Page 89 of No Apologies
Skylar managed a watery laugh, “Ahh, Mom!”
“How you feelin’?”
Colt tried to resituate himself against the headboard without wincing. It was weird having Lincoln here, in his bedroom, but he refused to let his cousin see how uncomfortable it made him. He was already at a disadvantage, half-clothed and tucked into bed like a sick child. He wouldn’t let Lincoln see that just sitting upright made his head swim.
“Fine.”
It had been two days since he was attacked. The first twenty-four hours, as well as most of the events following getting hit with what must have been that bat, were nothing more than a fog to him. Only since he woke this morning had he fully come out of the haze of what he’d learned was a concussion. Even still, he was already sick and tired of everyone asking him that question.
His brothers had been downright overprotective as they did their best impressions of Florence Nightingale. Cash and Remy had checked on him hourly, even throughout the night, even when he kicked them out and cursed at them. They came back every time, with pain pills, with antibiotics, with fluids and food to help him keep his strength up.
After a fight that had left him more than a little lightheaded, he’d ordered Cash to go back to work. He’d even thrown enough of a fit that Jemma had said she knew better than to stay where she wasn’t wanted and left as well. That had only left him with Remy so he’d told his older brother to go home, or at least to the place he’d been crashing the past few weeks. He’d honestly been surprised by how difficult it had been to get rid of Remy.
It was weird. He was used to Cash making a fuss over him when he was hurt. They always had each other’s back. But Remy’s hovering and fretting left him feeling strangely off-kilter. He’d expected Remy to take off again at the first sign of trouble but he’d done the opposite and dug his feet in deeper.
The man he’d convinced himself his older brother was after he left them was becoming harder and harder to reconcile with the Remy that had returned. The cold, selfish son of a bitch that hadn’t cared if his little brothers survived their parents wasn’t the same man that had helped him free Jemma from her abusive ex, no questions asked. He wasn’t the same man that he had vague memories of gently carrying him out of his shop the other night and reassuring him that he was going to be okay. It was a worried, protective big brother that had spent God only knew how many hours the past few days in the chair he’d dragged next to Colt’s bed.
It had been that brother he had hell convincing to leave him alone for a few hours this morning and somehow he wasn’t surprised that Lincoln was here now. Remy had been crashing on Lincoln’s couch since his unlikely return to Old Settlers. If he’d gone home to shower and get some clean clothes like Colt had told him to, it seemed likely he’d talked to Lincoln and sent him to watch Colt in his stead.
And, for the first time since she kissed him goodbye and said she had to run some errands, he was relieved Skylar wasn’t around. She’d been by his side every minute since he woke up and unlike his brothers he hadn’t minded her worry at all. He’d loved waking up each morning with the feel of her close by, the scent of her clinging to him and his sheets. He’d decided sometime around the moment she offered to help him shower that she could baby him all she wanted.
Of course, the shower hadn’t ended as happily as he’d been hoping. She’d told him he was still too banged up for sex and put him back into bed with nothing but a sweet kiss. He’d tried to explain to her that if his body was well enough to sport wood the instant she touched him it was plenty well enough for some of her attention but she’d only giggled and told him maybe she’d get creative when she got back.
He’d been looking forward to that moment, when she came back to him, crawled into bed with him, and pressed her soft body against his. But then Lincoln had walked in the door and he knew the discussion they needed to have wasn’t one that she needed to hear. It was best if he kept those two parts of his life separate. There was never a time when he could see himself being okay with having Lincoln and Skylar in the same room.
“Yeah, you look fine.” Lincoln only snorted and collapsed into the empty chair, kicking his booted feet up onto the corner of the bed, “You need anything?”
“Nah, I’m good.”
“Uh-huh, and where’d your nurse get off to?”
He frowned at Lincoln’s curiosity, “Skylar had some errands to run.”
“Yeah, I meant your twin sister.”
Colt snorted at the joke but it hurt his ribs too much to laugh, “I sent Cash to work.”
“And the concerned mother hen?”
He raised an eyebrow, “I figured you knew. I sent Remy home a while ago. He didn’t go to your place?”
“Nope. Haven’t seen him in a day or two.” Lincoln scratched his jaw uncomfortably.
Two days? Colt narrowed his eyes at the admission. It had been two days since Remy found him curled into a ball on the floor of his shop, beaten and barely conscious.
“You haven’t seen Remy since the night I was attacked?”
“Yeah, well, we kinda had a disagreement that night and he’s not so happy with me. I’m not surprised he’s gone MIA but I’m sure he’s found somewhere else to crash. I ain’t exactly had time to go tracking him down.”
“Why is he not happy with you?”
Colt felt the beginning of a bad feeling twitch inside of him and then take hold. He remembered how both of his brothers had been quiet since he woke up. Cash hadn’t once asked him what happened. Remy had told him not to worry about it and to focus only on getting better. Now, with Lincoln sitting in front of him, his mind finally clear, he realized how stupid he’d been. There was only one reason his brothers wouldn’t have been asking questions and that was if they already had the answers.
“Link?” He prompted when his cousin didn’t immediately answer him.
“Look, Remy told me to give you time to recover but I figure you deserve a heads up.”
“A heads up about what? What the hell is going on?”
