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“Woman not eat in many moons. You eat now or pay consequence.” Jack stands in front of me, hands on his hips, half-grunting his response. I can’t help but laugh. He’s ridiculous, but I haven’t laughed like this with anyone before, not even Shelby and Aiden, who I consider the closest thing I have to a family.
“Consequence?” I ask.
“Big man will make you come again…hard,” Jack whispers, leaning down and gently biting the lobe of my ear. He licks the bite and trails down my neck, causing me to shiver. I feel myself growing wetter and watch as he walks away, making me wiggle in my chair. “Eat, woman.” I pick up my fork. I’m not ready for whatever Jack has planned. No matter how primed my body is, my heart and brain are not.
Aiden and Shelby arrive while I am still in the shower. It takes me a lot longer to get myself in and out of the tub, and Jack insists on me keeping the door open so he can hear if I need anything. It’s infuriating to be this helpless. A part of me knows the longer I stay here, the more risk I am putting Jack, and my education, in. I can’t see Dean Andrews being okay, in terms of university standards, with this arrangement.
“Edie, where is your skank ass?” Shelby walks into the bathroom without a second thought, materializing through my warm bathroom steam like an avenging hippie angel riding a cold gust of wind.
“Hey! What the hell?!” I try grabbing a towel, but it’s no use. Shelby grabs it first and then waits, handing it to me, smirking while I stand there naked and freezing cold. I can feel my nipples painfully harden, and I try covering my body as Shelby takes her sweet ass time handing that damn towel over.
“Edith?” Jack pushes in and moves Shelby out of the way so he can hold me up, although I am fine on my own two feet. I’m steaming mad, exhausted, and fucking cold because the door’s wide open.
“Edie?” Aiden is right behind him and gets an unexpected eyeful, as well. I know my ass is totally viewable in the mirror behind me.
“Jesus, guys! GET…OUT!” I yell and even Aiden seems to take a moment too long, in my opinion. Obviously, I am not getting privacy. One visit to the hospital and, suddenly, everyone wants to be up my ass.
“Um…” Aiden looks embarrassed and Shelby drags him out, laughing. His future patients are doomed if he can’t look at a naked woman without getting pink behind the ears.
“Sorry about that. I was finishing a call when I opened the door and Shelby barged in. I just didn’t think Aiden would join her.” Jack chuckles and I hug my towel-covered, dripping wet body to his chest. He is nice and warm so I rub my face against him. “Tired?” he asks.
“A little, but I can’t lounge forever.” I sigh deeply.
“I thought you said you wante
d to sleep forever.”
“I don’t think I’ve slept in, a single day in my life. Besides, I have work and classes to study for.”
“Yeah, about that. Um… I asked Aiden to go pick up your last check. I don’t want you working crazy all over the place. That neighborhood isn’t great.”
“What?” I look him in the eye.
“I’m not arguing, Edith. You’re here. I want you to stay. You’re recovering from the flu and running yourself ragged is going to put you at risk more than staying here with me will.” He looks so serious, but I don’t like that he feels responsible for me. I’ve been taking care of myself for a long time so I’m not used to this kind of care and interest.
“Can I get dressed now? Aiden and Shelby are here, and this is just too much for me right now.” I wiggle out of Jack’s hold and step back, putting some much needed emotional distance between us. He hands me my clothes and leaves, softly closing the door behind him.
Stepping out of the bathroom, I find Jack and Aiden sitting on the couch, watching a football game on his large screen television that I hadn’t noticed before. Shelby is in the kitchen arranging Chinese take-out containers and putting a plate of food together.
“What’s this?” I ask her, confused.
“A peace offering. We were really worried about you when Jack took over at the hospital, then took you home. I know your family isn’t any good to you, and Aiden and I feel partly responsible.”
“Responsible? For what, Shelby?”
“Well, had Aiden and I not been bickering this past week, we would have been checking up on you like we always do. You probably wouldn’t have gotten nearly as sick and dehydrated as you did.”
“News flash, Shelby. You and Aiden are a couple, not my parents.” I popped a piece of General Tso’s chicken in my mouth, chewing the protein goodness.
“We hang out almost every day. You’re our best friend,” Shelby pleads, pushing food at me.
“I don’t need my friends to babysit me. You’ve all got your own lives and I know that. Geez, Shelby. Nobody likes being told you’re their responsibility.” Shelby knows how to get under my skin, which is probably why we stopped being roommates after our freshman year.
“You don’t know, do you?”
“What?” I pushed the Lo Mien around my plate, still angry.
“Well, Jack found you. I know you know that part, but you were unconscious and severely dehydrated. He brought you to the hospital and, once they found out you had no listed next of kin, he had to bully the nurses and doctors to be with you.”
