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Corey rushes forward and turns the water off, grabbing my hand and inspecting it as the blood starts to come out again.

“Sorry, baby, I was just-”

“Arguing with Ty? Deciding what I should do?” I ask with a raised brow. “How about you let me decide?” I turn to Ty, my eyes telling him to back down.

His eyes widen as he sees the look on my face, then he clears his throat and says. “Erm... yeah, sure.”

I roll my eyes and turn to each of them, their attention firmly on me. “Just stitch me up, we have a party to get ready for.”

Corey turns to Ty and pulls a face. I huff at him and he turns back to me, smirking as he places his bag down on the counter.

“Luke?” Kay asks. “Think you could run to the store for some more salad?”

My eyes meet Kay’s and just as I’m about to apologize for bleeding all over her lettuce, Ty thunders, “Wait a second. Why the hell were you calling her baby?”

Corey stops rummaging through his bag and moves his eyes to me, a silent question staring back at me.

I freeze, thinking back to what I said. I’m sure I didn’t call her baby but, fuck, it could’ve slipped out.

When my eyes move to Ava, I can see the panic on her face and the room is so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

“What?” I laugh and shrug my shoulders. “I didn’t call her that.”

Ty frowns and studies me. “I’m pretty fuckin’ sure you did,” he growls.

I swallow, my eyes moving to Ava who is stood there with blood dripping from her hand. I don’t have time for this, I need to stitch her up and then Ty can be all macho big brother when I tell him that she’s my girl, because I fully intend to tell him. I’m not hiding us away; I’ll never hide her away.

I take a step towards Ava but Ty steps in my way and when I move to the side, he follows.

I’m getting real tired of this bullshit; he needs to move.

“Ty,” I grit out. “Let me stitch Ava up, yeah?” I ask, although it’s not really a question, I make sure he knows that from the look I give him.

He huffs out a breath and relents, moving to the side and letting me past. I quirk my lips at Ava and take hold of her small soft hand, cleaning it with some solution and seeing how deep the cut is.

“Definitely needs stitches,” I say and tilt my head to the table. She follows me with her eyes facing the floor as she passes Ty, I want nothing more than to lift her face up and tell her she doesn’t need to hide away from anybody.

Instead, I keep my mouth shut as I place my kit on the table and pull a chair out for her.

I make quick work of stitching her up and putting a bandage on her hand, all the while having an audience watching my every move. I desperately want to lift her hand up and kiss it and tell her that it’ll be okay but now really isn’t the right time for that.

Ava doesn’t say a word while I’m doing it, I can hear her sharp intake of breath as I close the cut but other than that she doesn’t make a sound. I can’t help but smirk because I’ve known grown men who have squealed while having stitches.

Finishing up, I run the pad of my pointer finger over the top of her hand then look at her and wink, trying to tell her silently that everything will be okay.

Her chest rises and falls on a big breath and I say, “Why don’t you go and see if Elena needs any help up the clearing?”

She clears her throat and nods, pushing out of the chair and walking out of the kitchen silently, not looking at anyone.

I raise my brows at all of them and shake my head as I pack up my kit. “What?” I ask.

“Just waiting.” Kay smirks.

“For?”

“Your fuckin’ answer,” Ty growls.

I chuckle at his audacity. “You know that’s real rich coming from you,” I say, dropping the gauze and widening my stance. “You do realize that she’s my fuckin’ sister?” I point at Kay and then cross my arms over my chest.