Chapter 195: Sorry Wasn’t a Ride Home

Ash’s fist caught Edrik along the cheek, and Dove heard the impact over the crash of the overturned table. Edrik barely moved back before driving into him. They hit the low railing beside the loading bay hard enough to shake the empty carts parked behind it.

Thorne brought Dove behind the brick corner of the office, keeping himself between her and the yard. She could still see both men. That mattered, because being shoved somewhere she could only listen would have sent her straight back out.

Edrik caught the railing with his left hand. The metal stopped bending beneath their weight as his power held it firm, and he drove his other fist into Ash’s stomach. Ash struck his shoulder, broke free, and caught him by the shirt. A seam tore. Neither looked remotely finished.

"Stay behind me," Thorne said, watching them. His voice was low, and his hand had closed around the gatepost.

"I’m behind you. I’m also about to lose my fucking mind."

Workers were pulling carts away from the fight. Someone called for the yard guards. Dove spotted the clerk coming out of his office and waved him back before he walked between two men who could probably throw him over the building.

"Keep people away from that railing," she told him. "And don’t put your hands between them."

She had wanted Ash to hear her. Somehow he had managed to make even that into something she had to stand outside and watch.

Edrik released the railing, and it sagged under Ash’s grip. He ducked the next blow and hit him again. Ash stumbled against the loading-bay steps, caught Edrik’s arm, and dragged him down a step with him. The bear’s smile had disappeared completely.

"You let her stand there defending herself while you called her a liar," Edrik said, forcing him back. "Then you came here expecting her to be pleased."

"You weren’t there."

"She was. I believe her."

Ash drove him away with both hands, and Edrik’s boots scraped across the concrete. He came straight back. Dove saw where they were heading before either man looked, toward the narrow passage where two workers were still struggling with a loaded cart.

"Edrik, stop! You’re pushing him toward them."

His head turned at her voice. Ash swung before he could look back, catching him high on the shoulder. Edrik staggered, and Dove felt Thorne’s arm tighten in front of her as she tried to move.

She stayed behind him, but she wasn’t staying quiet.

"Ash, back the fuck up!"

Thorne stepped between the men once Edrik had stopped advancing, one hand still on the gate. His power curved the metal latch beneath his fingers, opening the gate flat against the wall so the workers could pull their cart through. He kept Dove behind his shoulder while the passage cleared.

"You touch him again, you’re fighting me too," he told Ash. "She’s leaving."

Edrik wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. His cheek was reddening, but he hadn’t looked away from Ash.

"Come here," Dove told him. "I said I’m leaving, and I’m taking both my husbands with me."

That reached him. He backed toward her, slowly enough to make it clear he was choosing to, then stopped where she could catch his shirt. She pulled him farther from the steps and looked at the torn seam with ridiculous, furious relief. He was standing. He was breathing. His shirt could go to hell.

"You waited until I looked away," he told Ash, almost pleasantly. "Try that again when she isn’t here."

"You will not arrange a second date," Dove said. "I hated the first one."

His eyes came to her then, and some of the coldness left them. He covered her fingers where they gripped his shirt.

Ash stood beside the steps with blood at the corner of his mouth. His attention caught on that touch and stayed there. Dove had never seen him look so completely shut out of a conversation.

"I wasn’t going to hurt you," he said to her.

"You already did. Move."

For a second he stayed where he was. Then Thorne took one step toward him, and Ash moved clear of the gate. Dove walked past without giving him another word. She wanted to be somewhere his eyes couldn’t follow her.

They stopped beneath the trees on the next street, beside a shuttered repair shop. Edrik crouched when she pulled his sleeve, letting her inspect his cheek without having to drag him down by the neck.

"Does it hurt?"

"I’ve had worse."

"That wasn’t what I asked."

"A little," he admitted. "I’m more annoyed that he made you look at him again."

She pressed her lips together. The laugh that wanted to come out felt too close to crying, and she didn’t want either yet. Thorne passed her a clean cloth and some water. She wiped the small smear from Edrik’s mouth, careful with the tender corner.

"You didn’t have to prove anything to me," she said.

"I know. Hearing him say it made me want to put him through the wall."

"There were people behind him. They didn’t do that to me."

His eyes went briefly toward the yard. "You were right to stop me." He caught the cloth before it slipped from her fingers and held it steady while she finished. "I heard you, Dove. I’ll keep hearing you."

She believed that too easily. He had stopped when she called him, even with Ash swinging at him. Now his hand rested open beneath hers, waiting while she decided whether she wanted to hold it.

She did. She wanted his hand, Thorne’s shoulder, and something that tasted better than the back of her own throat.

Thorne opened their snack bag. "Eat before you decide what else to yell at us about."

"I have a list," she warned, accepting the sandwich.

"You can start with me," Edrik said. "I like your attention."

She rolled her eyes, but stayed tucked between them while she ate. Later she would think about Ash’s face when she left. Right now she wanted her men close enough to touch, and neither made her work for it.

Back at the shop, Sprout finally displayed the day’s rewards: 1,560 normal coins and 171 Favor. Dove dismissed the notice. She had asked it to stay quiet during the meeting, and for once it had listened better than a dragon.

They carried dinner beneath the awning as the evening heat lingered. Edrik took her plate, Thorne found her hand, and she started to feel hungry again.

Then a district worker ran past with a radio pressed to his ear. Beyond the roofs, a brown wall was swallowing the sky, and the wind blowing toward them felt hotter than the street.