by Abby Blake
He’d been relieved to hear Dana had survived the initial attack, but as much as he wanted to see his sister for himself, he realized he had no place amongst these people. The only one of them he knew at all was Sandra, and there was no way he would impose his plight on her when she was dealing with so much already. Even Alana, the sister he’d managed to extract from the rogues’ grip, knew him only as the asshole who’d handcuffed her to a bed in a cabin in the middle of nowhere.
“Take the meds,” a woman said as her hand slid onto his shoulder. “Trust me—you’ll heal faster if you aren’t in so much pain.”
Jason smiled as Bec took the seat next to him. He’d been so concerned with his problems he hadn’t even noticed her approach. He placed his hand over hers, slightly annoyed at the relief that washed through him when he realized she was still here at the hospital, that she hadn’t gone back to her life, never to be seen again.
“Ouch, looks painful,” Cody said as he joined them, a cocky smile spread across his features. “So, now what?”
“Good question,” Jason began. “One I don’t seem to have an answer to yet.” He smiled, trying to hide his emotions behind macho bravado and failing miserably.
“Well, it looks to me like you’re going to need a lot of rest while this heals and then intense physical therapy before you can even think about looking for a job or a place to stay.” Cody summed it up neatly, easily verbalizing the fears running through Jason’s head.
“Lucky for you, Bec and I have the perfect place, plenty of room, and heaps of gym equipment.”
Jason looked from one to the other, trying to understand why they would offer to help him. He was a stranger to them both.
“Not a stranger,” Bec said quietly, answering his thoughts. “The man who saved Lexie and Alana and somebody we both have a great deal of respect for.”
Jason’s emotions were playing havoc with his concentration. A part of him wanted to deny their respect, refuse their offer, and wallow in self pity, but another part of him warmed at the praise filling the lonely place in him that had been growing long before he went undercover to save his sisters.
“I’d appreciate the help, but only if I can repay you when I get back on my feet,” he said carefully, unwilling to see himself as a charity case.
“No problems,” Cody answered smiling. “Don’t suppose you can cook?”
Jason nodded, slightly confused by the quick change in subject.
“Excellent,” Cody said, rubbing his hands together in anticipation. “After ten months living with Miss Can’t-Boil-Water, having someone to share the cooking duties will be thanks enough. Come on, let’s get you home.”
Bec handed him a small plastic cup of water and took the bottle of pills from him. She shook two into his hand and stood over him as he dutifully swallowed. They both helped him to his feet and then stayed beside him as he awkwardly adjusted to moving with crutches.
* * * *
Several days later, Bec and Jason were sitting on the sofa watching an action movie, pointing out the ridiculousness of some of the stunts and laughing over how the lead characters survived dozens of bullet wounds, but it took only a single shot to take out the henchmen. Bec knew from painful experience that surviving three bullet wounds took far more effort than any of these types of shows ever allowed.
She flexed her left hand, the familiar stiffness irritating the shit out of her. One of the bullets that had hit her over twelve months ago had passed right through her hand, shattering several of the bones. Doctors had pinned everything back together in surgery, but she’d been told that her current movement was about as good as she could expect. The only saving grace had been that she used a gun right-handed, so it hadn’t been enough to put her out of active duty permanently.
“How did you end up working undercover?” Bec asked him quietly, finally giving in to her curiosity.
“After my mother died, I found a journal she’d been keeping. It was mainly research into the death of a couple of her friends. Mom believed they’d both been killed because neither would let the scientists who helped them have their babies, do experiments on them once they were born.”
“The professor?” she asked, already realizing where this story was going.
“Yup, he created me, too, and when Mom realized that her friend’s daughter, Alana, and I shared the same parents, she basically ran and hid me for the rest of her life. I’d just finished my residency when she died, and when I found her research I realized I had a chance to rescue Alana and Jenna.” His reminiscent smile faltered a little. “Well, I didn’t do so well with Jenna.
“But Alana is safe, and so is Lexie,” she said, smiling, hoping to reassure him that he’d gone above and beyond to help his family.
“Visitor for you, Jase,” Cody called as he entered the room. Jason twisted awkwardly on the couch, trying to see over his shoulder. She felt his surprised pleasure when he saw Alana beside Cody.
“Speak of the devil,” Jason said happily as he tried to lever himself off the seat.
“Stay,” Alana ordered, pointing at him as he tried to get to his feet. Moving quickly into the room, she stopped in front of him and bent to place a kiss on his cheek. “Thank you,” she said quietly. “Thank you for saving me and my baby and Lexie.” She hesitated, seeming a little awkward but determined to say what needed to be said. “I can’t tell you how grateful I am, and I wanted you to know I’m really proud to have a brother like you.”
Jason grabbed her hand as she stood in front of him, rubbing his thumb over the puckered scars left by the handcuff he’d used to secure her to a bed eight months ago. Bec knew he’d been forced to hide Alana from the rogues and had been unable to explain to her who he was at the time without blowing his cover. He’d had no choice but to make sure she didn’t try to wander off before he could get someone there to help her.
Alana realized what he was doing, must’ve sensed the anguish that it caused him to see her scarred wrist.
