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“I’m fine now. You can let me up,” I replied, settling back onto the bed. I stopped fighting my restraints in an effort to show him that I was willing to be calm. That I could be trusted to take care of myself.
“I think it’s best we leave you under there for now,” Norris replied, looking at his clipboard. “At least for a few more hours.”
“Should we get those young visitors in here?” Flora asked. “That could help keep her focused on where she is.”
“All three of them?” Norris asked, raising a bushy brow. Everything he did conveyed disapproval as if his default setting was to not agree with anything I did or needed.
“Yes, why not?” Flora asked with a smile. “Anything to keep her mind front and center.”
“I’m focused,” I replied. “I don’t need any visitors to tell me where I am. I know where I am.”
“Of course you do, dear,” Flora replied with a smile. She patted my hand and then pulled the metallic sheet back over me, leaving only my head exposed. “I simply think having your friends with you will help you move past this little problem. Especially your male friends, there’s something that happens to the body when a person is sexually attracted to another. They begin to vibrate at a different—”
“That’s enough,” Dr. Norris snapped and clacked his pen to his clipboard before lashing out and striking Flora on the face with the back of his hand. “That’s quite enough of your mouth. She doesn’t need to hear about these things.”
His violence was shocking to me. Norris was always vaguely irritated by Flora, but he’d never had an outburst like that before. It was the first time I’d seen him as anything other than condescending and superior. He’d never exhibited any passion at all, especially like this.
Flora held her face in her hand and whimpered. “Yes, I understand. I’m sorry, I said too much.”
“You did,” Dr. Norris rumbled. “But all is forgiven. You won’t be penalized for this mistake.”
“Thank you,” Flora said, dipped as if bowing to him in deference, and backed out of the room.
“Ignore the nonsense she was spouting,” he said and looked down at me, his eyes moving up the metallic sheet, again as if disapproving of my very existence. “She subscribes to some very outdated and strange theories of human anatomy. We keep her around because she’s so effective at her job administering medications and caring for our patients.”
I didn’t know what to say. She wasn’t the kind to give into bizarre ideas. She was very down-to-earth and practical, so what he was saying didn’t make sense.
And there was the underlying sensation that Norris was lying. There was a prickling feeling along my spine, and my palms felt tight. That was always an indication somebody wasn’t being truthful.
A moment later, Dr. Norris left the room without saying another word, and Flora returned.
“Here are your friends,” she announced, a thin smile shining through the red hand slap remnants on her cheek. “I’ll leave you with them, and when the doctor says you can go back to your room, they’ll be by your side, helping you.”
She stepped to the side, and Alexander, Rome, and even Luke came tumbling through. Each of them tried to get ahead of the next, all vying for my attention as they gathered around my bed.
“What happened to you?” Alexander asked, his face drawn and pale. “You were disappearing in front of me!”
“We told you not to mention that if you want to see her,” Flora said sharply. “Watch yourself!”
Alexander didn’t look over at her, but his entire being changed. He tensed up, and his energy closed off, shutting himself off from the rest of us.
They gathered around my bed, and Flora watched for just a moment until she was satisfied that she’d silenced Alexander’s concern.
She left for a moment, and Alexander sat on the edge of the bed, took my hand in his as he slid it under the metallic cover, and said, “You shimmered and almost disappeared, Willow. Tell me what the fuck happened.”
CHAPTER19
“I wish I knew,”I said, and I felt tears sting my eyes. I wasn’t upset, though, notcryingupset. I wasn’t defeated or overcome with sadness. The tears werefrustrationbecause I wanted to fight back. I needed to fight. I could feel my fingers digging into the palms of my hands and Alexander’s flesh as he held me. I wanted to tear out of there, Hulk-style, and walk free.
“All I know at this point is that you have to let me up,” I said and nodded down to my body. “I’m tied up under here. Get me free!”
“I don’t think Norris would like that,” Alexander said, his eyebrows knitting together as if in great concentration. I exhaled and emitted a cry of anger.
“Get the fuck out of the way. Let me help her,” Luke insisted and shoved Alexander to the side. “If you’re too bound by your Upper rules, let me do it.”
“I’m not bound by anything. You didn’t see what happened last night. You weren’t there. But don’t worry about it. I can do it,” Alexander bristled, trying to shove Luke back, but Luke was too forceful. Both of them stubbornly pulled the metallic cover off me and worked on loosening the tight bonds around my wrists and ankles.
When I was free, they helped me sit up, and Rome stood in front of me, leaning down to hook his hands under my arms to get me on my feet. It seemed as if we were breaking me out of Norris’ care, a completely spontaneous event spurred on by the competition between two, no, make that three young hormonal men.
