to move.”
I give him one last steely look of warning before I step to the side and allow him access to Lexi.
Ty, West, Seb, and I stand around as we watch Luke touch both sides of her face. “What happened?”
“I tried to fix a floorboard, and the hammer split the wood and then the wood attacked me,” she answers, pointing to the cut on her eye that has now slowed in bleeding.