She closed her eyes and clutched the sheet with bloodless fingers. They wouldn’t really bring upthat, would they?
“You pretending we didn’t have sex won’t change a damn thing,” Cam said.
Yeah, they would.
Embarrassment heated her cheeks but she worked, at great pain to herself, to keep the humiliation from her expression.
Sawyer leaned down, tucked one finger under her chin and tapped upward until she met his gaze. “It would be one thing if you didn’t enjoy it, Reggie, but we all know that isn’t the truth. It would be different if you didn’t have feelings for us or we didn’t have feelings for you, but we also know that isn’t true.”
She pressed her lips into a mutinous line and glared up at him.
“We have all the time in the world,” Hutch said casually. “You won’t be getting away from us this time. You ran hard, Reggie, and we let you. That’s on us. But it won’t happen again. That’s also on us.”
Helpless rage tightened her chest. She hated how they made her feel. She loved the way they made her feel. She hated how out of control they made her feel.
She swallowed and winced at the pain in her throat. Sawyer stroked his hand over her forehead and gazed tenderly down at her. “We’ll get you something for pain, Reggie. You need rest. We’ll be here when you wake up. We’re not going anywhere. You count on that. You also need to know that we’re going to talk about this. Us.”
He lowered his head and once again kissed her. Hot tears pricked her eyelids, and she blinked furiously, pissed that she’d allow him to affect her so deeply.
“It was just sex,” she whispered.
His blue eyes flashed and narrowed. “You keep telling yourself that, Reggie, and one day, you might actually believe it.”
“I don’t need you here.” The words caught in her throat, and she immediately regretted them. Weak. She was weak. But her rejection didn’t anger the guys.
Cam just smiled at her, while Hutch stroked her arm above the line of the brace.
“You may not want us here, but youdoneed us,” Cam said with confidence that grated on her nerves.
“And we need you,” Hutch said simply.
She turned to look at him and felt her stance weaken. What they wanted, no, what theydemanded, she couldn’t give them. How could anyone? It wasn’t normal. It wasn’t done. It wasn’t possible. Not in her world. Not in any world.
Sawyer ran his hand through her hair again, and she instinctively moved closer. He tucked the short, curly strands behind her ears and ran his finger down the sensitive skin behind her ear.
They were doing it again. Lulling her, numbing her senses with their touch, their presence. Hutch stroked her arm, rubbing lightly while Sawyer continued to finger the strands of her hair. Cam laid his big hand over her knee, and she could feel the heat of his fingers through the sheet.
She felt safe. More than that, she felt comforted, as if for this one moment, everything was all right.
She jumped when the door opened and the nurse walked in. She scowled at the interruption even as she realized she should be grateful for the reprieve.
Somehow, Sawyer had maneuvered himself onto the bed beside her, all while stroking her neck. Smooth bastard. He sat with one leg hanging over the side, her head nestled in the crook of his arm.
She realized how cozy, how intimate, they all looked, Hutch on her other side, his hand resting possessively on her arm, Cam sitting at her feet, absently rubbing her knee, and her all hugged up to Sawyer.
The nurse raised an eyebrow but didn’t say much as she navigated around the males to get to Regina’s IV. The line had been disconnected but the saline lock was still in place to administer medication. Sawyer gently pulled her arm up and rested it on his lap but made no effort to move for the nurse. She shrugged and reached for Regina’s hand.
“My best oblivion cocktail coming right up,” the nurse said as she uncapped the syringe. She swabbed the port and deftly inserted the needle.
In seconds, Regina felt the slight burn as the medication hit her veins. It swept up her arm, and when it got to her shoulder, she relaxed and sagged further into Sawyer’s embrace.
She drowsily registered his lips nuzzling into her hair and him murmuring softly. As the nurse moved away, he pulled her even closer. She raised her other hand, blindly reaching for Hutch. The action contradicted her every word, but as much as she said she didn’t need them, didn’t want them there, for the last year she’d felt like a huge part of herself was missing.
Hutch caught her hand and lowered it back to the bed, his fingers cautiously laced with hers.
She struggled to open her eyes one more time, and her gaze connected with Cam’s.
“I missed you,” she whispered, too foggy to call back the words before they slipped from her mouth.
