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“You don’t remember?” Drake frowned. “You had a panic attack and fainted. I took you to the hospital after you hit your head. They treated you and sent you home. However, between the meds they prescribed and the concussion you suffered, you’ve been sleeping for almost two days. We were so worried about you.”
When he moved to touch her cheek, she snapped, “Leave me alone! I never want to see you again!”
A wave of vertigo hit Alessandra as she tried to push herself up from the bed. Mrs. Walker gasped from the doorway as Drake helped steady his wife.
Bitsy needed to feel useful. She shooed her son out of the way to shake out the duvet and helped Alessandra settle back into the bed. She fluffed the down pillows and stacked them behind Alessandra so her daughter-in-law could sit up.
“Take things slowly, sweetheart. We don’t want you to hurt yourself again,” Bitsy said in a motherly tone.
Noah rapped on the door and walked in with a smile after he noticed Alessandra was awake. He kicked off his shoes and crawled into bed next to her. He wrapped his arm around her and she cuddled into his side.
“How’s my girl?” he asked.
“Oh, Noah! I’m so glad you’re here.”
Drake stood beside the bed with his arms crossed. Alessandra looked at her husband from beneath her lashes, gauging his reaction.
* * *
Drake watched the natural rapport between his wife and friend. There was no stopping Alessandra’s allure. He tried to tamp down his jealousy, reminding himself they had a natural connection.
They were both subs to two overbearing, dominant men. More than that, shared trauma at Luca’s hands bound them together. Drake’s fists balled at his sides, and he took deep breaths to calm himself. Alessandra didn’t need a hotheaded husband; she needed him to catch her when she fell.
Noah whispered something to Alessandra that Drake couldn’t hear, but it made her giggle. The sound of her husky laugh shot straight into his heart and his dick.
Why was it so easy for people like Noah, but not for him? He loved that his wife had someone who made her laugh and put a smile on her face. She was too beautiful to wither away under his tutelage.
“Too many serious faces in the room,” Noah said, looking at each of them in turn. He settled on Drake last. “I think Mr. Walker should start us off.”
Drake watched Alessandra from his place towering at the foot of the bed. Noah pulled her tighter against his side to offer her comfort. She didn’t shake him off, but the tension in the room settled upon her graceful shoulders. Drake should be the one in that bed holding her.
He sat on the bed and placed a hand on her extended leg. She recoiled quickly and pulled her knees up to her chest, closing herself off from him completely. Drake’s eyes darkened dangerously at her reaction. He became rigid, and his mother stepped closer.
“I never wanted to hurt you, Alessandra. I never wanted to hurt any of you.”
Mrs. Walker laid her hand on her son’s shoulder. “It’s okay, son. We know.”
“Will someone please tell me what is going on? I feel like you planned some sort of intervention while I’m confined to this bed.”
“Alessandra,” Drake began. “I love you. Please remember that. I’m so sorry for hurting you. I only did what I thought was best to protect you. I see now how wrong I’ve been.”
His words clearly touched a nerve. Alessandra’s eyes shone as she looked up at him. She might be angry and hurt, but they were still connected beneath it. They loved each other in their own twisted and beautifully painful way.
Drake’s hand unwittingly reached for his wife again, but he retracted it immediately. It wasn’t his physical comfort she sought, but he needed hers. Sometimes the only place they communicated in total honesty was when they were connected physically.
“Please, just tell me,” Alessandra whispered.
It was Drake’s turn to look from her beautiful, pained face to Noah’s righteous indignation beside her, to his mother’s medically enhanced features. Though Bitsy’s face failed to reflect her feelings, her eyes were full of the pain her son’s story forced her to relive. Her hand twitched on his shoulder as a tear rolled down her cheek.
Drake patted her hand and squeezed it. It’s all right, mom, he mouthed.
I love you, she mouthed back.
Drake looked Alessandra in the eye.
“My name isn’t Drake Walker.”
Alessandra’s mouth dropped open. It was so quiet a pin drop could be heard.
