Page 54 of Taken By my Brothers' Best Friends

“Poor thing.” Eve nodded towards the call button. “Do you need more pain meds?”

I shook my head. “No. I hate the feeling.”

“Well, it’s for the best you’re awake now anyway. You have a secret visit about to happen.” She finished with my hair and flashed a mischievous smile. “I’m sneaking your guys in here.”

My pulse rocketed and the machine I was hooked to embarrassingly tracked it. “Sneaking? Mills just left to get them.”

She snorted. “Well, he’s not going to find them because they’re here. They’ve been loitering around outside a back exit for an hour waiting for their chance to see you. I’d say they’re obsessed with you but I think you already know that.”

Butterflies filled my stomach. “They’ve been waiting?”

“Anxiously.” She sat back and looked me over. “You’re beautiful. They’re going to barely even notice your black eye… Oh! Speaking of black eyes, Nash saw the asshole who tried to hurt you. He was picking up lunch and saw these fancy looking agents hauling that guy to the back of their car in cuffs. He said his face was messed up. You did good, V.”

Knowing that Michael Mays’ face looked worse than minedidmake me feel a little better about the whole thing. I smiled and nodded. “Good.”

“Oh! One more thing before your men burst in here.” She leaned over and whispered. “The new stuff since you started hooking up with these guys? Oh, my god. So hot. I swear it’s thirty percent of the reason I rushed here. Mostly, I was terrified I hadn’t heard from you, but I won’t lie. I needed to know you were going to write more. It’s going to blow up, Vera.”

I gripped her hand. “I didn’t get to tell you! I found a copy of one of my books in Dean’s bedroom before he knew it was mine!”

She squealed and the door immediately flew open. Nash stood in the doorway, frown in place. “What’s wrong?”

Rolling her eyes, she stood up and waved him off. “Nothing. Go away. I’m fine.”

He looked at me and smiled. “When you’re feeling better, I’m going to have you teach Eve some of your defense moves.”

I started to laugh but the sound froze in my throat as I saw Reed behind Nash. Nash realized and stepped aside but I didn’t have eyes for anyone else as I saw my guys coming towards me. I didn’t see Eve and Nash leave, but when I snapped out of my daze, they were gone.

Reed didn’t stop until he had my face in his hands. He hovered over me, eyes flashing with rage. When he pressed his lips to mine, it was the gentlest kiss, though. “You are never leaving my sight again.”

Lennon stood on my other side, eyes roaming from my head to my toes. He shook his head. “You’re still the prettiest woman I’ve ever seen.”

I let out a watery laugh. “You need glasses.”

Dean eased Reed out of his way and gently pulled me into a hug. He held me to his chest and made a rough sound in hischest when he heard me sniff. “If you cry I’m going to go find the assholes who hurt you and murder them.”

“I want to go home.” I didn’t even realize how true it was until the words left my mouth. I desperately wanted to be with them and no one else for a few days. “Can you take me home?”

“Go on.” Mills’ voice was as rough as it was shocking. “It was a lot easier to find you assholes than I expected. All I had to do was forget my phone and come back to get it.”

Reed stepped forward. “We’re not doing this while she’s hurt in a hospital bed.”

Mills flashed a rare smile and shook his head. “If you hurt her, I’ll hunt you down and make you regret ever meeting me. She’s special and none of you deserve her, but she wants you, so that’s got to be enough for me. The doctor was going to discharge her earlier but I wanted them to monitor her for longer. If you three are going to watch her, you can take her home.”

Reed’s shoulders relaxed and he took a step backwards. “Thank you.”

“We’re going to talk about this when everything settles down. I need to understand your intentions with my little sister and I need to know I can trust you to treat her the way she deserves to be treated. For now, though… Take care of her.” Mills walked over and waited for Dean to move so he could lightly pinch my chin. “Don’t be a stranger.”

“Never.” I caught his hand and pressed my cheek to it. “I love you, Mills.”

His voice was suspiciously husky as he gently pulled away. “Love you, too, kid.”

Dean cleared his throat. “We’re going to spend the rest of our lives loving her. That’ll be at the root of everything we do from now on. She’ll never wonder if she’s loved again. I promise you that.”

CHAPTER 43

Vera

They took me home that night without us needing to clarify which home I meant. Once we were there, I was too tired from the pain pill they’d encouraged me to take before moving to stay up and talk to them the way I wanted to. I wanted to hear more about how they loved me. I wanted to know if they wanted marriage. I wanted to know if they’d want the baby that was hopefully growing healthily inside me. Instead, I let them put me to bed and carefully curl their bodies around mine. We’d been apart for one night but it felt like a lifetime. As I fell asleep, I hoped that one night was the last one.

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