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The strength with which he pushed into me drained out of him fast, leaving him limp in my arms. Carefully, I lowered him onto the bed, tugging the blankets up over his chest.
Behind us, the door opened, and I glanced around to see Ryan, Rory, Jamie, and Madison all file inside, closing the door quietly behind them.
“How is he?” Madison asked, wide brown eyes worried.
I kept my body positioned as a barrier in front of him, not wanting to move and let them see. He wasmine. The thought made me pause for long seconds, but Wes made a sound, and I shoved it away in favor of him.
“What is it?” I asked.
He looked beyond me, and I knew he wanted to see his friends. I shuffled back a little as the four came forward.
“Wes, bro. You had us worried,” Jamie said.
“What the hell happened?” Ryan asked.
Madison sniffled and came close, reaching for his hand. A low grumble built in my chest as I stared hard at where she reached for him.
Jamie cleared his throat, and I lifted my gaze to his pointed, stony glare.
“Thanks for coming,” Wes told them.
“We brought you something,” Rory said, stepping up beside Madison and holding out a white paper cup with a black lid.
The cut on Wes’s lip stretched when he smiled. “Caramel latte.”
“It’s tradition,” the girls chimed at the same time.
Madison added, “You always bring one for us when bad stuff happens, so we’re doing the same.”
“I really hate caramel lattes,” Ryan muttered.
Jamie grunted.
“Thank you,” Wes told them. “That means a lot to me.” He reached out the hand without the IV for the cup.
Madison held it closer, and I watched him wrap his shaky fingers around it. My hand slid over his, tightening around the hot drink as he pulled it in.
“You sure you want that right now?” I asked, thinking he was gonna end up wearing it. He could barely grip my jacket for more than a minute.
“It’s tradition,” he echoed.
My lip curled and I was about to tell him what I thought of this twisted tradition when he sighed.
“It’s warm.”
I noted the goose bumps along his arm and the icy temperature of his fingers. “Why didn’t they give you better blankets?” I barked. “What the hell kinda hospital is this? I should sue for negligence.”
Rory made a sound. “We’ll go ask for an extra blanket,” she said, grabbing Ryan’s hand and hurrying from the room.
“Jamie,” Madison beckoned. “Give Wes your hoodie.”
Jamie nodded and turned to Wes, already stripping off the shirt. “I got you, bro.”
“Keep your shirt,” I practically snarled over my shoulder. When I turned back, I felt Wes’s eyes on me, and mine softened. “Can you hold this a second by yourself?”
Wes rolled his eyes as he wrapped both hands around the cup.
I pulled back slowly, prepared to catch the coffee if it slid from his grasp, but when it didn’t, I lowered the stupid railing on the side of the bed and then shrugged off my leather jacket.
