Page 39 of All Bets are Off

I’m awakened by pounding—and not the good kind West gave me last night. Opening one eye, I look at the clock on the nightstand. Six a.m.

“Are you gonna sleep all day?” Jase yells from the other side of the bedroom door. Turning my head, I look at West, not surprised to see he’s still sound asleep. Nothing wakes him in the morning before he’s ready, short of Reveille at 0530.

“Hold on!” I call, easing off the bed. My body protests, aching deep within. I’m a mess. We slept the whole night without cleaning ourselves up. Wincing, I pull on my underwear and shorts, throwing the covers over West’s naked body before grabbing my shirt from where it landed on the dresser last night and slowly making my way to the door. When I open it, I carefully block Jase’s view of the bed. Jase looks me over.

“Is that a love bite on your neck?” he asks with a grin.

“Fuck off.” Stepping out into the hall, I shut the door behind me and pull my shirt over my head.

“You guys missed morning PT.”

“Yeah, well, we got enough exercise last night,” I say, a smile pulling at the corners of my mouth.

Jase breaks into delighted laughter and slaps me on the ass. When I wince, he makes an apologetic face.

“Sorry. Pretty sore, huh?”

“That’s an understatement.”

Wrapping his arm around my shoulders, Jase accompanies me downstairs where the smell of pancakes hangs in the air.

“The guys just think you had a rough night because of your family issues,” Jase whispers as we walk to the kitchen.

“And West?” I murmur.

Jase shrugs. “Comforting you?”

I choke on a laugh.

Looking up from the stove where he’s flipping pancakes, Mal says, “Well, look who finally decided to get out of bed. Where’s that no-good buddy of yours?”

“Uh, still asleep, I guess. We stayed up late…talking.”

“Your mom doing okay?”

Wow.I actually forgot about my mother for a little while. “I need to call the nurse at the assisted living apartments. Mom was a little calmer when I left yesterday, so I hope everything went okay.”

Pulling my phone out of my pocket, I step into the laundry room to make the call.

“Donna?” I say when the nurse, a woman in her sixties, answers. “This is Logan Fields. Did Mom do okay last night?”

“She settled down right after you left like she’s lived here all her life,” Donna says. “I hopeyougot some rest, sweetie, and didn’t worry too much.”

“I did,” I say. Remembering how I slept like a baby after the pounding West gave me brings a rush of warmth to my face. “I’ll be there to see her a little later. Maybe I’ll take her to lunch in the restaurant downstairs.”

“That sounds nice. I’ll tell her to expect you. She’s watching the news right now and having a cup of tea.”

I thank her and disconnect. When I return to the kitchen, there’s a stack of pancakes waiting for me.

I’m halfway through them when West wanders in, freshly showered and wearing clean clothes. Taking a plate from the cabinet, he sits beside me, pressing his thigh against mine. A shiver runs through me, and I almost drop my fork. When I look at West, he’s smirking at me, the ass.

“I’m going to have lunch with Mom today at the Garden Oasis—the assisted living place. Want to come?” I ask him, watching as he stacks pancakes onto his plate from the platter in the center of the table.

“Yeah, I’d love that.” He glances at Jase, who’s watching us with a small smile on his face. “The video call with Slade’s at ten, right?”

Jase nods and goes back to drinking his coffee.

Dex walks in with Kasey, and they begin filling their plates.

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