Be With Me(5)

She swal owed and winced at the pain in her throat. Sawyer stroked his hand over her forehead and gazed tenderly down at her. “We’l get you something for pain, Reggie. You need rest. We’l be here when you wake up. We’re not going anywhere.

You count on that. You also need to know that we’re going to talk about this. Us.”

He lowered his head and once again kissed her.

Hot tears pricked her eyelids, and she blinked furiously, pissed that she’d al ow him to affect her so deeply.

“It was just sex,” she whispered.

His blue eyes flashed and narrowed. “You keep tel ing yourself that, Reggie, and one day, you might actual y believe it.”

“I don’t need you here.” The words caught in her throat, and she immediately regretted them. Weak.

She was weak. But her rejection didn’t anger the guys.

Cam just smiled at her, while Hutch stroked her arm above the line of the brace.

“You may not want us here, but you do need us,” Cam said with confidence that grated on her nerves.

“And we need you,” Hutch said simply.

She turned to look at him and felt her stance weaken. What they wanted, no, what they demanded, she couldn’t give them. How could anyone? It wasn’t normal. It wasn’t done. It wasn’t possible. Not in her world. Not in any world.

Sawyer ran his hand through her hair again, and she instinctively moved closer. He tucked the short, curly strands behind her ears and ran his finger down the sensitive skin behind her ear.

They were doing it again. Lul ing her, numbing her senses with their touch, their presence. Hutch stroked her arm, rubbing lightly while Sawyer continued to finger the strands of her hair. Cam laid his big hand over her knee, and she could feel the heat of his fingers through the sheet.

She felt safe. More than that, she felt comforted, as if for this one moment, everything was al right.

She jumped when the door opened and the nurse walked in. She scowled at the interruption even as she realized she should be grateful for the reprieve.

Somehow, Sawyer had maneuvered himself onto the bed beside her, al while stroking her neck.

Smooth bastard. He sat with one leg hanging over the side, her head nestled in the crook of his arm.

She realized how cozy, how intimate, they al looked, Hutch on her other side, his hand resting possessively on her arm, Cam sitting at her feet, absently rubbing her knee, and her al hugged up to Sawyer.

The nurse raised an eyebrow but didn’t say much as she navigated around the males to get to Regina’s IV. The line had been disconnected but the saline lock was stil in place to administer medication. Sawyer gently pulled her arm up and rested it on his lap but made no effort to move for the nurse. She shrugged and reached for Regina’s hand.

“My best oblivion cocktail coming right up,” the nurse said as she uncapped the syringe. She swabbed the port and deftly inserted the needle.

In seconds, Regina felt the slight burn as the medication hit her veins. It swept up her arm, and when it got to her shoulder, she relaxed and sagged further into Sawyer’s embrace.

She drowsily registered his lips nuzzling into her hair and him murmuring softly. As the nurse moved away, he pulled her even closer. She raised her other hand, blindly reaching for Hutch. The action contradicted her every word, but as much as she said she didn’t need them, didn’t want them there, for the last year she’d felt like a huge part of herself was missing.

Hutch caught her hand and lowered it back to the bed, his fingers cautiously laced with hers.

She struggled to open her eyes one more time, and her gaze connected with Cam’s.

“I missed you,” she whispered, too foggy to cal back the words before they slipped from her mouth.

Cam’s brown eyes softened. “We missed you too, sweetheart. Now rest and get better.”

“Don’t go,” she murmured as she fought against the lethargy slogging through her body and brain.

“We’re not going anywhere, Reggie,” Sawyer said close to her ear. “I promise.”

She drifted off with the comfort of that promise echoing in her mind.

Chapter 3

The sun hadn’t yet peeked over the horizon, and the pale glow of predawn had only just begun to lighten the sky when Sawyer climbed out of the truck and met Cam around the front.

Together they stared at the large two-story house situated on one of the rol ing hil s of the hundred-acre spread they’d purchased a couple years earlier.

Sawyer’s chest tightened with pride. This was theirs. A piece of land. A home. When he was a child, the idea of home and family had been a fantasy. A dream that was for other kids. Not him.

Never him.

When Birdie had taken him in, Cam had been there a week already and was not appreciative of the competition for Birdie’s affection. He’d been resentful of Sawyer’s presence even as he had pushed Birdie away. He hadn’t wanted her and hadn’t trusted her, but he didn’t want Sawyer to have her either.

He hadn’t real y understood until Hutch had arrived a few months later. Fear and insecurity, two things Sawyer had been wel accustomed to back then, had made a terrible comeback. What if Birdie liked Hutch better? Hutch was quieter. He wasn’t as much trouble. What if she decided three boys were too much? Surely she’d keep whoever caused her the least amount of strife.

“Let’s go,” Cam said, shaking Sawyer from his reverie. “I want to make sure everything’s ready for her to come home.”