Voices.

Loud voices.

Too many of them.

I wanted to tell them to be quiet, to leave me alone. My own voice wasn't working.

Nothing was working. It was too difficult to open my eyes, all my muscles heavy and unresponsive.

My body was broken.

*****************

Noah.

My Noah.

He was speaking to me.

I wanted to reach for him, to hold him, to tell him I didn't understand. What was he saying?

Why wouldn't my arms work? He was right there. Just one touch. That's all it would take to let him know I heard him, that I was here, with him.

Maybe tomorrow. Tomorrow I'd let him know.

*******************

"I'll stay as long as I want."

"You can't stay. There are rules."

"Fuck your rules."

"Sorry about him. Would you please check the notes? She is to have a security guard and police officer at her room at all times."

"I've read the notes. It says they'll be posted at her door. Not skulking in her room."

Scuffle. Curses.

"I'll guard her however I see fit."

Oh Mal. My sweet ferocious Maleko.

My eyes opened to see him towering over another male wearing...scrubs. Joshua held one of Mal's arms, trying to pull him back. A police officer was with them.

Was this a hospital?

It was nighttime. Lights were blinking near me. Small beeps. The steady pattern lulled me back to sleep.

When I woke up again, I could talk to my boys. My loves.

********************

A dark figure stood above me.

I tried to scream. Nothing came out except a raspy, wet sound. Terrified, I jerked away from the shadow, rattling the guard rail along my bed in an attempt to get away.

"It's okay! It's okay! I didn't mean to scare you," a sweet female voice said. She clicked on the bedside lamp. "I'm just checking your monitors. It's okay."

She was a small thing, thin, and her scrubs were baggy on her frail-looking frame. She smiled at me, all teeth and dull eyes. Her ash-blond hair stuck out from her ponytail, making her look a little crazed, a bit unbalanced.

I squinted at her while my terror faded a little. "Do I know you?" I rasped. Something about her was still unsettling me. She looked familiar, even as I was sure I hadn't seen her here before—well... somewhat sure. She could have been my nurse the whole time, and with the hazy, sleepy state I'd been in, this might be the first time I'd really seen her.

Her weird toothy smile got bigger when she followed my look to the police officer at my door. "I'm one of the nurses that check on you at night. Maybe you saw me?"

No, that wasn't it. I wasn't sure how I knew. I just did.

These drugs were messing with my mind.

She fiddled with some of the buttons on the machines near me. "Everything looks fine. I'll let you get back to sleep."

And suddenly, as if she'd flipped a switch, sleep swept in to overpower me, tugging me back into the darkness while she smiled down at me.

***********************

"Noah."

My throat hurt. My voice scratched its way out, rough and thorny.

He jerked his head up from where he had been resting it in his folded arms, a hand clasping mine tightly. His brown hair was sticking out in every direction like he had been pulling at it, and he had shadows under his normally brilliant hazel eyes.

"Reggie," he gasped. "You're awake."

Afraid to try speaking again, I nodded.

He beamed at me, scooting his chair closer to my bed. When he brushed some hair back, tucking it behind my ear, I leaned into him, never knowing such a simple touch could feel so good.

"Water." God, my throat.

A cup of water with a straw was at my lips in seconds.

"Small sips. That's it."

It was difficult to manage the simple action of sipping water. Every muscle in my throat and neck was screaming in pain, so I pulled away after two tentative attempts.

"Hurts."

"I know, beautiful. I'm sorry. You don't have to talk." He set the cup aside. "Do you remember what happened?"

I nodded.

"Stephen cut you pretty badly." I could have sworn Noah got paler as he said that.

"How bad?" I whispered. My hand drifted to my neck, and I felt the bandage taped there. Just a light touch against it, and the wound underneath throbbed. My hand fell to the bed.

"No damage to your vocal cords, and it missed your major arteries." Noah inhaled a shuddering breath. "But it was bad. You lost a lot of blood and the surgery ... God, Reggie -"

He dropped his head, trying to keep it together. The sound of him trying to even his breathing caused tears to well in my eyes. "I was so scared. I thought, we thought -"

A choked sob-sounding noise shuddered out from him, his hand squeezing mine almost painfully. It was a small price to pay to be awake and alive and to have this beautiful man breaking my heart with his momentary lapse of control over his emotions. Had he ever cried in front of me?

Never.

I wished it didn't feel like razorblades were stuck in my throat so I could say something. So I could tell him I loved him and that it was okay, that I was okay, we'd be okay.

Except none of that was really true, was it?

It wasn't okay that Stephen had once again found a way to me.

I wasn't okay after getting my throat slit.

We weren't okay. Stephen was still out there, more dangerous than any of us realized.

Noah looked up, still trying to collect himself, and I hoped my eyes were conveying everything I wanted to tell him. I caught his tears with my fingers, wiping them away, his red-rimmed eyes fixed on me.

