Page 26 of Bear the Burden

“Are you…” Hyett lifted his mate’s chin so they could look at each other. “All I’ve been thinking about is kissing you.”

“Then why did you pull away?” Wesley asked with knitted brows.

Hyett looked incredulously at him. “Because I refuse to have our first kiss take place next to a hospital toilet. When I want to revisit the spot where the best kiss of my life happened, I don’t want to hear some John Doe flushing it.”

“That…” Wesley looked at Hyett with a strange kind of smile. “I can’t even get mad at that. Now I’m glad you stopped it.”

And there was no rush, regardless of what his bear growled for.

What he wanted was for Wesley to heal, and not just his body. It was in his mate’s silver eyes whenever Hyett looked at him.

The weariness. Wesley was tired of the way life was beating him down even before he’d reached the young age of thirty.

His heart had been carved out by his father, causing him to build walls around it, to vehemently protect what remained.

But Wesley didn’t need walls to protect the remaining bits and pieces of his heart. He needed someone to help make it whole again.

And Hyatt wanted to be that someone.

* * * *

Three large men stood outside Wesley Miller’s hospital room, appearing like fierce bodyguards.

Terrifying sight, but that wasn’t the issue.

They kept glancing at Bailey every few moments as if they could sense what he was up to.

Or Bailey’s guilt was making him paranoid.

Wesley’s discharge was complete, so the three must have stepped out of the room to allow the guy to get dressed in private.

Bailey really hated doing this. Wesley seemed like a nice guy, but he had no choice.

He had a debt to pay off, and when Seth told you to do something, things became painful if you didn’t.

Bailey also had to keep an eye on Wesley’s dad, but Jackson Miller was currently detoxing and wouldn’t be released anytime soon.

The family appeared to have gone through enough, and Bailey felt guilty about sending the text. He didn’t want to rat on the son with those three standing there.

Their sheer sizes intimidated the hell out of him, and he felt like they would be able to read the text from twenty feet away.

Stepping around the corner of the hallway, he slipped his phone out and sent the text.

Chapter Seven

“Knock, knock. Is someone ready to get out of here?” A husky man pushing a wheelchair strolled into the room. His smile faltered as his dark blue gaze swept over the four ginormous men standing there.

Wesley knew how the transport guy felt. Sitting on the hospital bed with Hyett and his family surrounding him made the room feel like a shoebox.

“I’m Gerald.” He recovered with a mischievous smile. “I’ll be your escape specialist today. Are you ready to break out of here?”

Wesley liked his sense of humor. “What’re we going to do about the four guards surrounding us?” he whispered. “Should we try to outrun them or force them to help us?”

Gerald’s gaze flickered at the men as self-preservation filled his eyes. “How about we bribe them with graham crackers and ginger ale? I think there might be a few cases stashed behind the nurses’ station.”

The men chuckled, the sound bleeding away the tension in Gerald’s features.

“If those are cinnamon graham crackers, you’ve got a deal.” Killian’s grin was just as mischievous as Gerald’s, like the guy lived to have fun.

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