Page 38 of Diary from an Inked Throne

“I don’t like that I made you a promise I haven’t kept.”

She didn’t try to convince me again that it wasn’t my fault, and I was grateful for it. Because I would never believe that anyway, so she would have been wasting her breath.

She opened the front door, and we all followed her inside.

She glanced over at me sheepishly. “Dax and I have been sleeping in your room.”

Warmth settled over me at the thought of the two of them entwined around each other in my black silk sheets. I didn’t know why I liked that so much, but I did. “Good.”

Dax rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. “I can sleep in a spare room tonight so you can have your bed back.”

Prior to being locked up with this man, I probably would have readily agreed to that. And yet I’d missed him almost as much as I’d missed Nyah. I’d never talked to anyone for hours and hours on end the way Dax and I had before Lynx had joined us. You couldn’t go through something like that and not develop a brotherhood. I found myself shaking my head. “No. Stay.” I coughed uncomfortably, not wanting to admit to the tattoo artist that he’d become important to me. “We’ll pull another bed in there. So there’s room for all of us. So Nyah doesn’t have to choose who she sleeps with.”

“Nyah doesn’t want to sleep yet,” she said quietly. “This is the first night I’ve felt almost right since you all left. I’m scared I won’t feel the same in the morning.”

It was a valid fear. The cold, hard light of day would remind us all that nothing had really changed.

“What do you want to do tonight then, princess?” I asked her, falling back into the nickname I’d given her so long ago.

I knew exactly what I wanted to do.

It had been way too long since I’d had my hands on her body. Being this close to her, smelling the scent of her shampoo and moisturizer, hearing her voice…all of it only reminded me how much I missed her. How much I’d craved her touch when all I could hear was her crying on the phone.

She gave me a sly grin. “I was thinking that maybe we could fire up the hot tub?”

Lynx raised an eyebrow at her. “The one outside? It’s not exactly warm out there.”

“Well, we don’t have any other. And it’ll be warm in the water.”

Lynx shrugged. “Pre-warning, I also do not have a swimsuit here.”

Nyah shrugged. “I don’t think you’ll need one.”

Dax, ever the responsible one, touched her arm. “I know you feel good tonight, but are you ready for that? You only just got the all clear from the doctor.”

She kissed his mouth. “You’ll go slow.”

He wrapped his arms around her and devoured her mouth like he’d been waiting just as long as we had. “I can do that. But if at any time—”

I rolled my eyes at him. “For God’s sake, Dax. Stop being so boring. She’s trying to tell you she’s horny. She knows that all she has to do is say stop and we will. Quit interrogating her.”

He flipped me the middle finger without even looking in my direction.

I chuckled and kicked my shoes off, leaving them in the middle of the grand foyer. “I’m really hoping there’s something worth drinking in this kitchen.”

“And eating,” Lynx added, following me toward the pantry.

“I’m going to go turn the tub on.” Dax hoisted Nyah into his arms. “You’re coming with me, since you’re so horny and all.” His voice was dry, and the barb aimed at me.

I winked at her over his shoulder, and she blew me and Lynx a kiss. “There’s wine in the fridge. Food too. Hayden’s kept the place well stocked. I think his love language might be feeding people.”

Sounded about right. Chaos had always loved to cook. It was why I’d left Sinners to him when Isabella and I had left. I was grateful now I had, and that he’d used it to keep the two women I cared about most well fed while I was gone.

I grabbed two bottles of wine from the fridge, and Lynx piled his arms up with food that was easily eatable while sitting in a hot tub. Strawberries. Grapes. Chocolate and nuts.

I took a couple of glasses and an ice bucket, and between us, we somehow managed to get all of it out to the hot tub in one trip.

Dax already had the thing bubbling away, and Nyah was delighted the water was already starting to warm.