Her face flamed at her unintended rudeness. “I’m sorry, Hauk. It’s just late and most people are in bed.”
He leaned down as if to impart a secret to her. “In case you missed it, I’m not people.” Looking past her to the bed, he jerked his chin toward Darling. “And I’ve come to protect Lord Hard Head.”
“Pardon?”
“Is Darling still awake?”
She stepped back so that he could see Ryn. “He is.”
Hauk headed for the bed. “Fain sent me a note about what’s going on with the locals. I’m here with backup.”
Darling growled. “Not helpless, people.”
“Not people, human,” Hauk said in an exasperated tone.
Darling made an obscene gesture at him. “I thought I got rid of you when I left the hospital.”
Hauk clutched his chest as if those words wounded him. “Aww now, Dar, you’re going to hurt my feelings.”
“You don’t have feelings.”
“True. Just think of me like a bad STD. I always show up at the worst time.” He glanced back at Zarya. “So much for your hot date, huh?”
Darling groaned. “You are ever a pain in my ass, Hauk. Should I reset the timers on my explosives in the city? Might give the Resistance pause if they think I’m going to take them or their families with me.”
Ryn shook his head, but didn’t comment on Darling’s threat. “I’m sure you need to rest. Get some sleep and we’ll take care of everything else.”
Hauk moved to sit in the chair near Darling’s closet.
Arching his brow, Darling scowled. “What are you doing?”
“Taking my post.”
“Yeah… no. Get your hairy ass out.”
Hauk scoffed at Darling’s protest. “Let me be honest with you. Nyk scares me. You don’t. Not even a little. Besides, you’ll sleep better with a bodyguard.”
Zarya stepped forward. “He has a bodyguard.”
Hauk raked her with a less than complimentary grimace. “You’d be dead before you could scream.”
“Try me.”
When he stood up to confront her, Darling laughed. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”
“You’re not me.” Hauk moved to pin her.
Zarya dodged, and twirled out of his reach. She grabbed the blaster off his belt and angled it at his head. “Like I said, he has a guard.”
A light of respect darkened those eerie Andarion eyes. “All right then. It’s settled. Zarya will watch you and I’ll be outside should either of you need anything.”
She held his blaster out to him.
“Keep it.”
“Thanks.” Zarya set the blaster down on the nightstand as the men finally left her alone with Darling again.
Darling rubbed his hand over his forehead. “This wasn’t how I wanted to come home to you.”
Zarya quickly exchanged her robe for the shirt she’d been sleeping in. “I don’t mind… so long as you come home.” She’d take him any way she could get him, scary friends and all.
She slid into bed and leaned back against the padded headboard before she parted her legs for him.
Darling moved to rest his head on her thigh. He lay on his back, looking up at her as she brushed her hand lightly through his long, tangled hair.
The beauty of his repaired face still stunned her. He was exquisite. “I’m going to have to get used to you all over again.”
A stricken look furrowed his brow. “What do you mean?”
She smoothed his features with her fingertips. “It’s nothing bad, sweetie. I was just repeating the fact that Syn did a remarkable job.”
Darling fell silent as he surrendered himself to her soothing touch and tried not to think about the fact that she deserved a man who was whole. Not a scarred piece of shit like him. He took her hand in his and held it against his cheek. The scent of her skin was enough to make him light-headed. He’d spent his entire life aching for someone to hold him when he was hurt.
As a teen and young man, he’d only trusted Maris with his weaknesses. While he knew his friends wouldn’t hurt him, Syn, Nyk, Hauk, Caillen, and Jayne weren’t the most sympathetic of beings. They had their own damaged pasts to deal with, just like him. Because of that, he’d tried to keep his bitching to a minimum.
Then there had been the perpetual fear that if he told them exactly what was going on at home, one of them would kill Arturo for hurting him and he’d lose his family over it. A fear that seemed stupid now given the fact he’d finally found a way to murder his uncle and bypass the law Arturo had put into place.
Why hadn’t he acted sooner? If he’d only come up with the bomb idea when he was a kid, he could have saved himself years of abuse…
But then even if he had murdered Arturo, there was still the matter of his being virtually enslaved to whomever replaced his uncle’s guardianship.
His luck, it would have been someone even worse.
Someone like Nylan.
He flinched at the thought while Zarya traced the line of his brow with her fingernail. She sank her hand into his hair. He turned his head so that he could breathe her scent in and let it drive the past away.