Just as I suspected, I am not handling the separation as well as I'd like. Neither are the others so at least we're all depressed in solidarity. All of us mated Riders have set up in the lounge to pout and whine together, the kids flitting in and out of the room once they deem us as incredibly boring.
"I swear to God the next time Lexie asks to go to that fucking mansion I'm saying no." Bear whinges, leaning his head on the back of the couch he chose the minute the pity party started three hours ago. We've been absentmindedly watching shitty shows on the TV, all of them going in one ear and out the other.
It's weird how dependent we are on them. I mean we can feed ourselves and clean up after ourselves but we can't entertain ourselves. We're like older children that can do almost everything by ourselves but get stupidly bored when we're left to our own devices. "Please do because your wife dictates what mine does and it's annoying." Reign continues, Miracle asleep on his chest and babbling softly.
"Well yeah but both of your women encourage the rest of them to do the same shit so it's on both of you." Boulder grouches, sharpening one of Riley's blades and putting me on edge. He really shouldn't have a weapon when he's pissed off because he is just as lethal as Breaker when his temper snaps.
I do not want to be on the other end of that.
"The rest of you have an opinion on this?" Bear growls and glares at each of us in turn. Hunter gets it first and, being the calmest of us all, he leans forward to rest his elbows on his knees.
"I don't blame you for my wife's actions, she would've gone without those two if given the opportunity and I wouldn't be able to stop her." Hunter then shrugs and gets comfortable again as Bear rolls his eyes at the diplomatic answer.
"And you Breaker?"
"Uh well without Saviour or Lexie, I'm sure Aurora would spend more time here but it wouldn't be good for her. I'm just grateful that those two will protect her." Breaker is freakishly calm this time around but I'm going to blame it on his son, who is asleep upstairs in Breaker's room.
"Rogue?"
"I ain't saying a word, Prez. My woman is your daughter and I don't want to die today." Bear smirks in acceptance, clapping his hand down on Rogue's shoulder.
"Good plan, boy. What about you, Rubble? You've been quiet since we got here."
"There was no talking her out of going, at all. I think she would've gone with Marielle if Lex and Sav didn't go."
"See, Boulder, the others have a brain in their head. Besides, when did you get the idea that anyone could control what Riley does? Except maybe Evangeline at this point. Where's Mac?" Bear rolls his head around to find the big guy that we still haven't gotten an answer from. "Mac! I need you!"
A few minutes pass before Mac walks into the pity party, looking annoyed at the summons. He drops down onto the same armchair as last time with a heavy sigh. "What's up, Prez?"
"I would really like to know what happened at the hospital to take my mind off missing my wife and daughter... please?" Mac glares at Bear with a deep growl. I'm sure if he had the energy, he would've beheaded the Prez at this point. All signs point to homicide.
"For fuck sake! Nothing happened, okay? Nothing. She turned up and she apologised even though it wasn't her fault. We spoke for like two more minutes and then she left, okay? Damn, you people are fucking relentless."
"What did you talk about?" Bear pushes, looking like a little kid who has just been offered candy by the bucket load. He's even rubbing his hands together and grinning as he looks at the older member.
"I don't even remember, the assassins probably. Look we all know I can't even put sentences together when she's around so it was probably just unintelligible babble. It was embarrassing enough having that stupid heart monitor go haywire while she was there and the nurse had to check my fucking blood pressure because she thought I was dying."
The room goes into an uproar then, everyone laughing so hard that baby Miracle is startled awake. She doesn't start crying, she's used to disturbances now after being part of a rowdy biker club from the day she was born. "Oh my God, I'm sorry man. When I told her to go see you, I totally forgot about that." Bear is still howling as he places his hand on his chest to calm himself down.
"What? You told her to come and visit me? Seriously?" Mac yanks the cushion out from behind it and lobs it at Bear, clipping him in the head and smiling at his success. "I was in a hospital gown and filled with needles, you thought I'd want her to see me like that?"
"Oh no, of course not but she wanted to see you," Hunter responds, halting Mac's body function and getting his jaw to drop substantially. I move to close it before he catches bugs but he smacks my hand away.
"Yeah, she was worried about you. I think it went further than professional courtesy." Bear says with a smirk and a wink. Mac launches another cushion at him, this time from behind me.
"Don't fuck with me, boys. I'm too old for this shit." Mac grumbles, drifting off in his mind to likely look over every communication he's had with Eva to see if it's true. We leave him in silence for a few minutes just so that we can watch him in curiosity. "No, I don't think that's it. She was very professional when she got there, even when the machine alerted the nurses."
"Professionals wouldn't have been able to hold it together if that happened, I think she did it because she cares about you and doesn't want to make you feel even more humiliated. You saw the way she smiled at you the other day." Bear keeps pressing his point while Mac ponders further.
We move on from that when Mac clams up and refuses to talk anymore. I spin to look at Reign, he returns the look warily. "What did you promise Sav if she wins the bet?"
"Yeah, I wanna know that too since you two have bet on every single one of our relationships," Boulder says, having finished up with Riley's knife and leaning back into the couch comfortably.
"Oh that, I'm not explaining that to you. Not with my daughter here." Miracle looks at her father with a confused face and grabs at his beard. She's only young but she understands us when we talk to her even if she does return all of it with nonsensical babbling. Only Reign and Sav really understand what she says, we just guess and nod along.
"Boo, you suck," I reply, rolling my eyes and returning to my pity party.
Only alone until tomorrow morning, thank Apollo.
YOU ARE READING
Rubble (Riders of Apollo #7)
Romance"That's Rubble." I tune back into the conversation, having missed the entire thing, I think introductions were made but I got bored so. "He's the biggest pain in the ass when his best friend isn't here so be warned." Saviour teases and my jaw drops...
