Page 66 of Savage Escape

Nate. Nate. Nate. There were more letters to it. More sounds as well.

“True, but I’ve got the gummy bear riding the cinnamon bear, which makes all half-eaten Twinkie-invoked checkmates null and void.”

“Since when did your cinnamon bear get knighted?”

Caden gave up trying to get her brain to work. Whatever Reid, that exasperating, annoying one, had her on would wear eventually, and she’d be back to full bacon.

Holy shit, she wanted bacon.

And cinnamon rolls.

And twice-baked potatoes.

“Well, Holden, Carl was knighted after he took your fortress of Skittles. I can understand why you would have repressed that particularly painful memory of my owning your ass.”

But more than bacon and maybe even more than twice-baked potatoes. She wanted to sleep. Actually sleep. Not be half awake listening for trouble. She wanted not to be drugged and holed up in a dark corner of the world somewhere no one could find her and just sleep for days.

“Fine then, no checkmate, but I do believe that I can move here... and do... oh man, well, that just tastes like victory.” There was an outraged gasp and some distinct chewing.

These people seemed nice enough, and they had theHimthat Caden wanted to keep. They were brothers. And wasn’t family supposed to be loyal?

But they weren’t hers and she couldn’t let down her guard. Because of that all-important thing that she didn’t have anymore. What was the thing? It was a word... a T word... but it was mostly an idea... and it was supposed to be an integral part of relationships. Toothpaste?

Sweet Jesus, did she need some of that. Maybe Nate would share his toothbrush.

“How dare you eat Carl! He had a wife and three kids to feed you vindictive asshole and you know cinnamon bears are my favorite!”

“Carl should have decided against a knighthood and gone for the wizard badge if he didn’t want to get ate.”

“You let him roll onto her again?” That voice was more familiar and somewhere in the slurry that was her mind, she got the distinct impression that he was the one that needed a good punch. Her limbs were not in working order, though. Everything was too slow—too delayed. They weren’t listening to her commands. “You two have one job!Monkeyscould do it!”

“Every time we pull him off, he just rolls back over on her.”

“Besides Cade—” Alarm rang faintly in her mind. That was her. Caden was her. She didn’t want their focus. Focus was bad. “Gets all kill-y and foul-mouthed when he’s not on her.”

“Kill-y? How the hell can she be kill-y when she’s got morphine pumping through her?”

“She’s not out. When Nate’s not smothering her, she thinks we’re the enemy and tries to fight us.”

“Or curse us. And boy, howdy, I can tell that they would be doozies if she wasn’t so high and slurring her words.”

“Not out!? How is this woman burning through my drugs so quickly? She is tiny and thin and she’s got barely any sustenance in her—I don’t. She should not be awake still!”

Reid came closer. She could hear him mumbling to himself and she willed her arms to move, to punch out at him. God dammit, she didn’t want to be drugged again.

But then the slurry in her mind became worse and the rest of her floated off and the world started to go black. But that was okay because Nathan was moonlighting as her human blanket again, and Caden trusted him to have her back.

“Listen to me, you…”Caden had been waiting for Reid to show his lying face for the past hour. She was still groggy andsomehow her voice refused to do the menacing thing she scared so many people with. “Youpunk.”

Reid stopped mid-step to look at her, eyebrows scrunched, and looking for all the world like she’d just called him a scum-sucking rat bastard. She wanted to pull out the big guns and call him something worse, but, for whatever reason, it was difficult to insult Nathan’s brother.

“Punk?” Reid was outraged. Good, Caden hadn’t thought it would offend him, but apparently, it worked. “Punk?!” His tone implied that it was the vilest insult that had ever been thrown at him and he was flabbergasted as to why he was being treated so horribly.

“Yeah,punk! I agreed to let you drug me for an hour—twotops. I’ve been out of it for four fucking years!”

“It’s been three days,max.” His eyebrows smoothed out, and he rolled his eyes. Like she was being dramatic, and he was the only reasonable person in the room.

“Threedays! Reid!” Caden would have hauled herself upright, out of bed, and right into his stupid annoyed face, but the drugs in her system were making it hard to focus, let alone move. “I can’t believe—you fucking—I said two hours—you…punk!”

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