Page 129 of Well That Happened

Later—maybe ten minutes, maybe an hour—I feel someone shift. My cheek is pressed to a warm male chest. A heartbeat thrums beneath my ear. An arm curls around my shoulder.

I’m too drowsy to open my eyes, but I feel someone—Caleb, probably—whisper, “Don’t move. She’s finally quiet.”

Grayson’s voice, soft. “You’ll wake her.”

Hunter’s voice, from somewhere nearby. “She’s probably going to drool on your shirt.”

Then quiet.

Just the sound of the credits rolling.

I smile into whoever’s shoulder I’m using as a pillow.

And drift.

Because chaos or not… this? This feels like home.

Chapter Thirty-Six

Hunter

It’s the sight of her that does it.

Not the text. Not the call from campus security. Not even the message from Grayson that just says:

Rilee. Hospital. Minor fall. Now.

It’s the way she looks—soft, tired, small, and vulnerable—that guts me.

“I said I’m fine,” comes her voice, trying too hard to sound annoyed and not enough to hide the crack in it.

My legs move before my brain gives the green light.

She’s sitting up on the exam table, one ankle wrapped, hair a mess, hospital gown slumped off one shoulder. There’s a scrape on her cheek and a gauze bandage on her arm. The sight punches the air out of my lungs.

She looks up and freezes. “Oh.”

That’s all. Justoh—like she wasn’t expecting me.

Maybe she wasn’t. Caleb probably could’ve beaten me here, and Grayson knows how to play calm. I, on the other hand, ran a red light and nearly broke the driver’s side mirror parking like a lunatic.

“You fell,” I say. It comes out rougher than I meant.

She rolls her eyes. “Yes, Hunter. People fall sometimes. Gravity is wild.”

“You fellduring your clinical.At the hospital. Most likely because you’re overworked and not getting enough sleep.” I shoot a hard glare at my idiot roommates for keeping her up at all hours with their horny escapades.

Her expression hardens. “I said I’mfine.”

“You’re not.” I walk in, then immediately regret it when I realize I don’t know what to do with my hands. I shove them into my pockets like that’ll keep them from shaking.

“Imildlysprained my ankle. It’s not exactly a near-death experience.”

“You could’ve hit your head. Or passed out. Or gotten stepped on by a code team, or—”

Her voice cuts in, soft. “Why are you here?”

I blink. “What?”

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