Wolfe.
She took a steadying breath and opened her eyes, staring at him. He was sitting on a chair, facing the bed, spooning lime jello into his mouth.
“You might be developing an addiction,” she murmured.
“Hmm?” he asked around another mouthful.
“The lime jello. You can’t seem to leave it alone.”
He shrugged. “I’ve been addicted to things before. I can break any need.” There was something in his gaze. Something pointed that seemed to indicate he was talking about her. But he’d never needed her. They’d only been friends.
Well, sometimes she’d wondered about being with all three of them. But those thoughts had been ludicrous and every time she had them, she’d feel guilty for weeks afterward. As though she was betraying Aleki.
But it seemed as though she’d hurt Wolfe when she hadn’t meant to.
“I’m sorry for leaving, Wolfe,” she whispered.
He licked the spoon clean. Jeez Louise. Why did that look so sexy? And how could she think of anything as sexy when she was in the state she was in?
He reached for another spoon and pulled out a tub of raspberry jello. Tearing off the top, he dug some up and held it to her mouth.
“Open.”
She figured it was pointless to argue so she opened her mouth and let him feed her.
“Why do you suppose they feed sick people jello?” he wondered. “It has no nutritional content.”
“I guess because it’s easy on the stomach. I don’t know. Why are you here? You told me when I broke up with Aleki that I better not come crawling back because you’d do everything you could to destroy me.”
“I remember what I said.” He set the spoon down and leaned forward, looking right at her with those obsidian eyes. His eyes pierced her, as though he could see into her soul. “Thing is, it looks like you’ve already been destroyed.”
She winced. She got it. She was a shell of who she’d once been.
He leaned forward. “Tell me why you really did it. Why you broke up with him. You could have made it work. If you wanted it enough. But you didn’t want it enough. Why? You know what I think? I reckon if he’d been rich and white, you’d have been all over that.”
Shock filled her face. “You really think that I cared about money or the color of his skin? Really?”
He shrugged. “Convince me differently.”
“Why? Why should I convince you differently? I didn’t ask you to come find me. And if that’s what you think of me, maybe you should just leave.”
There she was. The girl he remembered. He’d thought she might be gone for good.
Sweeping his gaze over her, he took her in. Too thin. Weak. Helpless.
He didn’t do well with helpless things. He didn’t know how to look after them. Before, she’d been strong. Not as strong as him or his brothers, of course. But tougher than this broken woman before him.
Broken.
It was a good word to describe her. Maybe there was still strength inside her but at the moment she was close to shattering. And Wolfe might just be the catalyst. The final hit that broke her irreparably.
And he found himself surprisingly reluctant to drop the hammer.
When did he decide that he no longer wanted to hurt her? To make her pay? Had he forgiven her?
No.
They wanted her. Aleki and Caleb. He could see it. It seemed Caleb had never stopped wanting her. Aleki was more difficult to work out. But Wolfe didn’t think the other man wanted to hurt her.