Page 27 of Need (Men of Inked Sinners #3)

Her lips flatten. “How can you be cracking jokes at a time like this?”

“Ma.”

“Lulu.”

“Ma, come on. I’m okay. A few weeks of healing and I’ll look like me again.”

Her eyes shimmer with unshed tears. “I don’t know what I would’ve done if something…”

“I’m okay,” I tell her to stop those tears from making their way down her face. “If you cry, I’ll cry.”

She brushes the backs of her knuckles across the corner of her eye. “It’s okay to cry, tough girl.”

“I know, but it’ll hurt like a bitch.”

She groans, still not liking my attitude. But what else is new. I’ve tested my mother my entire life, and so has my sister, for that matter. “Always difficult. ”

“I’m your baby. Of course I am.”

“Can she go home?” Ma asks Oliver.

“Yeah.”

“I’m going to my home,” I tell her, already knowing where she’s going to lead the conversation before she has a chance to say it.

“I can take care of you,” she says as my father slides his hand onto her shoulder, and she lifts her hand and places it on top of his.

“I’m going to go to my place. Zoey can take care of me.”

“No,” Oliver says, making my head turn up to meet his gaze. “I’ll take care of you at your place, sweetheart. You’re doing nothing until you’re well again.”

“Well, I…” I’m not about to argue with that. I like the sound of it, honestly, but I’m not sure how long I’ll let them treat me like I’m an invalid before I lose my mind.

“Is that what you want?” Mom asks me.

“I want Oliver to stay with me,” I tell her, but I keep my eyes on him. “He’ll make sure I’m okay.”

“Baby, let him take care of our girl.”

“My girl,” Oliver corrects them, and Dad doesn’t even flinch, which is shocking as hell.

Ma rises to her feet and moves around the bed until she’s in front of Oliver. “Thank you,” she says to him, placing her hand on the middle of his chest. “ You saved her, and for that, I’ll forever be in your debt.”

“You owe me nothing, Mrs. Gallo,” Oliver says so sweetly that tears start to form in my eyes.

Damn it.

“Where is she?” my grandma says, rushing into the room with Zoey next to her. “Oh my God. My baby.” Grandma pushes my dad aside like he weighs nothing and gapes at me. “Dear Lord.”

“I’m okay,” I say for what feels like the hundredth time today.

“Lulu,” Zoey whispers, covering her mouth with her hand.

“It looks worse than it feels,” I tell my sister, but again, I’m lying. I have no idea how bad it really looks because no one has given me a mirror to use.

“Have you seen it?” Zoey asks me.

“No mirror.”

She shakes her head. “Your phone has a camera, Lulu.”

Fuck. I forgot. I could’ve easily turned on the camera to check out what Mark did to me.

“But I’d wait a day because it’s not pretty.”

“It’ll look worse tomorrow,” Grandpa says, and all eyes in the room turn to him with a pointed glare. “What? It’s true. It’ll look worse as it heals.”

“Shut up, Tino,” Gram says to him with a backhanded swat to his chest. “You’re not helping.”

“This is all my fault,” Zoey says as she comes to the side of the bed and lifts herself up, planting one ass cheek next to my legs.

I scoop her hand in mine. “It’s not your fault. Stop that, sissy.”

She can’t bring herself to look at me. “But it is.”

“This is Mark’s fault,” I tell her. I’ll never blame my sister for the choices a madman made.

“I brought him into our lives.”

“Don’t let the actions of one asshole ruin your life, Zo. Not everyone is like Mark. There are good ones out there. Look at Oliver,” I tell her, thinking back over all the ways he’s saved me since the day I met him on the side of the highway.

“Olivers are rare,” she whispers.

I worry my sister’s broken and will never easily trust another man again.

Mark stole that from her, but I will do everything in my power to keep him from stealing her entire future.

Zoey deserves happiness. She deserves love.

She deserves a man who will treat her like a queen and protect her from everyone, even if it’s from her own decisions sometimes.

“There are more Olivers than Marks,” Dad says to Zoey. “But maybe dating apps aren’t the best way to find them.”

“No one thinks they’re actually going to date someone off those apps,” I say before I think through the statement.

Zoey’s eyes widen, and I realize my mistake immediately .

“Fuck,” Dad mutters, swiping a hand down his face as he spews out a string of curse words behind his palm.

“Anyway, can I bust out of this place yet?”

“I’ll go find the doctor,” Gram says, rushing from the room faster than she entered.

“She’s okay,” Gram says to whoever else is in the hallway. “She’s ready to go. Can someone make that happen?”

“On it,” Uncle Vinnie tells her.

“I’m ready to go home and sleep.” I peer up at Oliver again. Why does the man have to be so damn tall? If my neck didn’t hurt before, it sure as hell does now. “I could use a shower too.”

“A bath,” he says to me. “You need to relax those muscles in some warm water for a while.”

“I’ll make us dinner too,” Zoey adds. “If I can stay the night.”

“Stay as long as you want,” I say to her.

“Maybe tomorrow, we can do a movie night.” She smiles and turns her eyes toward Oliver.

“What movie?” he asks in that grumbly voice.

“ Steel Magnolias .”

“Action movie?” he asks her.

“Nope.”

“Damn it,” he snaps.

Zoey breaks out into a fit of giggles, and I know everything’s going to be okay.