Working Out West - Lila Rose Page 0,51

without being inappropriate and then handed him the towel to finish the rest. Once done, I crouched and held out the boxers for him to step into. By the time we made it back to his bedroom, where there were clean sheets applied to the bed, West was breathing heavier.

“Do you need pain medication?” I asked, helping him to sit on the side of his bed.

I worried when he did not reply for a few moments. Finally, he shook his head and looked up at me. “Maybe soon, but… could you help me out to the living room to sit at the table for a while?”

Hope resurfaced inside me. “Of course.”

Chapter Sixteen

West

You are the biggest liar,” Kylo complained with a groan. He threw his cards to the table while Saint grinned evilly.

“I damn agree. Show me your pockets,” Death said, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning back on the seat.

Saint stood with a smirk and shook out his arms. “Nothin’ up my sleeves.” His hands slid into his jeans pockets and pulled out his wallet, a packet of lube, which had my face flushing as well as Kylo’s, and some coins. “Nothin’ in my pockets.” His hand went to the button on his jeans. “I can strip to show you everythin’ if you still don’t believe I’m just skilled and not cheatin’?”

“We do not need to see everything,” Adrik said crisply and went as far as covering my eyes. Chuckles sounded around the room.

Smiling, I tugged his hand away and pushed my cards into the middle of the table. “Saint, you can’t win five times in a row and not be cheating,” I put in.

“I can. By bein’ just that awesome.”

Kylo snorted.

Saint draped an arm around his shoulders. “Lover boy, you can’t deny my skills.”

“Are we still talking about cards? Because if we aren’t, I don’t need to know anything more about my brother,” Lucas said. Wreck walked up behind him from the kitchen and placed a cocktail in front of him. He leaned in and kissed Lucas’s cheek. It brought a soft smile to my friend’s face.

A hand squeezed mine, and I looked down. I still held Adrik’s from when I took it from my eyes. Heat hit my cheeks, and I quickly let go. His hand turned over and rested on my thigh. My heart took notice and increased its speed. I gripped the back of the chair in my hands since I sat on it backward, ensuring my back didn’t rest against anything.

Adrik had been clear he was interested in me. Only his attention rattled my nerves. A lot.

What I wanted for him was not me. He could do so much better than a scarred college dropout who had many issues that needed to be worked through. Yet, I couldn’t bring myself to set him up with someone, to shove him in the arms of someone else. I was being selfish and keeping him close because he was my calm.

I had been to see a psychiatrist a couple of times in the last ten days, and my friends were right—it was good to talk to someone. I had a feeling the sessions could help, but it was too soon to tell. I still held so much anger and fear inside me. However, ever since my breakdown in the shower, I hadn’t lashed out at anyone.

My anger wasn’t meant for them but for the people who raised me. The people who did this to me. But they were dead. Without being told, I knew what the men around me would have done. They would have taken care of the threat. In one way, I was grateful; in another, I wanted those who’d hurt me so badly to rot a long life in jail, but now they couldn’t.

There was still so much to work through. Like my friends, and even my psychiatrist, had said, it would take time.

Some days I couldn’t help the despair creeping in. It ate at me in many ways, but most of all, it told me I wasn’t good enough for the people around me.

I was filth.

Dirty.

Horrible.

“Moya lyubov’?” was whispered beside me.

My heart skipped a beat, and I blinked out of my daze. I glanced at Adrik. His smirk had my pulse racing. It was like he knew my mind had drifted into that dark place, and he was there to drag me out. Either with sweet words or a touch.

I offered him a small, grateful smile and nodded. I ignored my nerves