“You okay, baby?” he says softly while kissing my forehead when he feels I’ve returned.
“Just a little shaky,” I mumble.
“You probably need to lie down,” he coos softly, and he gently places me on tousled sheets of the bed while covering me up.
“Here’s you some water,” Clay says while handing me a cup.
I guzzle it down, and then I cover my head with my hands to hide my eyes from the world that has seen a hint of my dark secret - our dark secret.
“Oh damn,” I blurt out while rising up in panic. “Did I hurt him?”
“He’s fine. He’s too drunk to talk to right now, and his fellow full bloods are restraining him for the night,” Clay says to ease my terrified mind.
“I’ll be back in a bit,” Hale says while starting out of the bedroom.
“Where are you going?” Clay asks.
“I’m going to try to find something to fix my damn door, and then I’m going to get ice,” he grumbles.
“Ice?” I muse.
“Yeah,” he sighs, and he heads out the door while murmuring to himself, “Lots and lots of fucking ice.”
I suddenly realize why he needs the ice, and I blush behind the closing door when Clay covers his mouth to hide the chuckling grin he couldn’t suppress.
“That bad, huh?” I grumble.
“I’ve seen you worse off in this phase, but he always got to have you afterwards. This is the first time he’s ever had to deal with the after without an after. If you know what I mean,” he snickers out.
I sigh while covering up my head, and huff out my embarrassment for my savagery. He already had a fucking before.
“I can’t believe I did that in front of the others,” I grumble. “I knew that wasn’t going to be enough meds, but I thought I would have more time than that. How bad is it now that they know?”
Clay’s humor turns more serious, and he lies down beside me on the bed to join me in my venture of staring up at the ceiling.
“I don’t know yet. They really don’t know what happened, and I just hope they listen to the explanation without freaking out. It was just the hypnotic phase, not the destructive one, so they might be okay with just hearing a partial explanation instead of the whole thing.”
Hale walks back in - though he’s still walking very stiffly. I struggle to keep my body still from the repressed laughter when I see his awkward posture.
“Can the meeting wait until tomorrow. Araya needs to rest, and to be honest, I do too.”
“I didn’t plan on meeting tonight. Tensions are still high, and too much of any emotion could send Araya back into the tailspin. It’d be best if she stayed with you, considering the obvious,” Clay says while revealing a slight smirk.
I roll my eyes, and I stumble out of the bed when I try to stand up too quick.
“Not happening. I’ll stay in Wendy’s room or something,” I mumble.
“No, you won’t,” Hale says in objection, and I feel my body lifting from the floor to be put back in the bed. “You’ve still got blood staining your face and body. Your eyes are scorched with the remnants of pained tears, and you came pretty damn close to venturing to our wilder side. You’re staying here.” He puts me down gently, pulling the sheets up over my body before his hands leave me again. “If you relapse, I don’t need to be far away.”
“I feel like an animal, and I fucking hate it.”
“We all hate that feeling, but we’ve gotta do what we gotta do,” Clay chirps, and then he heads out the door, leaving me alone with the hybrid that I can’t seem to escape no matter how hard I try.
The room around us lacks any character since we destroyed everything earlier, but my picture still remains above the bed, intact.
“Did you lose anything of any value during our earlier tantrum?” I mumble, and he laughs instantly, covering his mouth with his hand to muffle some of the roar.
“Nothing I can’t replace. I’ll have to buy some new frames soon, but the rest can wait until I have a minute to deal with it.”
