“I see,” he repeated. “Checking to make sure nothing is missing?”
“What? No, that’s not…” My voice trailed off as I looked from him to the pills in front of me and back again. “That’s not what I meant,” I finished, sounding unconvincing, even to my own ears.
And I didn’t think anything would be missing. Not really, anyway.
But I also realized—now more than ever—that for all my gut instincts and charitable feelings, I didn’t actually know any of these guys.
“Just so you know,” he began, his smirk vanishing as his tone turned serious. “I’ve spent my life putting away druggies, pill heads, thieves, and addicts. I’m not saying I don’t understand why you’re questioning your judgment here, but I am telling you I’m not—we’re not—the guys you need to be worried about.”
“I’m not—” I snapped my mouth shut again as he disappeared from the doorway.
For a moment, I considered following him and making him listen—making him hear me, at least.
But he hadn’t been wrong, had he?
Even though I was almost completely certain I had been the one to leave the cabinet door ajar, and that I had been the one who had left the bottle of pills out of place—a certainty my re-count only helped to confirm—there had still been that little voice in the back of my head that had made me wonder if it hadn’t been me.
That little voice had made me jump to the wrong conclusion, and even though I didn’t know these guys and didn’t owe any of them an explanation—or anything else, for that matter—it still made me feel like a jerk for doubting any of them.
I nibbled at my lip, wondering again if I should go out there and find Jaeger again to apologize—or at least to have a conversation. But then I remembered that smirk, those eyes, that look he had given me.
It had been intense and confusing and hot… and maybe even a little too much. It had been all of those things at the same time.
Was I really prepared to stand there and have him look at me like that again, after what he’d just said?
No, I really wasn’t. Not right now, anyway. Not with this lack of sleep that had clearly been clouding my judgment.
The guy was hot—they all were, if I was being honest—there was no denying it. They were all hot and loyal and clearly protective of what was theirs.
It was overwhelming.
It was a little intoxicating.
And it made me feel like I was in way over my head.
Chapter 4 - Jaeger
I walked away before she could say anything else—or before I could.
She didn’t know me, didn’t know my past.
And sure, I got the fact she and I were strangers was sort of her point. It wasn’t like I could reasonably expect her to trust me—except that she already had, right?
She had been the one to leave the clinic unlocked for us all night. If she had left those pills out as some kind of test, we definitely passed with flying colors.
I hadn’t even noticed that shit, and I knew the other guys hadn’t, either.
The only thing we were concerned about was Rambo.
But I didn’t owe her that explanation. I didn’t owe her anything.
So why couldn’t I stop thinking about it? Why hadn’t I said more?
Why did I even care what she thought about me—about any of us?
I found myself standing in front of the reception desk, not really realizing how far my legs had carried me in the few seconds since I’d cut off my conversation with Grace.
“Hi.” Grace’s assistant, Jenny, gave me a puzzled look. “Is there, uh… something I can help you with?”