Page 29 of Petals of Blue, Part One (Wilted Duet #1)

Twenty-Four

DECLAN

There's nothing like the terrifying moment of a very large man hurting my girl to sober me right up. Fighting against the effects of alcohol was absolutely fucking awful.

I hated myself for tripping over my feet and swaying just enough to be shoved back. My God, I could have saved Blue from that asshole if I hadn't drunk so much.

Half stumbling with Jared to the back room where Felix disappeared into sucked too. The world kept tilting and turning. No matter how much I wanted to function properly, my body was hammered.

My mind felt sluggish too as I tried to comprehend the employee lounge. Confused and a little lost, I try to catch up with Felix and Blue's conversation.

Then Blue burst into tears at the sight of Jared. Every single instinct to help her and protect her fires on, burning the toxins from my mind.

Felix is there first. As much as I feel the gut-curling need to scoop her onto my lap, I'm too far away. The man I love gets her instead.

Jared and I both step forward when Blue all but folds herself in half, but we stop when Felix stands and shuffles her around on the couch.

My heart clenches at the sight of Blue curled into Felix's side with her head on his chest. Toned legs are thrown over his right leg, and white Vans are tucked under his left.

Unable to hold myself back from the heartbreaking display, I sit on the floor in front of them. I watch every tear soak Felix's shirt and study the lines on his face while he squeezes his eyes shut in pain.

The heaviness of her chest cracking sobs combined with the alcohol in my system gives me a headache. It's one I don't feel sorry about, though. Watching Blue cry her pain out is exactly what I deserve, and more.

I've left her alone in every vulnerable moment she's ever had for the past eleven years. All of this anguish could have been avoided had we listened to ourselves and not our parents.

Felix's eyes flutter open and find mine with perfect precision. My heart pounds for a whole new reason now. Red-rimmed, the look he gives me increases the visceral need I feel to join their cuddle.

There are no words, but I don't need any to know everything has changed. The way he's staring into my soul has never happened before. It's like he's seeing me for the first time.

Shuffling in the room goes unnoticed by me as I split my focus between Felix's heavy gaze and Blue. Her tears have slowed in the past few minutes. Aside from the occasional shudder, her breaths deepen.

A dull thunk beside me makes me jump.

"Is she asleep?" Jared whispers, rummaging through the small backpack he tossed down next to me. He produces a familiar steel water bottle.

"Yeah," Felix replies gently while continuing to tickle her arm.

Jared nods and tucks the water bottle back inside. "See if you can't scoop her up without waking her. Let's go home."

Felix does as our friend suggests, but I'm incredibly confused about how we got here. "What? We're taking her to our home?"

"I talked to Bethany, who said she'll come by to get Blue after her shift," Jared explains as if that's all I should know.

"Okay, but Blue's not going to like this. Like at all." How is it I'm the inebriated one, yet I'm the only one thinking logically? "She's going to be pissed when she wakes up in our beds."

"Then we'll give her Roman's." Felix has Blue in his arms, bridal style, as he says that. I blink, not knowing how to combat that, because it doesn't solve the problem of upsetting Blue. But also, do I really want to fight them on this?

I would fucking love to have Blue in our home. In our beds too, of course. So, yeah, I won’t fight them on this.

With my mouth shut, I hold open the exit door in the employee lounge Jared points us to. Blue's coming home with us. What'll it take to keep her there forever?

I'm not sure what Jared and Felix thought would happen when we basically stole Blue from her place of work, but I'm not surprised by the new turn of events.

"Where the fuck are we?!"

I whip around, my heart immediately stopping when Blue breaks the silence in the car. Christ!

Thankfully, Jared had already put our SUV in park before Blue woke up spitting mad. Jared and I jump, but our startled responses have nothing on the swift kick Blue lands on Felix's crotch.

"Fuck!" Felix shouts as Blue scrambles away from him. That's what he gets for hogging our sleepy girl. Honestly, I'm shocked she slept the entire seven minutes to our townhome.

She ignores the groans of pain and Jared's attempts to calm her down. Instead, she yanks on the child-locked door handle while cursing us out.

"Blue..." I try, but she doesn't listen, just continues to panic.

"Seriously! Let me out! Please."

The distress in her plea has me unlocking the doors without a second thought. I follow her as she scrambles into the parking lot. Sucking in deep breaths, Blue puts her hands on her hips and tips her face to the night sky.

"Jeez..." she mutters to herself.

I'm debating whether I should keep my presence quiet or be loud so I don't scare her, but she turns around and glares at me. Jared comes up beside me and stiffens when he sees the exhausted, angry look on her face. Felix limps over to us as well.

Blue huffs and points a finger at us with one hand on her hip. "Don't ever do that again."

My mouth pops open, but before words can form, I choke when my brother ambles over from the backyard. "What did these idiots do exactly?"

"Jesus, why are you awake?" Jared wonders out loud.

Roman levels him with a bored stare. "You bolted out of the house like the world was ending, then none of you answered your phones. I waited up, hoping you were alive, jackass."

Jared, at least, looks like he feels bad. "Felix messaged me saying—"

"Nobody cares!" Blue basically fucking screeches, cutting him off. "Why am I here?! Take me back to work right now."

"There's no way in hell I'm letting you finish your shift, sweetheart, so get comfortable until Beth gets home." Felix must have lost a few brain cells when he got dick kicked. There's no way in hell that's going to calm her down.

"Excuse you?" Blue sneers and winces slightly when she slams her hands back on her hips. "You're not the boss of me."

Felix snorts, making dread pool in my gut. "Actually, baby, I am."

"Don't call me baby," she snaps.

"Stop acting like one."

"Alright!" I clap, ignoring the sharp pain it causes in my skull. "How about we head inside before we wake the neighbors, huh?"

Blue doesn't hesitate. "No."

"Bethany will be home in an hour, Bee. Please, just come inside," Jared begs, sounding desperate.

Then Roman adds, "We have chocolate-covered almonds and that wine you like."

We’ve got her now.