Page 2 of Nomad

Yeah, I was sure. She needed a bed, blankets, and heat.

“Yeah, I’m sure. Get her in our room. She’s still cold as fuck.”

When we stepped outside, Joke urged her toward the stairs that would lead to the second floor and our room. I rushed toward our bikes, snatching our duffel bags off the backs. After grabbing the bike covers we kept beneath the seats, I quickly covered the gleaming beasts, then jogged for the stairs, our bags slapping against my legs as I went.

Joke must have been watching because when I reached the door, he was flinging it open. I stepped inside, dropping our bags bythe door before I shivered and shook out my arms. “Fuck, the temperature is dropping like a mother fucker,” I muttered. I looked at the heater. “Is that fucking thing working?”

Joke shrugged. “I don’t know.” He glanced at Macie, who was burrowed beneath the blankets, her eyes closed as she shivered. It was definitely too cold in the room. Shit.

“See if there’s more blankets for her,” I told Joke as I stomped over to the heater and began pressing buttons. Grunting in frustration when it still didn’t turn on, I kicked the machine, and—oh, would you look at that. It started working.

“Fuck this,” Joke growled. I spun around to see what was wrong, watching as he began toeing off his boots. Macie opened her eyes, frowning at him in confusion. He pulled the blankets back and slid into bed behind Macie, wrapping his arms around her torso and tugging her back against him. “Get in,” Joke told me. “We’ve got to get her warm, or we’ll have to call an ambulance.”

I grunted but leaned down to untie my boots. Macie stayed silent, but her shaking was easing off, which meant she was getting warmer.

Sliding beneath the blankets in front of her, I scooted closer, pressing the front of my body to hers but keeping my hips angled away so she wouldn’t feel my dick hardening. She was a beautiful woman, and my man was in bed with us, too. It was a recipe for disaster for my poor cock.

“You’re so warm,” Macie whispered, her eyes sliding closed again.

“Get some rest,” I quietly told her as I slid an arm around her, feeling Joke’s flat stomach against the back of my hand through his hoodie. “We’ll be hunkering down here for a few days.”

2

Joke

“Nah, not yet,” I grunted when Macie’s eyes fluttered closed. Mason frowned at me. A strand of his long, dirty blonde hair fell into his eyes, and my fingers twitched with the urge to push it away. But he reached up to do it himself before I could. “I want to know what the hell you were thinking trying to walk to town in this little get-up.”

Macie sighed, her back pressing to my chest as she inhaled before she released it. “My boyfriend—well, I guess he’s my douchebag ex now—kicked me out of our place. I guess it’s his though, since I moved in with him, and he owns it.”

“He kicked you out in this weather?” Mason growled, sounding furious. Hell, I was too. I wanted to kick the little shit’s ass and teach him a fucking lesson. Who the hell put a woman out on her ass with nothing but the clothes on her body, much less did it when a fucking blizzard was brewing?

“We had a huge fight, and I mean, it was pretty huge. It started because dinner wasn’t made when he got home from work, but I worked today, too, and ended up picking up a couple extra hours, so I had only been home long enough to shower. I was still getting dressed when he walked in the door.”

She blew out a soft breath, her eyes still closed. “He broke a couple of plates. I got just as angry and told him he was acting like a fucking toddler—because he was.” A snarl twisted my lips. “When he tried to hit me, I grabbed his PlayStation and threw it at him. Hit him in the face with it. He shoved me out the door. I took a bit of a fall down the porch, and he threw my house slippers at me and told me we were done and I was out. Didn’t have a car to use since mine ended up in the junkyard a couple months ago, and I was using his.”

“What thefuck,” Mason seethed, his anger burning just as hotly as my own. “I hope the PlayStation broke. Fucking asshole.”

Macie nodded, a proud little smile tilting her lips that made my chest swell with pride for her. “It did when it hit the floor. He was too stunned to catch it. And that PS5 is his prized possession, so I knew it’d be the final straw.”

“I hate that he put his hands on you,” I rumbled. “Are you hurt anywhere from your fall? Think anything is broken?”

Macie shook her head. “No, I’m okay. Just really tired. To be honest, I thought I might die out there in the cold before you two came along. Figured if you two were going to kidnap me, maybe I’d at least be warm.”

Fuck. That was a shitty way of looking at things.

“We’re not kidnapping you,” Mason told her. My lips quirked in amusement. “We just want to help you. That’s it.”

“And get you warm,” I added.

Macie hummed. “You’ve both already done so much. I just want to sleep now. Today has been a long day. And I’ll probably wake up sick tomorrow.”

“If the weather isn’t too bad when we wake up, I’ll go out in the morning to get you some cold medicine,” Mason told her. He dropped a kiss to her forehead before I was even sure he realized what he was doing. He froze for a moment, proving me right, and then slowly moved back, his eyes flickering to mine.

I just smirked at him. He had always been such a sucker for a pretty face. Couldn’t deny that I was, too, but when that damsel in distress factor was added in, Mason was a fucking goner.

I already knew he was going to get attached before this storm was over. But that was okay. I’d been toying with the idea of us settling down with a woman for a while now anyway. Just hadn’t said anything to him about it yet.

Macie’s soft snore reached my ears, startling me out of my head. I glanced down at her. She was out like a light, her lips softly parted. The color had returned to her skin, flushing her cheeks. The room was warm now, too, which meant I could finally shower and wash the road off of me.

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