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“We are, and we can take care of one another. Now, go. Get clean. We’ll survive the next ten minutes.”
Mari narrowed her eyes. “Five.”
“Twenty.”
“That’s not how negotiations work, Dominic.”
“It is today. If you can’t take care of yourself, we’ll do it for you. And I can promise you won’t like my way.”
She darted her eyes between Greyson and me, looking for support she wasn’t going to find. She needed to relax, but if the basest form of self-care was all we got, I’d be okay with that, too.
“Fine,” she snapped, hauling the dinky duffel bag over her injured shoulder. I knew from the burning glare she sent us that it was intentional. Stubborn woman.
We hadn’t brought our people here, wanting to stay under the radar. With Greyson in such an uncertain condition, we had to be as close to ghosts as possible. Hence our current suite at the University Med Center instead of a private suite at Seattle General and shitty clothes a nurse had bought us from a local thrift store. Cash wouldn’t find us injured and unprepared.
The door shut quietly behind her, and all three of us cringed. A quiet Mari was a dangerous one.
“Any chance there’s a shower for me too?” Grey asked with a wince.
“If you’re looking for a sponge bath, your nurse just left,” Dominic joked, even as the two of us crawled out of our beds and over to Greyson. It was instinctive, and thankfully, Dominic didn’t make an issue of me helping. He did keep his distance, though, making sure no part of us touched. We’d fucked our girl together before, but God forbid he got my cooties now.
Christ, this was a mess.
“She’s going to freak,” I warned quietly when we stood in front of the bathroom door. Mari was going to panic the second she heard us.
Dominic sighed. “Yeah, I know.”
He’d barely finished knocking when the door whipped open, and Mari’s wide eyes found ours. “Is he?—?”
We must’ve caught her just as she’d climbed in because her hair was still mostly dry. Beads of water slid between her breasts and down her body until my mouth watered as I followed the drops to the promised land. Christ, I needed her on my tongue.
“Goddamn,” Dominic growled, obviously on the same page as me. “You should be illegal.”
“I’m fine. I just need a shower, reina,” Grey interrupted, elbowing Dominic in the stomach. “Can I join you?”
The breath she let out was unsteady, but it firmed up immediately as she pulled him into the room and shut us out.
“Lucky bastard,” Dominic muttered under his breath, moving to his own bag to change. I snorted, then froze when I saw his shoulders tighten.
Dominic’s anger was a living, breathing thing between us, and now that Mari was gone, I expected him to lash out with it. We needed it, honestly. A way to repair the damage I’d caused. Instead, he shook himself off like a bird flicking water from his wings and changed.
Another time, then.
When it was obvious Mari and Greyson were still showering, I called the nurses in to strip and replace the sheets. We’d allowed Dr. Grant, whom we’d brought over from Seattle General, and the nurses we knew to help Greyson, but we watched every move they made with predatory suspicion. After that, we’d bandaged ourselves, handed out our own medicine, and even ordered food to be discreetly delivered to a fake name. Nothing was left to chance, despite the doc vouching for the staff. There were just too many ways we could get screwed here. I couldn’t wait to leave.
The bathroom door opened just as lunch arrived, and Mari helped a weary-looking Greyson back to bed and started to rewrap him.
“You need to eat,” Mari said, piling his plate high once he was a proper mummy. “You have to regain your strength.”
Grey hauled her in for the world’s softest kiss and smiled. “Thank you, baby.”
“Whatever,” she grumbled, taking the plate I’d made her with an appreciative smile and settling in. “Talk, Nate.”
“I walked out of the Aces.”
“Permanently?” Mari asked, acting like my answer didn’t matter, when we both knew it mattered a lot.
“Yes.”
