BLAIR
Good thing Loganand his friends helped me paint my room, because I’m going to be staring at the walls all day.
“Blair-Bear?” Reed’s concerned voice floats through my door as I moan pitifully for the tenth time in as many minutes. I try to push myself into a sitting position when he knocks.
“Come in.” My voice is raspy and raw, and it hurts to talk. Hell, everything hurts right now. Someone must have been incubating something nasty at work last week, or else I caught something at Reed’s last football game.
“You look like shit,” Reed observes without a shred of diplomacy.
“Gee, thanks.”
My little brother crosses the room and presses the back of his hand against my sweaty forehead. I know it must be as bad as it feels when he hisses. “Do you need to go to the doctor? I can stay home and take care of you. Your head feels really hot.”
If Reed didn’t look so genuinely concerned, I’d think he was just trying to get out of going to school today. But he does look concerned. Which means I really must look like shit.
“You can’t miss school. I’ll be fine, I just need some rest. I already texted my boss, so I’m going to sleep all day.”
Reed frowns, not looking convinced. “Do you need medicine?”
“I’ll be fine.” I stupidly haven’t stocked up on cold medicine since we moved, and now I’m going to pay for it. But Reed’s only thirteen. It’s not like he can borrow my car and make a run to the store. “Seriously. Don’t worry about me. You should go. I’m too sick to drive you if you miss the bus.”
Reed hesitates again. He pulls out his phone to check the time, swears, and fires off a text.
“You really need to stop swearing,” I tease.
“Yeah, yeah. Listen, text if you need me, okay? I’ll figure out how to get home early.”
“I’ll be fine, Reedy, I promise. Now get out of here, so you’re not late. I love you.”
Reed stares at me, frowning, for another minute before he disappears. I’d think he left without saying goodbye if I couldn’t hear him muttering to himself in the kitchen. He reappears with a glass of cold water and a cool washcloth. He sets the glass on my nightstand and presses the washcloth to my head. “I love you too, Blair-Bear. Seriously, call me if you need me, okay?”
I won’t, but he’s sweet. Nodding, I make ashooingmotion with my hands. Reed sighs, but he really is running late, so he hurries out of the apartment, locking the door behind him. I manage to make it to the bathroom and back into my bed, and I’m slipping back into a delirious state of half-sleep when I hear a key in the lock and footsteps coming down the hall.
“Reed?” I croak. “What are you doing? You should be at school.”
“Not Reed, angel,” a deep, familiar voice says from my doorway. Logan frowns when he sees me. A grocery bag crinkles in his grip as he steps into my room and closes the distancebetween us. “He texted me and left his key on the trim above your door so I could get in.”
My eyes burn as I try to focus on Logan’s handsome face. Maybe I reallyamdelirious. Am I hallucinating him? The bed dips as he sits beside me, and his cool fingertips brush across my burning forehead.
If I’m hallucinating, it’s very realistic.
“You’re not hallucinating. But I am concerned that you’re muttering your thoughts out loud.” His lips twitch into a half smile, but it doesn’t erase the concern from his slate-gray eyes.
“You’re really here, then? How are you here? Don’t you have practice?”
“Not until later. Here, I brought you some medicine. It’s just general cough and cold stuff since Reed wasn’t sure what you have, but hopefully it’ll help.” Logan pulls a bottle of cough syrup from his bag and pours a dose into the little plastic cup before holding it to my lips. “Drink, beautiful.”
It hurts to swallow the medicine, but I’m rewarded with a gentle kiss on my forehead.
“Shit, baby. You’re burning up.” The next thing Logan pulls out of his magic bag is a thermometer. It’s one of those fancy temporal ones that takes your temperature by scanning a pulse point. I don’t know how it works, only that I’m glad I don’t have to stick the thing under my tongue. “One-oh-two. High, but not dangerous. That’s good.”
He grabs the glass of water Reed left for me and holds it up to my parched lips. I swallow a few sips before sinking back into the pillows I’ve wedged against my headboard. My eyes flutter closed when Logan cups my face with his cool hands.
“My poor angel. Don’t worry, I’ll take care of you, okay? Are you hungry?”
Somehow, I manage to shake my head. Food doesn’t sound appealing.
“How about I make you some tea? It’ll help your throat feel better. I got this stuff from the store. It’s supposed to be soothing for sore throats.” He holds up a box of some kind of tea that I can’t focus on.