Moments passed as we stayed like that, my thumbs brushing away his lingering tears, his eyes saying more than words ever could. In a weird way, I was happy it was so difficult for me to talk. I felt closer to him than ever in our shared silence. He appeared to relax within it, his grip loosening around my hand until he caressed the back of it with his thumb like he always did, whether he was aware of it or not. I was never not aware of it. It grounded me.

He grounded me.

Movement from the doorway rerouted my attention. A police officer was there, his back to the room as he shifted on his feet, casually watching a few people walk by. Someone spoke from the other side of the doorway, and he glanced over and then turned to look into the room. He smacked whoever it was on the arm and gestured to me, awake and staring.

Walker all but jumped into the room, cell phone already in hand. He was grinning at me. His severe yet handsome face was transformed with that smile and I gave him a turn of my lips.

He spoke into the phone, "She's awake. Noah is with her."

Hanging up, he tipped his chin to Noah. "Mal is five minutes out. Joshua is with him." Then he turned to resume his post at my door.

I squeezed Noah's hand, and he understood what I was trying to express. He nodded in understanding. My guys would be here soon—all of them here with me. I needed to see them and touch them. Then I'd know this was real and not just a fever dream from painkillers and aftershocks of my attack. I had to hear their voices, see their eyes, and feel the heat from their bodies near me so the unnerving coldness that had rooted itself inside my damaged body could dissipate.

Except, my lids were beginning to get heavy, Noah's rhythmic stroking of my hand lulling me back into sleep.

"Sleep, Reggie. We'll all be here when you wake up."

**************************

"I never took you as fussy," I whispered to Mal. He was adjusting my pillows again. For some reason, he'd fixated on making sure I was as comfortable as humanly possible in the most uncomfortable hospital bed.

It may not be as bad as I was convinced. Bathroom use and short walks were the only reasons my feet had hit the floor recently, which might be skewing my opinion of it.

His mouth quirked. "Not fussy. Doting."

Mal didn't know what to do with himself and it showed. He didn't want to be at the hospital, but he couldn't bring himself to leave my side since I awoke. He wanted to be out there, tracking down Stephen and granting him the world's slowest death. Mal needed to be here with me, double-checking my pillows, ensuring I was eating, and bothering the doctors about my recovery every time he saw them.

He was a menace. He was my menace.

"Guess Noah's not the nanny anymore," Joshua quipped from the chair beside me.

"Shut up," Mal grumbled.

"You don't have to stay. Go. Hunt. Kill." I waved my hands at him in a "shoo" motion.

"I'm not leaving you."

I knew why he was doing this. He felt responsible. The second that maniac had put his hands on me, Mal had broken all of his promises that Stephen would never hurt me again. Mal wasn't to blame, and in no way did I hold him responsible for what had happened. No one could have predicted Stephen's determination.

In the panic to secure a new caterer for the gallery event, the background checks and identity verifications on the new staff weren't fully completed in time. Mal's men had agreed that anyone who hadn't been verified had to stay outside in the tents, doing the prep work, and under no circumstances were to enter the gallery. A security guard was posted at the back door to make sure the rules were being followed.

It turned out Stephen had bribed a young server to hand over his uniform and name badge. With the wig, he no longer matched the description Mal men had been given, which allowed him to easily gain access to the gallery. Mal had fired the guy assigned to the back, insisting he could have taken two more seconds to look closer and see the cut that Stephen still had on his cheek. It had been listed as an identifying mark.

And then there was the other incredibly disturbing fact that Stephen was getting his information from someone here. Suspicions were landing on someone from the office—not anyone in particular yet. The detectives investigating the attack and Stephen's previous calls to me were convinced someone at R&R was leaking details to him.

Yet another thing Mal was beating himself up about because he hadn't considered that. His focus had been on Greg, who still wasn't cleared and remained a suspect. My money was still on him. Stephen knew the name of the company, probably because of Greg, and the gallery event had been highly publicized. It wouldn't have been difficult to figure out I was more than likely going to be there.

In the past twenty-four hours, as my throat recovered from my intubation, my guys had been hashing out theories and plans together in my hospital room while I drifted in and out of sleep, content with just being able to hear them. They argued, they gave each other the silent treatment, and one by one, they took turns sitting at my bedside to hold my hand and whisper the sweetest things as exhaustion continuously robbed me of consciousness. Every time I woke, at least two of them were there with me.

Mal finished adjusting my pillows. I smiled appreciatively up at him for his unnecessary fussing, threading my fingers into his hair and bringing his lips to mine. It was a soft, sensual kiss. So unlike the dominating kisses he usually took my breath away with but it still made my toes curl. My body ached for many reasons these past couple of days. Each gentle kiss my boys granted me made it harder and harder to stay in this stupid bed. I was going to end up dragging them in it with me.

