Page 12 of Harbor (The Wanderers 3)

He lifted one shoulder. “Could be. We’ll see over time.”

Time. Shit. What was she doing sitting around exchanging what amounted to flirtatious barbs with a man she didn’t know when her people were out there somewhere worried about her? They had to be by now. She’d been gone too long without checking in.

She also hated that her radio was lost somewhere. If it got in the wrong hands… She shook the concern from her head. Hopefully, the radio had fallen into a crack between chunks of concrete, out of sight. The battery would for sure be dead by now too. Of course, if anyone found it, they could charge it and try to make contact with anyone who would answer.

The Wanderers were careful people though. They had no choice. Any slip-up could endanger the entire society. Just like Maya didn’t carry anything personal in her pack, she also didn’t leave her radio set for the channel she used to contact anyone. If someone did pick it up, they’d be unable to figure out what channel she used to talk to her people.

Movement in the doorway caught her attention and she glanced in that direction to find Dario stepping into the room. “Hey, sweetheart. I heard you were awake. How are you feeling?” He came to the foot of the bed.

She was surrounded by testosterone. Large volumes of it. All three of these men were enamored with her. That detail was written on their faces.

She cleared her throat and dropped back against the pillows, pulling her hand away from Advic. “I think I need more sleep,” she informed them, mostly because they were crowding her. She wanted them to leave the room so she could think clearly.

Dario patted her good ankle. “Yes. You should rest some more. Your body is healing. Later today, I’ll remove the bandage around your leg so we can see how it’s doing.”

She nodded, wondering if there was still a chance it could go the wrong direction and become septic. The thought made her shudder. She was the most badass female she knew. It would kill her to have to stop doing the work she loved because of a bum leg, or worse, no leg at all.

Dario stroked her calf. “Rest, sweetheart. We’ll come back in a while.”

She was aware of Dario and Keanu leaving the room without opening her eyes. She was also aware of Advic still hovering next to her.

He lowered himself back onto the chair by her bed. She could feel his body heat, and then he gently took her hand and stroked the back of it. “You’re going to have quite a bruise where the IV was. Sorry about that,” he murmured as if she cared about a bruise while her leg was essentially in traction and her ability to ever walk again was still in question.

She didn’t acknowledge him or look at him. She considered yanking her hand out of his. She didn’t like to be touched. She rarely permitted anyone to get this close to her. Especially men. Most especially, men she didn’t know.

Maya trusted few people, even those who lived with The Wanderers. She trusted Stuart because the two of them had history. She’d relied on him during the darkest days of her life five years ago. He’d proven himself to her over and over. Too bad she’d never been romantically interested in him.

She’d always known he would make someone an amazing life partner. And eventually, when he’d permitted himself to love, he had. He was in a committed relationship with Ariel Vail and two other men.

It had only been a month since Stuart had admitted his feelings for Ariel and entered into a polyamorous family. Maya was happy for him. For all of them. But seeing them together had also made her chest tighten.

She could have had what they had ten times over if she’d wanted. She could have easily had Tarin Gelman and Stuart. Both of them had vied for her attention years ago. She’d hurt Tarin badly when she’d ignored his advances. He was a good man. She was glad he and Stuart had put aside their differences and joined forces with Kester Carbon to create a family with Ariel. All of them deserved happiness.

What about herself?

She winced at the thought of her own happiness. It wasn’t meant to be. She would never allow herself the level of vulnerability required to love someone or even care about them enough to commit. Life was too fragile, as she’d proven more than once now.

She took several deep breaths, forcing herself to relax, beyond aware of Advic still stroking her hand. “You’re okay, baby. You’re going to be fine,” he whispered. He probably didn’t know she could hear him or even that she was still awake.

It was one thing for Dario to call her sweetheart and Keanu to refer to her as hon. But baby… That was more intimate. It inferred a deeper level of feelings. Didn’t it?

How much of the past week had Advic stayed by her side? She hadn’t been conscious. How could he have fallen for her? Was she reading too much into this?

It didn’t matter. She would ignore any advances he made just like she ignored the advances of every other man she’d ever met.

Didn’t matter that she found him kind of sweet and endearing. The answer was still no.

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