“It’s okay,” she said gently. “If you hadn’t used the handcuffs, I’d probably still be stumbling around in the woods. I say a prayer of thanks every day for what you did for me and my daughter.”
She pulled her wrist from his gentle grip and gave him a quick hug before settling into the armchair beside him.
“How’s Dana?” he asked anxiously. Bec really hoped to hear good news but knew it was unlikely.
“They operated again last night to stop some internal bleeding, but she’s still hanging on,” Alana said, obviously trying to phrase her words carefully. “But the doctors have warned us she still has a very long road ahead of her. She hasn’t been conscious at all since it happened.” Alana’s voice cracked a little, her love and fear for her sister evident.
Bec saw his stricken look, realizing he hadn’t been into the hospital to see Dana, wondering if he felt unwelcome. Her suspicions were confirmed in his next sentence.
“Thank you. I’ve wanted to contact Sandra, but with everything she’s going through I didn’t want to get in the way.”
Beside him, Bec felt the true depth of his anguish, his emotions tangling in her mind, her empathic skills more attuned than ever before. She slipped her hand into his, silently lending him her strength, her support.
“Jason.” Alana hesitated, seeming unsure how to phrase what she wanted to say. “You know you can visit Dana anytime you like, right?”
Jason shook his head, his words anxious and too quick. “I don’t want to get in the way. I may be your biological brother, but I’m not really family.”
Bec’s heart broke for him, realizing just how very alone he must be feeling right now, part of a family but not part of their lives, the outsider looking in. She squeezed his hand harder, ignoring the protest from her damaged fingers.
“Jason,” Alana said, compassion and understanding pouring from her. “You are the reason I have a family. You are my family, and you are Dana’s family, even if you haven’t officially met. Come to the hospital, p
lease. As a family, we need to be together, all of us.”
She stood then, her eyes glassy and her hands shaking a little. “I need to go, but please consider what I said. You have a family. You are not alone. None of us are anymore.”
With a brief smile and a quick hug she was gone.
Cody sauntered into the room with a cocky grin, a telling sign to anyone who knew him as well as Bec did that he was planning something. He perched on the side of the recliner Alana had just vacated and sat smiling at the two people on the sofa.
“So who’s up for a road trip?”
Chapter Five
Between the two of them they managed to ride roughshod over him. Bec and Cody quickly convinced Jason that as a doctor it was his duty to check on Dana. He could make certain the rest of his family understood her condition and ensure that she was getting the best possible care.
Several hours later, he limped into the room, leaving his crutches outside so he wouldn’t risk upsetting any of the machinery keeping Dana alive. Sandra looked up, smiling a little in greeting as she saw him. Grabbing Dana’s chart from the end of the bed, Jason quickly familiarized himself with her current condition and read and reread the report from the initial surgery.
Holly hell! Seven bullets in the upper body. Jason had never known anyone to survive the trip to the hospital with such severe injuries, let alone endure this long. He read how several bullets had passed clear through her chest, deflating her lungs and nicking the side of her heart. He read how they dug out three bullets from her rib cage, two of them lodged in rib bone as they smashed through her back and tried to push past her sternum and the third removed from a vertebrae in her neck. He even read in between the lines of the doctor’s report, understanding the information not written down. Even if a miracle occurred and she survived, her chances of being the same person were zero. She’d probably never regain the ability to breathe on her own, and any better recovery was unimaginable.
He fumbled for Dana’s hand, his eyes watering as his gaze made contact with Sandra’s tired eyes. His nose burned as he tried to hold back the tears, his head aching with the intensity of his anguish. Dana, the sister he’d never met but felt like he knew through Sandra, was gone, even as the machines pumped air into her body, the woman they’d known and loved was gone forever.
He lost track of the time as he held his sister’s hand, his thoughts swirling with questions and ideas, desperately trying to think of any procedures or research he’d read that could help the woman who lay so lifeless in front of him.
The door opened a crack as Cody contacted him by telepathy. He and Bec had been trying to help Jason develop the ability as a way to pass the time while his ankle healed and they awaited official reinstatement to active duty.
“Do you need anything?” he sent to Jason’s mind.
“A miracle would be nice,” he thought despondently before he could stop himself. Cody smiled sadly at him as he backed away from the door and let it fall closed.
* * * *
Jason had managed to hold himself together through a quiet conversation with his sister, Theresa, and her husbands, Caleb and Ethan. The whole time he’d been trying desperately to shield his thoughts about Dana’s hopeless situation. He’d stayed upright as he talked to the hospital doctors, falling back on professional detachment as he discussed Dana’s condition in more detail. He’d kept his anger and his rage in check as they traveled the two hours on the highway heading back to the apartment, but when he finally made it into the sanctuary of Cody’s and Bec’s living room, he lost it.
Lost his control, lost his temper, lost his hope.
Items started thrashing around the room, the smaller contents swirling in the air like they were caught in a hurricane. Larger items joined them as his rage peaked, the sound of glass breaking joining the chaos.
He was barely aware of the people beside him, hardly noticed the arms that pulled at him, the voices screaming at him to stop. His temper continued to rage as he released a lifetime’s worth of pent-up anger on Cody’s and Bec’s apartment.
