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I swallow the snarl working up my throat.
“No.” Leo doesn’t have the same restraint, shoving himself between her and Denver, eyes blazing, riding a killing edge. “If you think for one second—”
“Leo.” She sidles around him and meets my eyes, silently pleading, Help.
I’m already moving, darting around the table to wrap my arms around my mercurial brother.
She turns to Denver. “Kody isn’t out of the woods. We’ll move him to his bed, and that’s where I’ll stay until I’m confident he’ll survive. Do not ask more of me.”
“I’ll be waiting.” He steps toward her and slowly lifts a hand to her face.
Leo fights me. He thrashes and rages against the cage of my embrace until she steps backward, away from Denver’s touch and right into Leo’s arms.
“You were exquisite tonight.” Denver lowers his hand, studying her. “You’re everything I knew you would be. When you’re ready, I’ll give you anything you want.”
“Except for a ride back to Sitka.” She crosses her arms.
“Except that.” He turns to Kody and runs adoring fingers through his dark hair. “Thank you for saving my boy.”
“I didn’t do it for you.”
“Even better.” With a wink, he strolls down the hall to his bedroom.
The moment he’s out of sight, the room releases a breath. Leo elbows me in the ribs, hard enough to bruise, and I let him go.
“Frankie.” He spins her to face him. “There’s an uncrossable line. I’ve drawn it, and I will hold it with every breath in my body. He will never touch you again.”
Exhaustion forms grooves in the angelic angles of her face. A face she rests against Leo’s chest.
I watch them together, trying to stifle the emotions eating me alive. I made a bargain with the devil for her, took it in the ass for her, relived my goddamn nightmares for her, and she turns to Leo for comfort. I see the way she looks at him, with hunger and affection in her eyes. I see the way she takes care of Kody, the tracks of tears she cried for him on her blood-stained face.
In my brothers’ shadows, I don’t exist.
She hasn’t even spoken to me beyond barking commands. Not since that night. The night she saw me at my weakest. She thinks she’s protecting me by fucking Denver? By fucking Leo?
She said she loves me.
But she doesn’t love me like she loves them. She’ll never love me the way I love her.
Just like Gretchen.
51
Frankie
—
I step out of the way as Leo and Wolf lower Kody onto his bed upstairs. Now that he’s stable, I feel the stress of the past few hours pressing in. My eyes burn. My head throbs. Energy leaks from my joints, making my limbs too heavy to move.
But I’m not finished.
Staring down at the urinary catheter in my hand, I sigh. This should be fun.
“You need help with that?” Wolf makes a face. “Because Leo loves dick. He’ll hold it for you.”
“I got it from here.” Perching on the edge of the bed, I reach for the waistband of Kody’s sweatpants.
Just another routine catheter. I’ve done this countless times.
You see one penis, you’ve seen them all.
But I’ve felt Kody’s. Felt it swollen and stiff and monstrous against me minutes before he was attacked.
This isn’t sexual. You’re a nurse, saving a man’s life.
I inch down the front of his pants, exposing deep, sexy grooves that run from his hipbones to his pubis and frame rock-hard abs. The trail of short black hair looks so soft and inviting, daring me to touch it.
Jesus, I can’t do this without ogling him.
No warm-blooded woman could.
Sliding down the material, I stop when the root of his cock comes into view. Flaccid yet still thick.
And growing thicker.
What the—?
A strong hand wraps around my wrist, making me gasp.
“No.” The deep, gravelly voice pulls my gaze to Kody’s sutured face.
Coal-black eyes stare back.
“No catheter.” He licks chapped lips.
“You’re awake.” I release the waistband, snapping it back into place.
“I can piss on my own.”
“How do you feel?” I touch his damp brow, the thudding pulse in his throat, and sag with relief.
“Alive.” He searches my eyes. “Thanks to you.”
“You saved my life.”
“You saved mine. How did I…?” He glances around the bedroom, brows knitting. “Did you…?”
“I had help.” I smile at Leo and Wolf, who hover behind me, smiling back.
“I’m just here to watch Leo hold your dick.” Wolf shrugs.
“I need to monitor your urine output.” I set the catheter aside. “Do you feel pressure or—?”
“I can piss.” Kody starts to sit and nearly topples out of the bed.
“Whoa!” Leo catches him, propping him up. “Easy, man.”
“Give me a hand or get out of my way,” Kody grumbles.
It’s an effort, and not a graceful one, as Leo and Wolf walk the stubborn brute into the bathroom. I follow them in, worried he’ll have stage fright and not be able to go. But within seconds, the sound of urine hitting toilet water reaches my ears, and I slump against the doorjamb.
