Page 97 of A Little Bit Reckless

It was an understanding between all of us. Especially for Bru and me. Oddly enough, I was the one holding Bru back.

I’d never seen the kid so charged up. Bru, ironically enough, had been introduced to violence more than all of us. Despite that, he was just as kind and good as Rainbow Reed. Unfortunately, life had kicked Bru in the teeth more. I knew for a fact Bru Sloane-Mallick could take a life.

Because he had before.

I saw that rage in his eyes too, that capability. Bru wet his lips. “It’s up to her,” he said, then faced me. He nodded.

I did too.

Bru and I had come to an agreement after we left the hospital. The idea had been proposed by me, but he quickly agreed. He did because he loved me, and I knew I’d never be deserving of that love. I wouldn’t, but I was taking it. I needed his love.

I needed it just like I needed Bow’s.

Her love made both of us better, and it made me stronger.

“She’ll decide,” I told my friends. Swallowing, I placed my hand on Bru’s neck. “She’ll decide.”

I spent years dictating things in Rainbow Reed’s life. I played with her like a little puppet, just like Donovan had. I manipulated her.

“I’m so sorry, Wells,” she’d said to me at the hospital between fits of fallen tears. She cried so much. So damn much because of things I’d allowed to happen to her. She looked up at me. “He made me hate you. He said I let you bully me. I let you use me and I needed to take something for myself.”

That was how Donovan had ultimately gotten to her. He made her stand up for herself, take something back, but it hadn’t been for her. It’d been for him.

“It’s up to Bow,” I clarified but not for my friends. They all knew why we were here today. We were here for Bow, and no one would speak on Donovan’s fate but her. She would get to decide something for herself.

I’d make sure.

CHAPTER

THIRTY-FOUR

Bow

The call came while I was in bed, my eyes itchy, red. I didn’t even need to see them to know they were.

I’d been crying so much, and I wanted my boyfriends. I wanted Bru and Wells and their arms around me.

I wanted something else too, and I didn’t know that until I realized how long I’d been hugging myself. I had no idea I’d been pregnant, but, in hindsight, there’d been signs. I’d been nauseous a lot. Food hadn’t tasted the best lately, but I hadn’t thought much of that.

I just hadn’t thought.

I’d been so stupid, and it was a relief seeing Wells’s face on my phone screen. His FaceTime call came in the wee hours of the night at the hospital.

The call woke my parents up from where they’d been sleeping on the couch.

“We’ll give you some time, honey,” Mom said, taking my dad with her. “We’ll get some coffee.”

I knew they were the reason why Bru and Wells hadn’t come back yet. The guys wanted me to have time with my parents. Mymom and dad had been freaking out when they got here. My parents didn’t know about the pregnancy. They just knew I was alive and okay.

I wasn’t okay.

I knew that right away, because as soon as my parents left and I stared into Wells’s lovely face on my phone screen, I burst into tears. His hair was swept back, messy, and Bru was beside him.

They were both so handsome.

They were like lights in my darkness. Wells Ambrose had somehow become my light again. I had my archer back as well as my rock in the storm, Bru.

“Baby,” Wells said, and my heart moved, stirred. He obviously saw my tears. He winced like something hurt him, and I glanced away.