A familiar, sassy voice broke me from the trance Mal's kiss had put me in, and I pulled away, starting to get up. Mal's hands on my shoulders kept me from standing, his standard scowl on his face as he watched Beth push past the police officer and lunge into the room.

"Ree!" she exclaimed, pushing Mal hard enough that he actually lost his footing and hugged me to her. She was crying, which meant I was crying. The two of us embraced, sobbing with happiness and worry over the other, each of us babbling incoherently until we started laughing.

Noah stepped into the room, giving me a nod and smile when I mouthed my thanks to him over Beth's shoulder. He and Mal had gotten her, as they promised. She was safe.

I pulled back from her, smiling through my tears. "I'm so happy to see you. You're okay?"

She guffawed at me and pushed my mess of hair over my shoulder to look at the bandage covering my neck. "Am I okay? Am I okay?"

Her tone was growing in pitch, a sure sign she was about to lose it. "Beth -"

Too late.

She whirled on Joshua, Mal, and Noah, standing together at the foot of my bed, trying to give us some space to reunite. I almost laughed when they took a simultaneous step backward as she turned on them.

"You," she snarled, pointing her finger at each of them. "The whole reason I let her go with you was so she'd be safe. You were supposed to protect her! You call this protection! He slit her throat! She almost - died."

All fight left her, and her tears returned. I could see her chin trembling as she fought to keep control.

Joshua reached her first, pulling her into a hug. Then Noah wrapped his arms around her, followed by Mal. Beth allowed it, giving in to a rare moment of vulnerability, needing the comfort of her friends. Heads bowed toward each other, soft words were exchanged within their circle. It warmed me to see them like that.

They were her friends. Before all the secrets and heartbreak, Beth had been just as close to them as I was. Shame washed over me at my selfishness - my absolute obliviousness to her loss. She was one of the toughest people I knew, which often camouflaged her true emotions, so when she fearlessly stood by me, no questions asked, it didn't occur to me she was dealing with a loss of her own.

Until now. Until seeing them huddled together and leaning on each other, the blinds were finally lifted.

"I'm such a selfish bitch."

At my self-deprecating remark, they all turned to me, confusion on all of their faces.

Beth wiped her nose on the sleeve of her sweater. "What are you talking about?"

"You lost them, too. This whole time...I should've - I mean, they were your best friends -"

She shook her head at me, grabbing my hand and wiggling her butt onto the edge of my bed. "Stop, Ree."

"I'm sorry. You had to deal with all my drama and moping about when you were going through a loss, too."

Her gentle fingers wiped away a tear. "You forget who should be groveling at my feet right now. It isn't you." She shot a pointed glare over her shoulder at them. "I was never concerned about them leaving me. I still had my true best friend. They broke your heart, broke you. That's all I was worried about."

Joshua moved towards us, looking the proper amount of chastised. "We're sorry, Beth. She's right. We walked out on you, too." Noah and Mal nodded in agreement.

"Of course she's right," Beth frowned at him. "Now, what are you doing about Stephen? You all better have a plan; otherwise, you're only good for standing around and looking pretty. And group sex, apparently."

Mal snorted, ready to make a comment until Noah cut him off. "The only plan we have is to find him and kill him."

I don't think Noah had ever looked so murderous. Maybe it was the drugs that were still coursing through my veins. He made murder look sexy.

"How are you going to find him? Your P.I. isn't helping at all. You may as well employ a herd of bloodhounds at this point." Beth took over fussing with my pillows. What was everyone's obsession with the damned things?

"Actually," Mal said. "He's found something that might lead us right to him. My guys are on their way to his hiding spot right now."

"What? Why didn't you tell me?" I was incredulous. "You didn't want to be with them?"

He held my eye. "I'm where I'm supposed to be."

Beth fanned herself and purred, "Possessive."

"Do the cops know?"

Noah shook his head. "He's ours to deal with."

I glanced at the officer still standing outside my room. My cocked eyebrow made Mal smirk. "He's my inside man."

"How far doesn't your reach go?"

Mal winked. "Deep."

The innuendo made me blush.

"Jesus Christ," Beth muttered. "She's still healing, you know that, right? She doesn't need any of you poking your dicks at her."

"You mean in -" Joshua chuckled and then abruptly cut it off when she turned on him. He held up his hands. "Yeah, okay. No poking."

"Speaking of, when do you get your get out of jail free card?"

I smiled eagerly. "I get to go home today."

"Not home," Noah ran a hand through his hair. "We can't go home until we know Stephen has been caught."

"Where will we go?"

The three of them exchanged a look, none looking too happy.

"We're going to Thad's place." Noah couldn't even look at me as he shook his head. "God help us all."

When I started laughing, Beth smiled—no doubt loving their reactions and mine—and realized there was a story behind it all. "And who's Thad?"

Mal cursed. "My next target."