Broken Doll {ManxMan}

CHAPTER 31

Tobias had been expectedly unhappy when Bryn and I stepped into the study. Having to explain that something happened, again, when I said I would be fine, was pretty humiliating, but my ever patient husband just hugged me and let me cry against his shoulder. I didn't deserve him, his seemingly endless patience with my bad luck, but I knew if I said that out loud he'd just get more upset, so I just clung to him until my shaking had stopped.

Sleep came slowly, restlessly, but I woke up to him with his hand in my hair, fingers threading through it and the pads of his fingers stroking across my scalp, moving down to the back of my neck before going back again and repeating the movement. It made my tense body relax, turning my head into his chest and humming.

He paused when I moved, his free arm reaching across me to wrap around my waist, holding me closer as he went back to petting a hand through my hair, warm lips dropping a kiss to my forehead.

"Are you awake, love?" I nodded against him, "How are you feeling?"

"I'm tired," I admitted with a sigh, "but... I'm okay," I rolled my head to look up at him, reaching to the bandage still taped to his forehead and feeling the edges with my thumb, "What about you?"

Tobias just chuckled and turned his cheek against my forehead without opening his eyes, "No pain, darling. I'm fine; I'm tough you know."

"Mhm," I agreed halfheartedly, dropping my hand to instead wrap my arm around his chest, clinging to the side of his shirt and staring across the room, completely uninterested with the idea of getting up.

All I wanted to do that day was cuddle and cling to Tobias, and he didn't seem to be complaining, so I made no move to get up as I made myself more comfortable, a fraction of a smile taking to my lips when Tobias pulled the covers a little higher over my shoulders.

It was warm, comfortable; safe. I probably could have fallen back to sleep easily, but something nagging at the back of my head was keeping me from that peace, a frown on my lips as I played with the folds in Tobias' shirt, staring at the wall.

Explaining to Tobias what happened the other day in the arena had been a task, especially when it came out I was looking for Bryn but got sidetracked, because I hadn't gotten sidetracked at all. I found Bryn, I just didn't step out to talk to him because he was kissing an assassin who had previously threatened to stab me in the neck. I couldn't really tell Tobias that, and I couldn't confront Bryn about it either, so I just ended up stuttering and saying I took a wrong turn, even though I'd said I knew where I was going.

"I haven't explored the house or the settlement much at all," was my excuse, "I guess I'm not as familiar with it all as I thought."

Part of me was convinced neither of them had believed me, but at this point, whatever. I was too worried about Bryn to care.

Ever since waking up, I mean really waking up, Bryn had been acting different towards me. Gentle, less antagonistic and more protective, and at first I figured he was trying to take care of my weak existence for Tobias' sake. After a while it felt more like he was pitying me, but after that conversation we'd had following Bay's appearance at the warehouse, where he claimed he felt empathy for my situation... I'd been thinking maybe it was a lot deeper than what I originally assumed.

Now I'd discovered he was hiding some secret relationship with Logan behind everyone's back, which just added on to my uncertainty. I didn't know nearly enough about Bryn, or his past, to really understand why he was acting the way he was. Was Logan possibly a catalyst to his change in behavior? How long had they been in this relationship anyway?

"Tobias?"

"Hm?"

"I have a weird question."

"There are no weird questions, darling. What do you want to know?"