Small hands grabbed his face, pulled his head down, and soft lips kissed him gently. She deepened the kiss as he responded, pushing her tongue past his teeth, dueling with his, sliding past the sob that escaped him.
His arms lifted her against him, pressing her ass with his big hands, pushing her pussy against his hardening cock. She whimpered as he turned awkwardly on one leg and pressed her against the door, pushing her skirt up and wrapping her legs around his waist as his rock-hard erection pressed against her heat.
He was about to undo his jeans, about to plunge into her wet pussy and take her hard and fast, when sanity returned. He pressed his forehead against hers as he let her legs drop down to the floor. Taking a deep, unsteady breath he tried to apologize but was thwarted by her hand over his mouth.
“Don’t,” she admonished. “I was with you every step of the way,” she admitted quietly.
He felt Cody’s confusion, belatedly remembering the other man’s presence. He turned to make eye contact, trying to find the words to apologize.
“Don’t,” Cody echoed his partner’s words as Jason tried to talk. “I’m just glad you stopped wrecking the place.”
Jason glanced around him at the destruction, barely able to believe what his eyes were telling him. “I did this?” he asked bewildered.
“Yep, looks like you have a lot more in common with your sisters than we first thought,” Cody said casually as he returned the sofa to its upright position. “Come on. Take a seat while I get us some coffee. I think we have a few things we all need to discuss.”
Bec helped him over to the couch and then busied herself tidying up the disaster area that was once their living room. Jason adjusted his cock again, dismayed that despite everything happening right now he still had no control over his body’s reaction to Bec’s nearness. Bec had righted most of the furniture and was sweeping up the broken glass when Cody returned carrying a tray with three coffees.
Taking a seat at the opposite end of the sofa, Cody patted the middle for Bec to sit between them. Hesitantly, she set aside the broom and joined them on the couch, pressing herself deeply into the cushion so she could see both men.
* * * *
“Bec,” Cody said, swallowing a little as his courage fled. “I need to know what you’re feeling. I can feel your attraction to both of us, and I can feel Jason’s attraction to you.”
He held her gaze for a moment, daring her to deny the undeniable, but broke eye contact when he lost his nerve, suddenly fearful of the words that may follow. They’d been skirting around each other’s sexual attraction for months now, their affection for each other obvious, but since Jason had joined them, he’d noticed the same emotions emanating from Jason and Bec somehow intensifying, not diminishing the attraction between himself and Bec.
“I’m sorry,” she said, her voice cracking and her eyes filling with tears. “I’m attracted to both of you, and I know it’s wrong, but I can’t separate my feelings between you.” She closed her eyes, twin tracks of tears flowing down her face and dripping off her chin. Both men went to comfort her, each hesitating as he saw the other’s movement.
Jason went to sit back, allowing Cody to pull her into his arms, but Cody speared him with his gaze, shifting Bec so that she was pressed up against Jason’s chest and wrapped in his embrace.
“Sweetheart, look at me,” Cody ordered quietly. She opened her eyes, and he lowered his mouth to hers, kissing her gently, the soft rub of his lips unhurried, undemanding. Sitting back so he could see both of their faces clearly, he said, “Jason and I both want you to be happy, and if it takes both of us to do that, then I’m sure we can figure something out.”
Two sets of confused eyes gazed at him, making him chuckle out loud. It was a ridiculous situation, really. Here he was, offering the woman he loved to another man simply because she needed them both. It helped that he and Jason had forged a friendship in the past few days. Mutual re
spect had solidified into a closeness he didn’t even share with his own brother. He tried to explain what was in his head and his heart, but Bec saved him the trouble when she lifted her face to his and kissed him deeply. Her tongue sought his in the same type of demanding kiss she’d laid on Jason just minutes ago.
When they came up for air, Jason tried to ask questions, but Bec silenced him as well, turning her attention to his mouth until Cody lifted her into his arms.
“Time to take this somewhere more comfortable.”
He turned and strode out of the room, Bec held tightly against his chest.
Chapter Six
Jason sat a moment on the sofa, stunned at the strange turn of events and again unsure of his place in all of this. His cock strained against his jeans, his body very clearly telling him where he wanted to be.
“Come on, Jase,” Bec called to him telepathically. “Don’t overthink it. Please just be with me and forget everything else for a while.”
Jason grabbed his crutches, levering himself up and moving toward Bec’s bedroom. As he entered the room he watched from the doorway as Cody kissed her, then lifted her dress over her head as he walked her backward. Her knees hit the mattress, and with a soft smile she fell onto the bed. Cody looked over at him, probably sensing his disquiet as Bec levered herself up onto one elbow and held her hand out in invitation.
Something unraveled in Jason’s chest. A need to be included, a need to be part of something special, and he found himself moving toward her, awkwardly removing his clothes as he neared the bed. He sat beside her as she helped him to pull his T-shirt over his head then lowered her hands to remove his jeans. She moved off the bed to get the denim over his cast and then pushed him onto his back as she straddled his hips and kissed him like the world was about to end. On and on she kissed him as she writhed against his hard cock, straining to get closer.
