Page 70 of Dubious Match
“Hi,” I whisper.
“Don’t cry,” he groans, walking further inside. “Look, those guys were over twice the size of you. You can’t defend yourself against that. Aster used emotional blackmail, right? None of this is your fault, Hollis.”
“I feel so dumb,” I gasp, tears leaking anyway. “I didn’t think anything of it when she was complaining about her flowers getting trampled.”
“I didn’t either when you mouthed that you had a flower emergency,” Malcolm admits. “We said we wouldn’t let you go anywhere alone. We definitely failed you there.”
“Nope,” Lars says. “We aren’t going to do that either. Hollis you have the world’s softest heart, and that’s the only reasonAster isn’t dead. Cian is fucking furious with her. You know he doesn’t do second chances.”
Remembering how he killed his wife because she betrayed him, I wince. Even that slight movement hurts.
“Do I at least get good drugs?” I complain.
“They haven’t given you any?” Malcolm asked. “I thought that was what was in the IV.”
“Hollis has a high tolerance for medication,” Lars mutters. “I’ll grab a nurse. Caleb is at the door, and I don’t want to leave him, which means I’m going to obnoxiously yell until someone comes over.”
Smiling hurts, but damn that’s funny. Watching as he walks out of the room and closes the door, I wait for him to do it.
“Nurrrsesee!!!!” Lars bellows.
Cackling despite the pain, I moan as my ribs complain.
“You’re all insane,” Malcolm mutters, picking up my hand to kiss it. “I can’t touch you anywhere that you’re not bruised. Cian almost shot me because he could tell I was hurting you while I held you.”
“He’s probably blaming himself,” I wheeze. “Oww.”
“Fuck, Hollis. Please come home with us when you’re released. Take over the backyard, the office, whatever you need if you need to work. I just can’t have you living alone right now,” he says.
“There’s a problem with that,” I remind him gently.
“What? If I can fix it, I will. Brice is three seconds away from kidnapping you, Hollis. I mean it,” he growls. “He’s in my head, plotting how he can do it and not die.”
I bet he is. Remembering how he had to force himself not to be anywhere near me when I orgasmed in the hallway makes me shift in the bed. I cannot be thinking about sex right now.
“Being around you all could set off my heat,” I say. “Even then, I’m going to go into heat soon because I’m late. Living with you all? It’ll definitely happen sooner rather than later.”
Malcolm breathes deeply as he groans. Before he can say anything, Caleb begins to yell as well from the door.
“Think they’ll kick me out for having the world’s most annoying guards?” I ask.
“Oh my God!” a nurse yells from the hallway. “You two are so damn annoying. Loud enough to wake up the dead.”
Should she say that in a hospital? Isn’t that kind of like asking for trouble?
The nurse pushes open the door while Caleb and Lars hide their smiles, pretending to be perfect guards. I have no doubts that they can protect me. Lars may pretend to be a grumpy, upstanding citizen, but he almost became an enforcer. He won’t hesitate to kill, but he will complain about the blood later.
It’s a fun paradox.
“Hi,” I murmur sheepishly as she glares at me. “I asked Lars if I could get something for the pain, and he’s not allowed to leave the door.”
“I would say you’re being absurd, but I unfortunately have eyes,” she grumbles, moving toward me. “Up.”
Malcolm gets up with an unhappy noise, and the nurse bustles over to check my chart.
“This says you’re on a high dose of pain medication,” she says, looking over at me and the chart.
“I don’t know what to tell you,” I rasp. My voice is beginning to crack, which means that the longer I’m awake, the more everything hurts. “I’d say just knock me out, but I have a feeling that my concussion won’t allow that and I need to speak to people.”
