It was truly epic, the amount of effort a horny guy would put into defending what he assumed was his. And each of these three assumed I belonged to them. Little did they know, it was the other way around. They belonged to me if I decided that was what I wanted. I was victimized by Norris and the entire fucked up situation with the accident and the coma and even my memory loss. But inside, I was in control. It was an odd thing to be so completely out of control of my surroundings but in control of my internal world.
I wasn’t who they thought I was. I supposed that was my greatest power. Norris, Flora, my parents, and everybody else here at Crimson Academy underestimated who I was. They had no idea the strength I carried inside.
I leaned against Rome with Luke on one side and Alexander on the other. We headed to the door and stepped into the hallway and right into Flora.
“Oh,” she said, her mouth in a perfect circular shape. “Where are you going? Did Dr. Norris tell you it’s okay to leave?”
“No, but I need to go back to my room,” I said. “I can’t get better when I’m in here. I’m so stressed, and it’s so impersonal.”
“You must wait for the doctor!” she said with a near-hysterical tint to her voice. I’d never heard her so emotional before. She grabbed my arm and tried to hold me back. “Wait for him!”
“I’m just so tired. I need a good sleep,” I said, trying to reason with her. “Please, I want my cozy blanket and my own bed.”
“I don’t know,” Flora replied, her resolve softening at last. “Dr. Norris was very clear in his directions. Keep you here until he comes back. He has to run more tests on you and make sure you’re not—”
“Not what?” I asked as Flora’s voice broke off. “To make sure I’m not what?”
“Nevermind, wait here while I get Dr. Norris,” she stammered and backed away from us. “Please wait. I’ll get in trouble if you leave.”
“We’re taking her,” Alexander said, holding my hand. “If Dr. Norris has a problem with that, tell him to talk to my father. You know, the man who funds all of this.”
He waved his hand, indicating the research center, the place they’d brought me after my seizure. Was there no hospital nearby? Why would they bring me here instead of an emergency room?
Flora glanced back as she turned away from us and scurried off down the hall to get Norris. The problem was that I liked Flora. She was doing her best to help me heal. She was on my side.
“Let’s get you back to your place,” Luke said, and the three of them walked with me again as my legs grew stronger and I felt more weighted, more anchored with each step. It was a strange sensation, like stepping through the air into water, where gravity tugged at my body until I no longer felt as if I’d float away or dissolve into the air in an explosion of atoms.
“How do you know where she lives?” Rome asked Luke when he directed us towards my building as we left the research center. “You seem pretty fucking confident you’re going in the right direction.”
Luke’s head snapped around, and he looked at me, then at Rome and back at me. His eyes were questioning me, wondering how we were supposed to tell them that he’d been in my room. That we’d been there recently, even, and more than that before the accident.
But Alexander knew. He had to know. Alexander wasn’t a stupid man. He might come off as spoiled and controlling and used to having everything handed to him on a platter made of gold, but he wasn’t stupid.
He knew from the moment Luke had shown up to the party, even before that. Even Rome had known if we were being honest with ourselves. He’d given me the warning in the cafeteria about staring at Luke.
All three of them were aware of what was going on, but not a single one of them wanted to be the first to address it.
So I decided to shut them all down before they started butting heads together like young elk in rut or something. Besides, they would learn that there was more than enough of me to go around, especially given the slow drip of contact we had at Crimson.
“It’s none of your business, is it?” I snapped and shook Rome’s arm off my shoulder to punish him for asking. “You don’t need to worry about it. You’re not protecting your friend’s asset or anything. Alexander doesn’t own me.”
“He’s your fiancé!” Rome exclaimed and jogged to keep up with me. They all did as I stomped my way back home, grateful I hadn’t gone with high heels that night. “He deserves to know who’s coming into your room.”
“Is this about him knowing oryouknowing?” I demanded and whirled around to look at each of them one by one. They were like three sullen boys being caught stealing out of the cookie jar. Their faces were gorgeous but guilty. “How about from here on out, we handle all this on a need-to-know basis? Like at the party, Rome, you needed to know that Alexander wanted to see youtasteme. You didn’t seem to have a problem withthat.”
Rome’s cheeks reddened, and Luke jerked his head over to look right at Alexander. He raised his eyebrows and smirked. Alexander, being raised by a powerful man, had been taught from a young age to not react. So, he didn’t. His face was impassive as he held Luke’s stare down.
It was surprisingly sexy to see them glare at each other like that, and for the first time since I’d woken up from my accident, I didn’t hate being engaged to Alexander Remington. There was something sensual about the power he contained. He knew he had it all, and he knew what it took to keep it.
And just at that moment, I was his everything, and I was the one thing he was going to keep. If only he understood that I would be the one behind him, like that quote about every powerful man having a woman having his back or something. I was going to be in control here if I could ever cut through the fog and regain my memories and all of myself.
After what felt like hours, although it was a mere minute, Luke broke first, looking at me as his smirk turned into a laugh.
“Invite me to the back room at the next party, kitten,” he chuckled. “It sounds like I missed out on the fun.”
Alexander was visibly relieved that he hadn’t been forced to keep glaring at Luke. He
“Can I go home now, please?” I replied without letting any of them know how excited I was at the thought of being with all three at once… or how fucking tired I was getting. It was as if the energy was being drained out of me, being sucked down through my limbs, pulled out by gravity.