Page 39 of Dream Girl
“Hi. Cuddle right in there.” His voice got soft. “Okay, Wes is still at the police station. Did you talk to anyone?”
I nodded. “A detective that wasn’t Lexi and a social worker. But I didn’t say much other than that Wes didn’t hurt me and what I remembered from yesterday. It’s so hard to think, and I’m so tired. He’s at the station?”
“Yes. They’re still looking for who hurt you. Let me tell you what’s going on.” Evan filled me in as we snuggled on the rather comfortable hospital bed.
“Nothing, so much of this meansnothing.” I frowned. “But having a record is good, right? Why would Wes get slapped with a neglect case? I don’t understand.”
“I know, Peaches. Oh, I had to change your birthday year so you were a year older, just to head off… things.” Evan looked anxious.
“Why?” I frowned.
“Did Wes ever mention anything about bonds and mates?”
“Maybe?” I thought for a moment and another memory bubble popped. “It’s like marriage, right? Only you can feel each other. You said there’s a concern that he’s not taking care of me, but what about me taking care of him? It’s a partnership; mates take care of each other.”
“They do.” He stroked my hair. “Did Wes ever bond with you? Bite you, but not just a nibble, like a special bite.”
Again, I thought for a moment, trying to find everything in my brain. There it was. “Oh. So we could find each other. But I only felt him when we were together in our dreams.”
“Do you feel him now?” he asked.
My nose scrunched. “I wouldn’t even know what to feel. Should I?”
Evan kissed my temple, soft and light like a butterfly. “Concussions can mess with bonds. You won’t be able to read his mind, but you should be able to sense him and his feelings. You… you should also be able to feel me.”
“I should? How?” I blinked. All I felt was fatigue and pain.
“Since I’m bonded to him, we should technically feel each other through our bond with him.”
“Oh.” I got comfortable on his chest. “So what does that have to do with my birthday?”
“First, your world uses a different year system. Second, Wes said that he bonded with you when he was nineteen. Considering how your birthdays fall, there was never a point where you were eighteen with him being nineteen. So, I changed it so you were legal when he bit you. Just to head off any other issues,” he told me.
“Oh. Okay. That makes sense.” Honestly, it didn’t matter to me. Wes getting in trouble, did. “Um, you have two marks, right? One for each alpha? Did I get that right?” I saw them last night when he had his shirt off.
“Yeah.” He took off his polo shirt, and I saw two bite marks, one on each side of his neck. “The one on the left is Wes, the one on the right is Bren. Jett has a bite from Brennan, too, same place. Only alpha bites leave physical imprints, but believe me, I’ve marked all three.” He gave me a lusty wink.
Oh, was that why I liked to bite Wes? He’d never complained; if anything, he told me to bite harder.
“Is that why I want to snuggle you and why you smell good?” I buried my head in his neck and inhaled his lemonade scent.
“Could be. Or because you think I’m sexy. But go ahead. We need to convince the hospital that while we might have things to figure out, no one’s being neglected.” His arms wrapped around me.
“We’re going to pretend?” I winced. Lying made everything worse.
“No. We’re going to act on these genuine feelings we have. All three of us. Responsibly and consensually. We’re going to work all this out, including some hot sex, ice cream, and therapy.”
“I… I’m going to have to go home, eventually. Spencer’s right, I don’t belong here.” If I played house with these two and then had to leave…
“He also said that doesn’t mean you have to go. Part of working through this and not just acting on it, is so that if you go home, no one goes to pieces. Not that I want you to go home. No one’s going to make you have sex, but I’m all for that.” He nuzzled me and gave a little sexy growl.
I laughed. “I’m here for the banter.”
This place made methirsty–especially for Wes and Evan.
And Spencer? Oh, yeah. All of Evan’s guys were so sexy. Even Brennan-the-grump.
Still, what was I thinking? I barely knew them. But it felt so right.
