“The fireworks,” I mutter and Gia looks up at the sky too. Realisation dawns on her and she takes my hand in hers.
“Yeah, I heard them, but I think they’ve stopped now. Let’s go inside.”
I let her lead me back into my room. She turns on the light and closes the balcony door. “You need to warm up,” she says, grabbing a sheet from the bed and reaching up to try and place it around me. I sit down to make it easier for her.
“I hate this time of year,” I mutter. Every fucker in the UK seems to want to celebrate some shit or other with fireworks. If I’m busy, they don’t bother me, but sometimes, like tonight, they catch me unaware.
“Do you have flashbacks often?” she asks, using the remote control to turn on the television. She puts on a news channel and then shrugs. “Maybe this will drown out the noise?”
“Sometimes I can go months with nothing and then I can have loads within days of each other. Fireworks, even a fuckin’ car backfiring.” I shake my head. “It’s stupid.”
“You can’t help it,” says Gia, kicking off her shoes and sliding back on my bed until she’s resting against the headboard. “You were a soldier, right?”
“A few years ago now,” I say.
“Aren’t you getting help, like medical help?” she asks.
I lean back against the headboard too. I laugh. “Like a shrink or something?”
“What’s wrong with that? Cree sees someone and Eva reckons it helps him. It’s not for
flashbacks. He’s just a crazy ass,” she says affectionately.
“That sort of thing ain’t for me,” I say firmly. Sitting talking to a stranger while they take your cash and pretend to give a shit? No thanks.
“I could come with you. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if you had a friend.”
“You hated me a few days ago and now we’re friends?” I ask, arching a brow.
Gia smiles. “I’m a forgiving girl and I’m a nice person. You might be an ass, but I can look past that if you need help.”
“Well, thanks and all, but I don’t need help. I’m fine.”
We fall silent for a few minutes, both staring at the news reporter on the TV. “How was your date the other night?” she eventually asks.
“Good. She’s got a feisty little soul, but I love her.”
She forces a smile. “I’d better go back to my room,” she says.
“No, stay for a while. I could use the company.”
She nods and settles back against the headboard again. “Okay.”
Chapter Four
GIA
I stare at Blu. His soft snores fill the silent bedroom. The second I realised he’d fallen to sleep, I’d muted the television and now I’m staring at his sleeping form like some kind of freak. I can’t help myself—he’s so handsome when he isn’t frowning. He’s big in build, like most of the Kings Reapers. His dark hair is thick on top but shaved to the scalp on the sides. His skin tone is dark and I wonder if he has some Italian in his blood. The tattoos that cover his chest are amazing works of art and they run down his thick arms and cover his hands. I’m desperate to run a finger over the intricate designs. Or maybe my tongue. I smirk to myself.
I decide to stop being a creep and leave the man to sleep in peace, but as I go to slide from the bed, I have the stupidest idea. I can almost imagine the little devil on my right shoulder yelling at me to do it and then the angel on the left screaming not to be so fucking stupid. I bite my lower lip as I move closer to him, my devil and angel staring in both glee and horror as my lips brush Blu’s ever so gently. I hover for a second too long and his brown eyes shoot open. I freeze as realisation passes over his shocked face. I smile awkwardly. “Night then,” I whisper and dive from the bed, rushing for the door.
“Did you just kiss me?” he asks with a smirk on his face.
“No, I was checking you were breathing,” I say, my cheeks getting redder by the second.
“With your lips?” He grins. “Is that the proper procedure for checking breathing?”
“Goodnight, Blu,” I mutter, pulling the door open.
“Night, Creep,” he says with a laugh.
Eva falls about her desk laughing. Blu is outside the office on his phone, so I took the opportunity to update Eva on my embarrassing lip-to-lip fail last night. “Oh god,” she cries, wiping the tears from under her eyes. “You kill me with your craziness.”
“It isn’t funny. I can’t even look him in the eye. Can’t you ask Riggs to send someone else to watch over you?”
“God, no, not now. I want to see how this plays out.”
“You are a bad friend!” I hiss and she laughs harder.
Blu returns and looks from Eva to me suspiciously. “What?” he asks.
“Nothing,” I snap.
Eva tries unsuccessfully to suppress her giggles. “Gia was just telling me. . .how she’d like. . . to refresh her first aid skills. . . by going on a course,” she says, laughing between her words.
Blu smirks. “She definitely needs to. I’m not entirely sure she understands how to check if a person is breathing.” They both crack up laughing and I stare hard at my laptop, wishing for it to swallow me and save me from this torture.
My phone flashes and I check the text message just to distract myself from the embarrassment. I groan. Since I decided to stay at the clubhouse, Conner’s been texting asking me to go home.
