snatching his shirt up. I don’t know what it looked like before, but mottled bruising mars his side. His beautiful, chiseled abs side. “Oscar...” Anger scorches through me as I look at what they did to him.
He pushes his shirt back down. “It’s nothing.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“Are you kidding me?” he snaps. He roams his gaze all over me until he’s inspected every square inch of my skin. “How are you feeling?”
“Cast’s off,” I say, lifting my arm lamely. “It’s not too bad. I don’t think I should push it, but I might be able to start some light training. My neck still hurts every now and then. I should probably find a PT place closer to the Heights. The guys at the place I’ve been going to are dicks, looking at me like I, you know, murdered someone.”
Brawler growls.
“On it,” Magnum says. He takes out his phone, fingers moving over the screen. He’s probably texting Johnny right this second about what I need, unless he’s taking care of it himself, which I wouldn’t put past him, now that he’s let himself feel what he does for me.
“Princess,” Oscar starts, eyes pleading with mine already. “I would’ve come.”
“I know,” I tell him.
“I was going to,” Brawler laments, sliding a furious glance Magnum’s way.
“I know,” I tell them both. I take one of their hands in each of mine. “You couldn’t have, anyway. Reynolds had eyes on me, and not seeing anyone was part of the stipulation I was given.”
“You didn’t have to follow their fucking rules.”
I squeeze Oscar’s hand and then bring his palm to my lips to place a kiss there. “I didn’t kill anyone. I just wanted to show I was working with them. That I didn’t have anything to hide by returning to the Heights and masking myself behind the Crew.”
“But you put yourself in danger,” Magnum says, speaking up.
I was surprised Johnny didn’t say anything about that. I have no doubt it’s coming. “It was my decision, and I made it. Besides...” I lift an eyebrow in his direction. “You told me I was never alone.”
“That’s where you kept going, wasn’t it?” Oscar asks, crossing his arms. He shakes his head. “I fucking knew it.” Magnum shrugs unapologetically. He opens his mouth to say something, but Oscar cuts him off. “If you say it’s because Princess is your job, I’m calling bullshit.”
I peer at Magnum. Neither one of us talked about how to approach the subject of him and I with the group. Of course, Oscar Drego is perceptive as shit. He had it called right from the beginning.
Magnum’s not one to back down though. He only holds my gaze for a moment before turning to Oscar and Brawler. I think he’s going to tell them he likes me too and to shut the fuck up about it, but instead, when he opens his mouth, the purest honesty comes out. “I suspected I might like Kyla, but I wasn’t sure. When they stole her out of my car, though, my world tilted.” He balls his hands at his sides. “I knew then the feelings I had for her were more than just friendly. I was going to say something to you guys, but I felt I should say something to Kyla first.”
Three sets of eyes move to me. I squirm under all their gazes. “And what did Princess say to that?”
Fuck me, but I actually missed Oscar pushing my buttons by calling me Princess. I hope he never stops, which means I have to keep pretending it bothers me. “Princess says you should stop fucking calling her that.” A messy ball of emotion crawls up my throat, and I’m not sure I’m fooling anyone.
“Kyla...” Brawler says. I glance up at worried turquoise eyes.
“This is just as awkward for me as it is for you.”
Oscar barks out a laugh. “You sound like you’re about to have the sex talk with us. Christ, we know about contraceptives, we want to know who else is sticking their dick inside you.”
“Classy, Drego,” Magnum mutters. “I haven’t stuck my dick inside her.”
The weight of their gazes makes my skin clammy. It’s not that I’m not going to tell them. I want to tell them, but I just never figured on having a conversation that starts with, “Yeah, so I really want to jump four guys.” Does anyone think they’re going to have a conversation that starts like that? If they do, maybe they should run with that in sex-ed class instead of