This all came about naturally, no words, no discussion. He came to my place and found the stuff then didn’t say a word but didn’t bother packing it again. He only brought over clothes and when he did, he brought enough to last awhile. I went to his place and saw a new toothbrush in its wrapping on the vanity. A statement. The next time I went over, I stocked his bathroom. He didn’t say a word. Nor did he say a word when I brought a big workout bag filled with fashion selections, and as he did in my house, deposited it in a corner and that was where it stayed unless it was scheduled for rotation.

I smiled again.

Yeah, it was gone. That thing in my belly was long gone.

This different kind of wild was a good, safe place to be.

I closed the medicine cabinet, spied my undies on the floor, nabbed them, and slid them on.

I walked into the bedroom thinking Brock had been gone awhile. Maybe he was making coffee. Maybe one of the boys was up.

I considered this dilemma. Then I walked to the nightstand, slid my glasses on my nose, and walked to Brock’s closet and selected one of his flannels. Soft, oft-worn, burgundy. I slipped it on and it engulfed me.

Okay, it wasn’t a robe but it hid more than most robes and if I saw one of the boys, I could hightail it back to the bedroom and put on clothes.

I rolled back the cuffs and walked out to the landing.

I stopped dead when I heard Brock’s clipped, “Jesus, she’s in the next fuckin’ room, brother.”

To that I heard the whispered, but still loud angry words, “So?” Then, “Fuck, Slim, this is the same damned shit as with Bree.”

Levi.

But who was Bree?

“Leave it,” Brock growled.

“Honest to God you think I’m gonna leave it? You think I’m gonna stand aside, keep my fuckin’ mouth shut, and watch you slide over the edge again, tied to another woman with a mountain of problems you think you can fix?”

I sucked in a silent breath and put my hand to the wall.

“Levi—”

“No, Slim, fuckin’ no. You need me to spell it out? I will. Bree got raped. That was tough, man. You know I know it. It was ugly, it was brutal. Fuck, Slim, it was me who went with you to visit her in the hospital and I saw her, Slim, I fuckin’ saw her messed up, jaw wired, teeth gone, eyes swollen shut, bones broken, same as you.”

At these words, I closed my eyes but opened them again when Levi kept speaking and his next words also rocked me.