Page 103 of Crushing Clover

“It’s a slow night, and Ran has been wanting to take the lead more often. You don’t worry about Cygnet. The restaurant isn’t a Clover problem.”

I let myself relax in his arms, accepting the comfort he offered. “Yes, sir.”

Bad days don’t have to equal a bad life. Right?

We stayed like that for a long time, until Rush pressed the shattered little pieces of me back together.

Chapter 22

I awoke with the first light of dawn fingering the edges of the curtains.

Why was I awake?

It wasn’t Lucky’s snoring, which I enjoyed, strangely enough. It wasn’t Rush, although he was cuddling me in his sleep. He was probably only holding me because he was used to holding Lucky, but it still made me feel like maybe I was important to him, too.

Lucky had held me in bed when we got home from Cygnet the night before. Rush and Saint had stayed up shouting, then eventually talking. When I’d tried to eavesdrop, Lucky had turned up the volume on the TV, drowning them out.

At least I’d been exhausted.

I searched the dim light and found Saint lying next to me. He was the bane of my existence, and far too sexy for my own good. Maybe if he’d been asleep, it would have made this feel less awkward. Instead, he was wide awake and staring, his face inches from mine.

“Is something wrong?” I whispered.

“Go to sleep, bootlicker,” he said shortly.

I closed my eyes obediently but could feel him still looking at me. “I can’t sleep if I know you’re watching me.”

“I don’t think you can have performance anxiety about sleeping.”

“You’d be surprised.” I opened my eyes again and raised a brow. “Seriously, what’s wrong?”

“You’re in my bed.”

“Rush gave you other options.” It was nice getting back to this friendly animosity again. I could almost relax. Every time I looked at him panic reared its head, but it was easier to feel brave with Lucky and Rush in the room. “You had to know Rush was going to take pity on me eventually.”

“You make me sound like such an asshole.”

The only reason I managed not to laugh was because I was still half asleep. This felt like a weird dream.

“It’s not a big deal that you ended up sleeping next to me, you know.”

“Careful, Saint. You keep saying romantic things like that and I might fall in love with you.”

“I haven’t given you much reason to.”

Was that regret? From Saint? Doubtful.

“Is that what’s keeping you up? Guilt?” I asked wryly.

“I’m sorry for being so rough with you last night. That was fucked up. Are you okay?” He rolled his eyes. “Of course you’re not okay. I made you bleed, and I scared the shit out of you.”

“I’ll live,” I whispered even more quietly. “I…I’m sorry I pissed you off.”

“You didn’t. It wasn’t about you, which makes what I did to you even more fucked up.”

“Oh.”

We stared at each other for a few heartbeats, and he grimaced.