I settle down against Blaze. He immediately wraps an arm around my shoulders, ignoring River’s glare.
“There’s no other woman like you,” Blaze murmurs. “Nobody else who…”
I smile and tap his nose. “I’m sure there are. My aunt, for one. Although I don’t recommend you try propositioning her. You’d get shot for sure.”
“Your aunt is fucking scary,” River mutters. “I’m not going near her either.”
Asch has to sit on the edge of the bed to join us, but he reaches out to stroke my cheek. “We don’t want another woman, anyway.”
“Nobody else,” Blaze agrees. He kisses the top of my head.
“I’d definitely stab somebody if you tried to leave, anyway,” I murmur. I raise my hand up to look at it.
The skin is clean and smooth.
“How many times do you think somebody can be cut apart and stitched together again?” I ask them.
Asch studies me. “I’d rather not find out from experience, thanks,” he says dryly.
“Yeah. My one single time receiving surgery was enough,” Blaze agrees.
River is quiet, probably thinking about his finger.
They thought I was talking about them.
“I mean Samantha,” I say. “She’s been torn apart. But we stitched and stitched and now she’s almost a person again, maybe. Unless we missed a few pieces, like her heart.”
Asch exchanges a look with Blaze. “I don’t think she’s going to be whole for a while,” he says. “Stitched together or not, there will be scars.” He pauses, then adds, “I just hope she didn’t hear all of this.”
“Nah,” River says. “I can’t ever hear anything through the walls.”
I lower my hand.
Samantha will never be whole again.
What does that mean for me? I look fine, but I can see how wrong I am, in those moments when my vision goes strange and the feelings get so strong.
It’s not something I should think about right now, when I have all three of my men at my side.
“I still think Blaze and Asch owe me a body part.” I turn to kiss Blaze’s chest. “You can have another round of surgery. Give me that rib, Blaze.”
Blaze groans and shakes his head. “No. Take Asch’s.”
“That would be a no,” Asch replies. He gets up, heading into the bathroom, and I hear water running.
“Pussies,” River says.
Asch returns with a few damp washcloths, and he hands one to Blaze and one to River. The other, he offers to me. “Here,” he says. “We may as well clean up at least a little.”
“Boring,” I complain, but I smile too. “Fine. Think of something else you can give me. Something permanent.”
They clean themselves, and me, off, and I drift for a while, content.
“I have an idea,” Blaze says quietly. “For Samantha. For… the future.”
I’m instantly awake again. “An idea?”
“Yeah. But it’s going to be… um, dangerous.” Blaze sighs loudly. “I’m not sure it’ll work. But if we want to save the other women, and find out who killed Rachel, and potentially keep Samantha from losing everything… I just need to know you’re going to be all in on this. We can’t half-ass it.”
