It wasn’t her responsibility to make sure each of them was soothed. God, she couldn’t even imagine the exhaustion in trying. Which was why she thought this whole notion of theirs was a disaster in the making.
It still didn’t stop the what-ifs from whispering in her ear, though.What if it could work? What if she could have a deep and loving relationship with all three of them?
As soon as the thought inserted itself into her mind, she slammed the door shut. Entertaining those kinds of fantasies was only ensuring that one of them, probably her, would get hurt.
“You’re quiet, baby.”
She looked over and smiled, but it felt stiff even to her.
“Want to talk about it?”
“No,” she said in a low voice.
“Stop brooding,” he chided. “It won’t help anything.”
She leaned forward in her seat as they pulled into her driveway. Her silver RAV4 was still parked outside where she’d left it, and it would be a relief to have it with her at the guys’ house. It meant not having to depend on them to go when she wanted and where she wanted.
“You can wait here,” she said. “I’m just going to run in and get some different shoes. Or you can go ahead and start back. I’ll be along in a minute.”
He just stared at her.
“No? Okay. Be back in a minute.”
She closed the door and shook her head. Not that she really thought he’d start back without her, but she’d offered at any rate.
She unlocked her door and stepped inside, doing a quick survey. Nothing had changed since the day before, and nothingfeltout of place. The fact that she even considered that someone might have gone into her house irritated the hell out of her. That some nutjob had targeted her because of her father pissed her off even more.
She made a quick pass through her room, grabbing a few more changes of clothes and clean underwear. As she stuffed everything into her bag, she cringed a bit over the underwear. Stuffy, white and plain. Then she shook her head. She was losing her damn mind. What the hell did it matter if she didn’t have dainty, lacy underwear?
With a groan, she shoved the remaining clothes into the overnight bag and yanked it closed.
She walked back outside and gave Hutch a small wave as she climbed into her small SUV. She gingerly wrapped her left hand around the wheel and tested the tenderness of her wrist as she inserted her key into the ignition. She moved it one notch, and her radio nearly blasted her ears off. She slapped at the knob to turn it off. The bag in the passenger seat caught her eye, and she realized she’d forgotten to get her flip-flops. Damn it.
She climbed out and held up one finger in Hutch’s direction to indicate she’d just be a minute then hurried toward the front door.
As she reached out for the handle, a loud explosion registered just a nanosecond before she was lifted into the air and slammed against the door. Pain speared her skull as she hit the ground. Heat. So much heat. It blazed over her skin. Her head lolled to the side, and it was then that she saw what used to be her vehicle engulfed in flames.
Hutch.
Oh God, where was Hutch?
She struggled to right herself. Her fingers dug into the sidewalk as she dragged herself along the ground.
“Reggie!”
She nearly fainted with relief when she heard Hutch’s frantic cry.
He fell down next to her. His hands ran over her body, seeking. “Reggie, oh my God, Reggie, are you all right?”
She rolled so she could look up at him then squinted against the sun. “I’m going to kill that son of a bitch. I just bought that car.”
Hutch pressed his forehead to hers, and his fingers shook against her cheeks. “Sweet Jesus, you scared the hell out of me, Reggie.”
“Yeah, well, I think I’m going to have to change my underwear.”
“Are you all right? Do you hurt anywhere? Christ you hit the door hard.”
“To tell you the truth, I have no idea yet. My head hurts. I think. Not sure about anything else.”
