Page 40 of Glorious Ruin
“It better be,” I murmured, pulling him up for one last, lazy kiss. “Now, get off me.”
10
THE REED LAND, NORTH CAROLINA
Now playing: Sleep On The Floor - The Lumineers
Thecanvasfloorofa professional wrestling ring was not exactly a mattress, but after the travel day from hell, my bruised body didn’t care. With just a pile of flannel blankets that we dragged out of the building’s bonfire stash and two pillows we grabbed from the rental SUV, I was dead to the world. Silas was tangled securely against my chest, breathing softly, and I was blissfully, deeply asleep.
Until a voice practically shook the corrugated metal walls of the building.
“What the fuck, you two?!”
My eyes snapped open as Silas gasped beside me, his survival instincts kicking in at the exact same second. We both jolted upright in the center of the ring.
Smack.
“Fuck!” I groaned, my hands rubbing at my forehead.
Silas yelped, clutching his own head as he fell back against the pillows. “Jesus Christ!” Our skulls had accidentally collided with the force of a stray superkick.
I blinked furiously, trying to clear the blurry, painful spots from my vision. As my eyes adjusted to the bright afternoon sunlight that streamed through the open garage doors, my brain registered two facts simultaneously.
First, I was wearing absolutely nothing but a pair of black boxer briefs. Silas, still rubbing his forehead beside me, was in a similar, pantsless state of undress. Second, we were no longer alone.
I scrambled backward, dragging the heavy flannel blanket up to my chest to cover my nearly naked body.
Standing on the concrete floor just outside the ring apron was a literal mob. Scott was front and center, his arms waving frantically. Beside him stood Maverick with a dark expression marring his features. Then there was a sea of faces: the twins, Colin and Vega, Shannon, and Silas’s Aunt Jayme. And of course, because why not add to the embarrassment, Evan was here, leaning against the barricade with Lena by his side, both wearing overly large, shit-eating grins.
“It is one o’clock in the afternoon!” Scott yelled as he pointed an accusing finger at us.
“We have been worried fucking sick! The last time you updated any of us, you said you would be landing late last night. Then nobody was at your house, and you parked the car completely behind the damn garage where nobody could see it!”
“We were about to call the highway patrol!” Shannon added, her hand pressed to her chest.
“What the hell were you two doing in here?!” Scott demanded, throwing his hands up.
The silence that followed was agonizing. I felt the heat rising up my neck, flushing my skin a deep red. My mind flashed back to the horizontal main event we’d put on in the early morning hours as my body gave a sharp, throbbing reminder of Silas’s handiwork, and I winced.
Evan, of course, chose that moment to strike.
“Oh please, Scott,” Evan drawled, his voice a masterclass of snide, dry humor. He gestured vaguely at the two of us, huddled under a flannel blanket like a couple of shipwrecked survivors. “Look at the state of them. The blankets are in a heap, the pillows are flattened, and Cal looks like he’s forgotten how to use his legs. I’m pretty sure we all knowexactlywhat they were doing here. And I can guarantee you they weren’t reviewing videos from the San Juan show.”
Evan leaned in, his eyes gleaming. “Unless ‘reviewing’ is what we’re calling it now when Silas spends four hours trying to see if Cal’s spine is actually flexible. Based on the fact Kincaid looks like he needs a wheelchair and a prayer, I’d say Silas won that match by submission.”
“GROSS!” Lena shrieked, spinning around to face the wall. “Evan, I will literally pay you to never speak again!”
“Ew, shut up! I don’t want to think about my brother being the ‘submission’ in this scenario! ”
My head snapped up so fast my neck cracked. Pushing their way to the front of the crowd were all three of my sisters.
What the hell were my sisters doing in North Carolina?
“Oh, dear God,” Maverick said as the realization hit him like a slow-moving train. His face went completely pale as he stared at the canvas we were sitting on before turning slowly to his brother. “Scott. We have to burn the canvas.”
Scott rubbed his temples. “I’ll get the gasoline,” he muttered.
“We’re sorry! We’re so sorry!” Silas babbled, his face flushed a violent, bright red. “Our flight got delayed in San Juan, and then we got diverted to Atlanta. We didn’t get to the gates until after one, and we were just so tired, and the blankets were right there in the storage bin, and we just—”
