6
Andi struggled to emerge from the haze of a deep slumber. Great sex was better than sleeping pills. She had no idea how long she’d been out. The light was odd and hazy. Or maybe that was her eyes. She scrubbed them with her fists. No luck. That same weird glow permeated the room.
She reached out on either side of her, expecting to find at least a man or two sharing the bed. Except there wasn’t anyone there. The sheets were crumpled. The pillows weren’t. Hadn’t Cooper, Reed, or Simon slept with her after their wild night?
Something was wrong.
Andi clutched the sheet to her chest as she sat up, her hair a wild tangle around her face. “Guys?”
No one answered her.
She bolted from bed and threw on a robe, cinching it around her waist as she began to poke around the other rooms of the suite. There wasn’t anyone sleeping in those beds either. No one in the bathroom. No clothes on the floor.
What the fuck?
Andi raced toward the entryway, where she caught up to her roommates, who were putting on their jackets and lacing up their shoes. Were they leaving her?
“What’s going on?” she asked, hoping there was some other explanation for what was happening. Maybe they’d been going out to grab a late-night snack or to catch the highlights of some sportsball thing in the hotel bar, or maybe they had to move the car. But would they all go to take care of something like that and leave her alone?
No. This was something worse. Much worse.
“I’m sorry. I thought I could do this, but…” Cooper shrugged, then turned away, avoiding meeting her wounded stare.
“What did I do?” she asked.
“It’s just too hard to love someone and know they’re not really mine. To have to share like this,” Simon added.
Reed simply nodded, his arms crossed over his chest in the manner she’d come to recognize. His mind was made up. Nothing she would say could change it now.
They were leaving her. Giving up on making this work.
How could they after last night? After all the things their careful planning had said to her even if the words remained unspoken aloud?
She didn’t care if it made her pathetic. Andi begged for them to stay as her heart tore into tiny pieces. “We can figure this out. Please don’t go!”
Instead of coming closer, they filed through the door and out of her life.
“Simon, Cooper, no! Reed!” she screamed as he too turned and left the room.
Andi thought she would die from the pain of losing them. Each of them, all at once. Except her vision faded and the scene in front of her morphed into the one she’d expected on waking. Reed hovered over her, his mouth twisted into a grim frown when she thrashed in his hold, still in the clutches of her nasty dream.
Her pulse hammered through her chest, which felt like it might explode. Her hands were locked into fists, and her feet thrashed against the sheets. Until she realized her men were still there. They hadn’t left.
Andi went limp, the fight draining out of her. “Reed?”
“Yes, it’s me. I’m right here.” He hugged her tight, rocking her gently back and forth. “You were having a nightmare. You’re here with us. Safe.”
Cooper and Simon looked at her, their brows drawn and their mouths pinched tight. Worried. For her. Right away she knew what they had assumed—that she was reliving her attack in her sleep as she had those first few months afterward—but the relief that wrapped around her like a security blanket, knowing they were still there with her, prevented her from correcting them right away. “Thank God you’re here.”
She clutched Reed to her, squeezing him with arms she was surprised to see were shaking. Cooper rubbed her back with one broad hand from where he lay on her left side and Simon snuggled up close on her right.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t think about how coming here might bring back bad memories.” Reed scrunched his eyes closed. “I should have guessed that staying only a few blocks away from Flesh might remind you of the attack.”
“That’s not what happened.” She calmed herself—and him, too—by running her fingers through his hair. “I mean, I was dreaming. Though not about that night.”
“Then what had you so scared?” Cooper asked quietly.
“I dreamt that this was too much…or maybe not enough…for you guys.” She hated the tears that spilled down her cheeks as she shared her biggest fear. Sometime in the past year the things she was afraid of most had changed. Sure, she was wiser now and more cautious when it came to trusting strangers or putting herself in a position where she could be at risk.