Hayden stands quickly from the bed, looking stricken. “What?”
“Yeah,” I say through a yawn. “He kept asking if I knew about the others. What cities you were all in and how you communicated. I told him the hell if I know, I’m not part of the group.”
Jacob snorts. “Well, kid, you are now whether you want tobe or not.” Jacob aims a sidelong glance at Mason who’s wringing his hands while we all talk. “So’s your brother. Better safe in the circle than dead on the outside.”
Mason visibly blanches, face paling. “Great!”
“Mason,” I say softly, lifting my head up until our gazes meet. “I’m fine. We’re going to be fine.”
The main door to the hotel slowly opens to reveal a silver fox and Mandy. I was so out of it from surviving and telling Dante that I loved him that I hadn’t even put any thought intohowwe survived. Mandy pushes past the man to hurry toward my side of the bed. That feels wrong. Shouldn’t she go to Dante first.
Her hands brush my hair back as she takes me in, eyes flitting over my face almost to ensure I’m still alive. This is weird. My face must echo my thoughts because she pulls away with a slightly harried chuckle.
“Sorry. Your injuries were just so bad… it’s so nice to see you up and awake.”
“Okay,” I say because I don’t know what else to fucking say.
“Hello? What am I? Chopped liver?” Dante grumbles as he takes in the scene in front of him.
Mandy rolls her eyes. “You’re fine, you big lug.”
“She likes my boyfriend more than me,” Dante complains, fingers pressing tighter against my thigh.
Mandy backs away to join the smirking doctor at the edge of the bed.
“Mandy can normally handle the smaller injuries on her own, but she called me in when she realized Dante had an entrance wound for the bullet, but no exit. So, this guy got surgery to remove the bullet.” The doctor stares Dante down, hard, making me squirm a little on the bed. But Dante isunmoving because he’s Dante. “You are on bedrest for weeks. You’ve got twenty-five stitches, you’re at risk for internal bleeding, and your boyfriend here is almost just as bad.”
I gasp dramatically. “I had a gunshot wound?”
Mason sighs deeply. “Reid.”
“No, but you have almost as many stitches and you lost enough blood to need a transfusion from your very kind brother over here.”
“What’s your name so I can stop calling youthe doctorin my head when you say something that pisses me off?” I ask with a sneer. Dante’s hand tightens on my hip, so I soften my sneer, making it an unpleasant grimace instead.
“Eric.”
“Thank you, Eric,” Dante says without any malice. “We’d have been dead if you didn’t help Mandy take care of us. So, thank you.”
Eric waves us away. “I owe Mandy many favors. But doing surgery in the basement of the hotel I own was not how I wanted to spend my Saturday morning. So you can send thank-you cards to Mandy. Also, you’re due for a check-up of your wounds in a few weeks. Stitches should dissolve on their own, but still we want to make sure you healed correctly.”
“Thank you,” all of the boys echo in the back like a bunch of Boy Scouts.
“I’ve left your care notes with that one,” Eric says while pointing at a very responsible-looking Jacob. “But my phone number is at the bottom of the sheet in case there are any other questions. Antibiotics for a few days to prevent infections, pain pills if needed, and your IVs have been removed, so, I think Mandy can handle it from here.”
Eric flees the hotel room like a hound out of hell. I get it. I wouldn’t want to be in this room either if I was given anoption. I cuddle back to Dante, enjoying his warmth, already wanting to go back the fuck to sleep. Jesus. Nothing like almost losing your life to realize just how amazing sleep is, especially when pressed against the man that killed for you.
Hayden makes an odd noise as he reads his phone, all the boys turning to look at him.
“Robin just informed me about cleanup… Claude wasn’t there,” Hayden announces, voice light like he’s out of breath. “Just a pool of blood and nothing else.”
“What?” Parker asks in disbelief.
Hayden lifts his head to stare at Jacob, lip caught between his teeth. “Looks like Dante didn’t kill our only lead.”
“Or we are now also facing a zombie epidemic,” Dante says with a laugh. Nobody else laughs though. Despite the fraught nature of the moment, sleep is coming for me again, the dark tendrils tugging me down.
Finally, sleep comes for me as the murmur of voices at the end of the bed floats in and out. Dante pets my hair, murmurs words into my neck, and I fall asleep held in his arms, safe and loved, and for the first time in my life, I believe it. To be loved. It’s kind of nice.
