They stood there for a long time, but eventually they all walked home, where Gavin made baked mac and cheese from scratch. And hot dogs. “To eat this time, not throw,” he said. “And there’s chocolate cake for dessert. Comfort food, from the heart.”

The food and company were exactly that, comforting, but halfway through the cake, it happened. He’d been ignoring the signs, the metallic taste in his mouth, the odd aura of lights flashing in his peripheral vision. But suddenly he could no longer ignore it, or the staggering pain. He managed to get to his feet, knowing what he needed, but he’d waited too long.

“What’s wrong?” Piper asked, standing with him, taking his hand, looking concerned.

He opened his mouth to answer, but it felt like someone was stabbing a hot poker into his left eyeball, robbing him of thoughts and the ability to speak.

“Migraine,” Emmitt said, eyes on Cam. “They’re rare, but he gets them when he’s stressed. He needs a quiet dark room, no noise.”

“Just going to go home,” Cam murmured, eyes squinted because it hurt to open them all the way. Both cold and sweating, he had to put a hand on the wall to keep the world from spinning, which pissed him off. He’d learned through some seriously brutal military training how to let pain course through him on its way out of his body, but that didn’t mean he didn’t feel every inch of it as it went.

“You’re not going anywhere,” Piper said. “Not when you can barely stand. I’ve got you this time, Cam.”

Having her say that was staggering. No one had ever said such a thing to him. “I just need to sleep it off.” He turned to the door.

But Piper had a grip of steel on him. “No way.”

He knew he was going to give in, mostly because he was going to pass out. “Bossy,” he murmured. And also smart as hell, resourceful, resilient, tough as nails, and she never failed to brighten his day or make him smile. And since he couldn’t imagine making it home, he let her take his hand and pull him out of the kitchen.

She took him to her bedroom. Without turning on the lights, she led him to the bed before unbuttoning his shirt. She pushed it off his shoulders and nudged him to sit on the bed, where he narrowly missed squishing Sweet Cheeks.

“Meow,” she said in bitchy protest, and jumped down. Which was a hell of a lot better than their first interaction had gone.

Cam bent to untie his boots, but his fingers felt wooden.

“Here,” Piper said. “I’ve got it.” And dropped to her knees to tug them off one by one.

He let out a careful breath. “Not exactly what I imagined you doing when I got you into this position.”