“I—not what?” I ask, sounding every bit as dumb as I feel.
“Riley,” he deadpans with a look that saysreally, man?“You’re every bit a part of this relationship as me and Collins, if that’s what you choose. Collins chose me, but she also choseyou.”He gets that playful look in his eyes and gently squeezes my fingers. “Ichose you right along with her, and there’s nothing in the world that feels more right than that.”
My heart skips a beat, stops, then flutters back to life at his words. They’ve done nothing but reassure me from the moment I woke up, but Creed’s words on this specific topic bat away some of my insecurities aboutus.
I’ve fought to feel worthy of love my whole life, and it’s hard to break the habit. I don’t want to fight what Creed, Collins and I have because I don’t want to lose it. Losethem.
I press the button to dispense the pain meds in my IV and lay my head back down on the pillow, closing my eyes with a smile on my face. After a few minutes, just before I doze off, I murmur, “It does feel right, doesn’t it?”
Creed’s heady chuckle is the last thing I hear before sleep claims me.
“Collins!”I wake with a jolt, panic seizing me and causing my body to break out in a cold sweat. I look around the room, searching frantically for her but come up empty when I realize she’s no longer by my side.
My nightmare had felt so real that being here in the hospital room is what feels like a dream.
“Collins! Creed!?”I call out their names, terrified something has happened to them.
Whipping off the blanket that covers my lap, I swing my legs over the edge of the bed to search for them, but a blinding pain shoots up my right thigh, and an alarm starts blaring throughout the room. I’m frozen to the spot, afraid to move my body again.
All at once, Collins pokes her head out of my en suite bathroom, her eyes wide as she shuffles over to me in her fuzzy slippers. A nurse comes in to turn off the alarm just before Creedbarges into the room with his arms full of snacks and drinks, eyes looking a little crazed.
“What’s wrong?”
“What’s happened?” Creed and Collins rush out at the same time when they each reach me.
I take a deep breath through my nose to get through the pain throbbing in my leg, my shoulder, and the burning sensation radiating in my trembling hand.
I swallow, feeling ridiculous. “Nightmare,” I whisper roughly. “When I woke up, my mind had convinced me that something had happened to you two and…I couldn’t find you.”
They each look me over, ignoring the nurse at their backs and checking me for further injury with entirely too much sympathy and pity that it makes me feel like a fool for getting so upset. “I’m sorry we weren’t here, Ri. You were napping, so I slipped out to find you two snacks that didn’t taste like shi—cardboard.”
“Bathroom,”is all Collins says with a blush creeping up her cheeks.
Seeing that they’re both here and okay has me sighing in relief.
I look at the nurse, who’s moved to stand at the foot of the bed. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to set the alarms off.”
She waves me off with a kind smile. “It was just a precaution since Dr. Munn doesn’t want you moving about on your own just yet. Therapy will be in later today to do an assessment though. You need help getting settled back into bed, Mr. Graves?”
“Please.” I nod.
With the help of Creed—since he wouldn’t let Collins lift a finger—he and the nurse get me situated in bed with the head raised. She leaves with the promise of returning with my last round of antibiotics in a few hours.
Collins climbs in next to me on the bed and lets out this happy little squeak of excitement when Creed pulls a giant bagof M&M’s minis and tosses it between us. I could cry tears of joy, though, when he hands me a cup; the smell of it has me salivating.Peanut butter and banana milkshake.
“It’s packed with protein and vitamins and some other healthy shit to help you get your strength back,” Creed informs me as I put the straw to my lips.
“Fuuuuck yes,” I practically moan into the cup when I take the first sip.
Creed makes a noise in the back of his throat, and when I look at him, his eyes have darkened and they’re trained on my lips. A fierce blush washes over me, and I take another sip to try and mask it. Creed has always been a sucker for affection and eye contact, and I had come to crave the way he started looking at me months ago.
Collins tears into the M&M’s, offering a small handful to me before grabbing her own. Creed’s phone buzzes and he pulls it from his pocket, reading the message.
“Shit,” he curses, swiping a hand through his messy black hair.
“What is it?” I ask, chewing a mouthful of candy.
“Cort just emailed the whole band. While you were out, we had to keep the wheels moving and search for a new manager. Apparently, the meeting with Bear and Blair went really well. Now he needs me to come in to finalize the paperwork needed to hire the guy.”
