Page 50 of My Three Mountain Men

Leaving me alone, Knox headed into the hall, and I sank into the pillows, my mind whirling with what my cousin had just told me. Simone reappeared at the threshold a moment later, a bottle of pills and a glass of water in hand.

“Here,” she offered tentatively without coming closer, her nervousness tangible. “Brooks is on his way up.”

I gestured for her to come closer, and she hurried toward me, offering the pills and drink. “These will help with the pain.”

“Knox said you sent them out for me.”

She nodded, shifting her eyes bashfully. “I knew something was up when you didn’t come back—”

“That was stupid,” I barked. “You could have put them in danger.”

I snatched the glass from her hands, and she balked. “What?”

“You shouldn’t have sent them after me. I can handle myself.”

Scoffing, she gestured at me. “Clearly, you can’t!” she fired back. “You fell into the house, half-dead, begging for my help!”

I paled, wishing I could remember that part. I wanted to reject her assessment, but before I could, Brooks arrived.

“There he is!” Brooks called jovially, the relief evident as he strode across the threshold. “Way to make an entrance, Ryder.”

I cast a covert glance at Simone, but she had already turned her back to me, moving toward the door, and rejection spiked down my spine.

Stop her! Thank her!

But I couldn’t bring myself to do it. Not with Brooks there.

“Glad to see you in one piece,” Brooks went on, not noticing my distress as Simone disappeared from the bedroom, her upset lingering.

“You can’t get rid of me that easily,” I muttered, popping open the vial of Percocet and downing two to numb all the pain.

* * *

Brooks left as the pills began to take effect, and I fell back into a dream state. The wolves surrounded me, but Alisa commanded them.

“Go for his throat,” she told the she-wolf.

The female’s yellow irises gleamed agreeably, the rabbit falling from her jaws as she pounced. But when she landed on me, she smelled like Simone.

“Shh,” Simone whispered as my eyes opened, darkness encompassing my bedroom entirely. She had pulled back the covers to slide in beside me.

“W-what are you doing?” I rasped, shaking off the remnants of sleep.

Her warm body pressed against mine, a soft hand caressing my beard nervously.

“Why do you keep fighting me when I know you want me, Ryder?” she asked bluntly. “I see the way you look at me.”

I scoffed and turned my head, but I didn’t push her away. “You have some ego on you, Superstar,” I muttered.

“At first, I thought you hated me, but that’s not true, is it?” she insisted. “If you hated me, you would have sent me to Loganville when you had the chance.”

I tensed, the feel of her lithe, tiny form arousing me. I loathed that she had it all figured out, but I was in no position to deny it.

“We’re even now,” I mumbled, keeping my eyes trained on the wall as she moved her face closer to my ear, her breath hot against my cheek.

“How’s that?”

“We saved each other.”

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