Then Teke was gone and I was in the dark. Cold seeped into my body—bone chilling and wet. I was back in that ditch again.
My vision went black, and everything stopped.
“Breathe, baby.” Krew’s panicked voice forced its way into the black space in my head. Then a foul, sharp odor filled my nostrils and flung the heavy, dark fog from my mind.
“Thank fuck.” That was Decker. “Why did she pass out this time?”
“I don’t know,” Krew barked. “Open your eyes, Regi. It’s me, Krew—damn it—open them for me.” The sheer terror in his voice pulled me further from the edge of my nightmarish abyss.
I wanted to soothe Krew, but the cold?—
“Damn it, Regi. Don’t do this to us,” Krew roughly whispered.
What was he talking about—the foul odor hit my sinuses again, and I was finally dragged back into reality. I blinked, then coughed, then sluggishly opened my eyes. Hovering over me were two blurry faces.
“Decker? Krew?” I croaked, then blinked, trying to clear my vision.
“It’s us.” Decker met me with a frown. Seeing his handsome face distorted with worry sliced right through me. I was still befuddled from whatever had happened just moments ago and wobbled a little as I tried to sit up.
“Take it slow,” Krew said as he helped me into a sitting position. I was in a bed—in a different room from the one I’d been sleeping in.
“Maybe she should stay lying down,” Decker reasoned.
My head swam like it was filled with muck, even though Krew kept a steadying hand on my shoulder.
I stared at Decker’s naked torso and all of the tattoos that covered his skin, and my clit suddenly thrummed to life. Disgusted by the lust pulsating between my legs, I looked away as I asked, “Why are you shirtless—never mind, I don’t want to know.”
Then I remembered the blood on his shirt. I shut my eyes and swallowed down the bile threatening to rise up my throat.
“Maybe Decker is right and you need to lay down,” Krew said, as he bent to look at my face.
I shook my head in response, and immediately became dizzy. My temples ached and as I dug my fingers against the pressure points, my stomach churned with distress.
I didn’t want to see their faces—not when I felt so weak and I’d just barely managed to stitch back together what was left of my crumbling fortitude. I needed time to rebuild the fortress that protected my sanity.
However, there was no staunching the rush of heat in my cheeks, as I returned my gaze to Decker’s muscled, fully tatted chest. I wondered if each of the tattoos that covered his skin had meaning. Probably, but it wasn’t likely that he’d tell me.
What the hell is wrong with me? Who cares what his tattoos mean?
I squeezed my thighs tightly together to ward off the desire. I couldn’t keep putting myself in the path of these men, fantasizing about how it would feel to be moving against their bodies—holy hell, I nearly had sex in the hallway with Krew. All because I wanted to forget for a little while that I wasn’t whole. I had just wanted a little piece of him before I didn’t have either of these men in my life.
“Where did… the blood…” I couldn’t finish what I wanted to ask, I was about to throw up. I clamped my lips shut and swallowed down the vile taste in my mouth.
Krew’s finger gently rubbed the back of my neck. It was soothing, though, his touch didn’t stop my heart from racing out of my chest or relax my breathing.
“You don’t want to know,” Decker said gruffly, “What is more important is what’s going on with you, Regi. Before you fainted, you said, The blood—all the blood. Now what does that mean?”
“It means nothing,” I lied, as the roiling in my gut started again and I couldn’t talk about it.
“Again, you’re lying—what are you hiding from us, Regi?”
There it went. I hauled myself over to the side of the bed and threw up. I hadn’t eaten in the past twelve hours, so only yellow bile splashed across the wooden floor.
“Je-sus.” Decker scrambled backwards while Krew took off out of the room. He rushed back moments later with a wet towel and a metal bucket. I stared blurry-eyed down at the pail, wondering where he had pulled that out from, and told him it was a bit too late.
“Just in case,” Krew said as he handed me the towel.
I slowly straightened, took the cold, wet towel out of his hand and wiped my mouth. The foul taste at the back of my throat had me gagging again, but I choked down the acrid tang.
