“It’s not like we’re running around shifted.” Maddox frowned.
“True.” Grey nodded thoughtfully. “It could work.”
“It’s fucking going to work.” Maddox nodded.
“Cade, why don’t you—”
“You guys doing okay in there?”
Lucy’s voice was a balm Cade didn’t know he’d needed, and he grinned from ear to ear at the sound.
“Fucking, hell.” Maddox grumbled, putting himself between the bed and the door. “Grey”
“I’m on it.” Grey said softly. He glanced at Cade, then raised his voice so Lucy could hear him calling out, “Just a minute,” and smoothing his shirt on the way to the door.
Cade felt his hackles raise as his friend headed out to talk to Lucy and he bit back a growl while throwing his legs over the side of the bed. Though there was no rational reason for it, the idea of Grey spending time alone with Lucy made him want to punch the guy in the face.
“You’re joking, right?” Maddox frowned down at him.
“What?” Cade wasn’t sure what he was being reprimanded for.
Maddox observed him for a moment, then turned abruptly to Grey.
“Get him out of here, Grey. I’ll make your excuses.”
“What are you going to tell her?” Anxiety churned in Cade’s belly at the thought of leaving without saying goodbye. “She’s—”
“I know what she is.” Maddox said. “And you’re not going to do it like this.” He glanced at Grey. “Get him the fuck home, Grey. Right fucking now.”
Chapter Six
Cade grumbled under his breath as he shambled down the hall in search of sustenance. The least they could have done was take him home and let him sleep in his own fucking bed, but no. They’d hauled him to the clinic and assigned him a room ‘for observation,’ which meant he’d done a whole lot of not sleeping, tossing and turning on a twin-sized mattress under Grey’s and his team’s watchful eyes.
Fucking protocol.
He was fine. Absofuckinglutely fine.
He just needed some goddamn coffee.
And maybe some eggs and bacon. And toast. Or waffles. And home fries. Or a steak. Shit, he was starving. He hadn’t eaten anything since the croissant and that Greek yogurt and berries thing Lucy had given him yesterday.
Cade chuckled as he thought about that breakfast while trying to figure out the clinic’s coffee maker. Lucy had been adorable looking up what foods he could have, including coffee, which she’d said he couldn’t have.
Damn, he missed his coffee.
And fucking hell, this grind and brew contraption of Grey’s was some sort of technological trophy or some shit.
“Where the fuck does the water go in this thing?”
Cade growled as he fumbled with the sleek mechanism on top, trying to get the damn thing open. Whatever happened to a simple drip coffee pot? Or even a pour over. Why the hell did everyone and their mother have to have some newfangled piece of shit mach—
“Hold your horses, soldier.”
Cade glanced up at the wall of muscle that had just walked in.
“Don’t tell me you’re here to check on me, too.”
“What can I say,” Tane grinned. “SOP.”
