Page 34 of Seeley

“Good. That’ll give him a sense of false security,” Donovan said. “He’s probably hiding out now. But if a few weeks go by with no visits from one of us…”

“Exactly,” I said, nodding.

“How’d you get home? Ride?”

“From Teddy,” I admitted. “He was closest,” I added, holding up a hand to them and all the objections I knew were coming.

“Does this fucker have your bike still too?” Huck asked.

“Nah. I parked it back behind an old buddy’s house. Rick’s,” I added, looking at Cato and Levee.

“We’ll go pick it up,” Cato said, ready to go.

“Here. Take the SUV,” Huck offered, turning around to find the keys, then tossing it at them.

“I appreciate it,” I told them, nodding.

“All you owe us is a blow-by-blow of what the fuck Amaranta said to you when she was treating you,” Levee said with a wicked smirk before the two of them made their way out of the door.

“What did the doctor say?” Donovan asked when they were gone.

“That it didn’t hit anything vital. Had to pull the knife tip out of me. I got an IV and a tetanus shot. I have to go back tomorrow to get the gauze and shit. And the meds. Just wanted to get home and get some sleep.”

“Yeah. I’m sure the multiple trip shit has everything to do with you being tired, and nothing to do with how hot Dr. Stone apparently is,” Huck said, smirking. “Alright. You need any help getting back to your room?” he asked, making my gaze look behind him toward the stairs.

My stomach ached in objection.

“Think I’m gonna just crash here tonight,” I said, kicking out of my shoes.

“I’ll get your blanket and pillows and shit,” Alaric said.

He, like Saskia, had needed to be like parental figures to their younger siblings, so he had just a bit more of that instinct than any of the others, save for maybe Huck who was starting a whole litter of kids.

“I’m sure Eddie will be here first thing in the morning, cooking you a breakfast of champions since you’re sick,” Donovan said. “That should go a long way to making you feel better too.”

“Yeah,” I agreed, pulling my gun, phone, and keys out of my pocket and tossing them on the ground beside the couch.

“You don’t want to get out of that ripped, bloody shirt?” Huck asked.

“Sounds like a lot of effort,” I told him, shrugging.

“Alright, suit yourself. But if Harmon comes in here tomorrow bitching about it, make sure you tell her I mentioned it,” he said, smirking.

“Will do,” I agreed, giving Alaric a nod as he put the pillow into place so I could carefully lower back. Which, thanks to the pills and the booze, I managed without too much cursing.

“Alright. We will leave you alone,” Huck said, finding the TV remote and putting it beside me. “Get some rest. We will talk more in the morning.”

“Thanks,” I said, nodding at them all, then pulling the blanket up over me as they filed out.

There, alone in the darkness, Teddy’s words came back to me.

You don’t have to do everything on your own.

That was a hard one when I spent so long only having myself to lean on.

Your worth isn’t directly linked to how much you can do for everybody else.

That one was maybe even harder. I knew I overcompensated. I felt like I lucked out by being at the right place at the right time when I happened across the guys of the club. So I went overboard showing them I was worth taking a risk on.

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