Page 116 of Trusting Skulls

He smirks. “I’m just kidding you.” He glances down the hall and then over his shoulder. “So, I hear you’ve been spending a lot of time with my sister.”

I stutter in surprise. “Um, yeah, um, you know, she’s been helping me with my therapy.” I point to my foot.

One of his eyebrows climbs up his forehead. “Raffe tells me it seems to be a little more than that.”

“Well, you know, I’m a hard person to work with. Sometimes it takes a lot of encouragement, and …”

When he leans forward, putting the two of us nose to nose, I about fall out of my chair. “What is she up to?” he asks, his eyes narrowing on me.

He’s just worried about her, I remind myself. He’s not upset with me. Just the situation.

“Shit, I’m sorry,” he says, spinning away from me in his chair. “Ash is in his room.” He downs his drink and then stands to walk away.

“Wait.” I grab his hand. “I’m helping her. She’s preparing to say goodbye.”

He falls back into his chair and proceeds to drink straight from the bottle, emptying it despite my best effort to pull it away from him. When it’s gone, he covers his face with both of his hands.

“I’m so sorry,” I whisper.

A sob escapes him, and he shakes his head. “I can’t lose her again,” he chokes out.

I’m not sure what he means by that, but he needs someone stronger than me to get him through this. I jump up and hurry outside.

I push through the group, looking for Jesse, but I bump right into a wall of a man in a black jacket. Big Dan grabs both of my arms. My gaze slowly climbs up his giant frame. His brows pull together.

“What’s wrong?” he asks.

“I was looking for Jesse.”

Dan continues to hold me as his gaze roams over everyone’s heads. When he spots her, he pulls me through the crowd. Everyone at the table stares at us as we approach. Dan keeps his meaty hand around my bicep, waiting for me to talk.

“What’s going on?” Jesse asks, standing up.

I glance at everyone before leaning in and whispering in her ear, “It’s Dirk. He’s … he’s crying.”

Her head snaps back, and she looks as surprised as I feel.

She gives the group of men she’s with a quick once over and then turns back to me. “Where?”

“Inside. He finished a whole bottle of whiskey. I tried to stop him.”

Dan catches on to our conversation, and he lets go of me to grab her. He pushes his way back toward the warehouse, and I breathe a sigh of relief. They’ll take care of him.

Kelsie jogs over to me. “Hey.” She gives me a big hug. “I didn’t expect to see you here. How are you doing?”

“Good. Um, I was just here to see Ash.”

She looks up at a window, and I follow her gaze. “He’s probably in his room. I think parties are still a little hard for him. You know, with all the drinking.”

I nod as someone bumps into me from behind. Suddenly, everything seems too much. Too many people. Too loud. Too everything. My heart starts beating wildly as I search for a way out.

A warm arm wraps around my waist, and Ash’s familiar scent instantly calms me.

Kelsie gives me a kind, knowing smile before she heads back to her boyfriend.

“I’ve been waiting for you,” Ash whispers in my ear as he guides us around the house. When we get to the other side, we slip into a door and up a set of stairs. “JD told me you were coming over.”

“Sorry, I got distracted.”

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