Page 83 of Lonely Heart

Liam reached for my leg, curled his fingers around my ankle, and gave me a light squeeze. “Are you hurt?”

My body ached. And while I knew there were bruises and cuts, at a minimum, I couldn’t seem to assess the full extent of my injuries. I didn’t want to lie to Liam, but I wouldn’t be able to give him the answer I knew he wanted. So, I remained silent and cuddled myself closer to Marco.

Liam’s frustrated eyes lifted to Marco, who stroked his fingers lightly through my hair. “We need to get you checked out, Ivy. Do you think you’d be okay with the paramedics coming in here?”

Since I didn’t want to frustrate either one of them any further, I nodded against Marco’s chest.

My brother walked away, presumably to get the paramedics, and while he was gone, Marco continued to hold me and kiss the top of my head.

The paramedics came in to assess me, and Marco never left my side all throughout. Liam was in and out of the room several times.

Fortunately, all my injuries weren’t anything that required serious medical attention. The worst of it was the swelling and bruising on my cheek where I’d been hit, but the rest of it was scratches, cuts, and serious muscle fatigue from fighting so hard for so long.

Marco and Liam both had conversations with the police officers, I’d given some answers to the police by merely shaking or nodding my head, and the man who’d attacked me was being hauled off in a police cruiser.

Just as the medics finished up with me and walked away, leaving me there with Marco and Liam, there was a commotion just a few feet away from where the three of us were.

Liam stood and turned around, his gait matching that of a warrior preparing for battle. But seconds later, my parents, Wyatt, Rhea, Tate, and Ava came rushing in.

The six of them came to a grinding halt when they entered the room and saw me sitting curled up in Marco’s lap.

My eyes moved through them, and the only one who didn’t seem stunned was Ava. The rest were wearing expressions that were a mix of worry and shock. In the end, it was their worry that took center stage. My mom couldn’t hide her concern. “Oh, Ivy. Are you okay?”

“Look what happened in here!” Rhea gasped.

“He’s lucky he’s cuffed and in that squad car,” Tate muttered.

I let them talk. There wasn’t anything they were saying I wouldn’t have said if it had been my sister sitting here instead.

Wyatt didn’t hold himself back, either. “Liam, you called Jules about this, but she didn’t give us much in the way of details. What exactly happened?”

Well, that explained how they all knew to come here. Before Liam could respond to Wyatt’s question, we heard another familiar voice. “Where is she?”

Cooper.

He was going to lose his mind. I just wasn’t sure if it would be because of what happened to me or because of where I was sitting.

Marco must have been feeling precisely the same, because he wrapped his arms around me just a bit tighter.

I heard him step into the room, saw his sneakers, and allowed my gaze to travel up toward his face. He saw me, saw Marco, and looked around at everyone else standing there. Skye and Jules were standing just behind Cooper.

Wyatt, fortunately, urged Liam to answer the question he’d asked moments ago. “Now that everyone is here, Liam, can you tell us what’s going on?”

Liam shifted his body in a way that told me he was concerned about how Cooper would react and wanted to put himself between Marco and Cooper.

“I don’t know much,” Liam admitted. “I merely got the call to get over here.”

“Ivy called you?”

Liam shook his head.

Marco’s fingertips pressed in. “I did.”

“You?” Cooper said. “How did you know what was going on?”

“Because I was on the phone with Ivy, already heading to her place when it happened,” Marco revealed.

“Oh, thank goodness,” my mom chimed in, clearly oblivious to the truth Marco had just revealed.