“I had some meetings with the finance team. We’re good to go on the renovations if we stay under—” I nearly jumped out of my skin when I saw Miles’s face.
A deep, angry purple bloomed across the skin around his right eye, mottled with sickly shades of green and yellow at the edges, as if the bruise had already begun its slow, grotesque transformation. The swelling was significantly worse; his eyelid, puffed and drooping, was almost closed, and a thin red line marked where the skin had split beneath his brow.
“It’s not as bad as it looks,” Miles said.
But it lookedbad. Raw. Painful. My chest tightened, and for a moment, I couldn’t decide if I was furious or worried or wanted to cry.
“Jesus, Miles,” I said, circling the couch, rushing up to him. “What the hell happened?”
“It’s fine,” he said, his tone firm but not unkind. “I’ve had worse things happen to me.”
“Worse than this?” I shot back, gesturing toward his battered face. “People beat the shit outta you often?”
He winced—not at the sarcasm, but from some unseen throb in his face—and I instantly regretted it. Not enough to take it back, but enough to make my chest squeeze tighter.
“Sit,” I ordered, already turning on my heel and storming into the kitchen.
I grabbed a baggie, threw some ice in it, and wrapped it in a towel. My hands were shaking a little, so I had to pause beforereturning. Miles sat on the couch all casual, like it was a normal Tuesday.
I knelt beside him and held the makeshift ice pack up. “Here.”
He tried to grab it, but I wouldn’t let him. I carefully pressed it against his puffy eye.You’re acting caring, Serena…
“So, are you going to tell me about the fight or what?”
“Nothing to tell. It’s handled.”
“Don’t lie to me, Miles.What. Happened?”
Did Jenese get to him?
With the cold compress on his skin, his eyes fluttered closed, and a thick silence settled between us. Doughboy seemed to have gotten over his aversion to me because he strolled over to us, brushing against me. I stiffened, looking down at him with a perplexed expression.
“I don’t like cats,” I said absently.
Miles cracked his good eye open. “What?”
“And they don’t like me. But Doughboy’s been nice to me lately. It’s weird.”
A smile ghosted across his lips. “You’re weird.”
I breathed out slowly, still holding the ice on his bruise. Still acting like I didn’t freak when I saw him hurt.I’m such a fucking softie.
“Miles—”
“Erik.”
I stared at Miles, unblinking, my brain trying to process the collision of disbelief and fury rising in my chest.
“Erik?” I repeated, my voice low.
Miles laughed, then winced. “He doesn’t look too pretty either. I wore his ass out too.”
I grabbed his hand to get the ice, then I was up and ready to go find Erik. Now.
Wait, why are you defending him?
“Whoa, wait, wait,wait.Don’t, Serena. It’s fine.” Miles grabbed my arm, bringing me back to the couch.
