Page 130 of Control Freak

“Yeah,” he said, his tone hollow. “Sogood. Always wanted to fall apart on the bathroom floor.”

The fact that he could pull out sarcasm had to be a good sign, right?

There was a quick knock on the door, followed by it opening and Axel leaning in. “Holden?”

“Here,” he said, sounding absolutely drained.

He’d been through an emotional wringer. I had no idea what it was like to have such a surge of adrenaline followed by a drop, but it couldn’t be easy on your body.

Axel came in and crouched down in front of us.

“Shit, man, you’ve looked better.”

“Axel!” I said sharply.

Holden chuckled weakly. “Doesn’t feel great.”

“I bet not. Ready to get home?” he asked.

Holden rolled his head toward me, new worry flaring in his eyes. “Shit. Those guys?—”

“Gone,” Axel said. “Dalton hauled their asses to jail. They’re not our problem for at least twenty-four hours.”

“Thank fuck.” Holden pushed to his feet, using the wall for support. He wasn’t steady, and I had to fight the urge to slip an arm around his waist and support him. That would only make things worse.

“Let’s go,” Axel urged gently. “You’ll feel better if we get you home.”

“Yeah.” His voice was distant, as if he were still somewhere else, but when Axel walked out of the bathroom, he followed.

I wrapped my arms tightly around myself, shaking faintly, as we made our way through the bar. Holden was upright andfunctional, but he wasn’t himself. He kept asking about Brick and Curtis, as if Axel hadn’t already told him they were gone.

Each time, his brother patiently repeated that they’d been hauled to jail.

“You’re safe,” Axel said.

“I need Shiloh to be safe,” he shot back.

“He is,” Axel said. “He’s right here with us. Everything’s fine.”

We got Holden into the passenger seat after some arguing. He wanted to drive, even when he was half-lucid. My man really was a control freak, I thought fondly as I got into the driver’s seat.

Holden stared out the window, silent and tense, all the way home. Axel followed us back to the house in his El Camino and joined us as we went inside.

Bailey and Gray met us at the door, Banshee dancing at their side. “How is he?”

“He’s right here,” Holden grumbled.

“Go sleep it off,” Axel said. “You’ll feel better.”

“I need to fix this problem first,” he said.

“It’ll wait,” Gray said.

“No, these guys are trouble!” Holden insisted. “They’ll be back, and what if I’m not there? What if they hurt Shiloh?” He raised shaky hands to his hair, tugging at it in distress. “I have to fix this! Ihaveto.”

He was winding himself up all over again, and the man had barely come off a panic attack.

Gray and Bailey weren’t asking for details, so I assumed Axel had called them on the drive back and explained the situation.