2
LOGAN
I ’d spent the day in a paranoid state, convinced someone was following me, which delayed my visit to the hospital. The winding streets of the city offered no solace, and neither did the bustling crowds at the mall, where every stranger’s glance felt like a potential threat. Each turn and detour did nothing to alleviate my anxiety, spurred on by the phone call from the US Marshal almost two weeks ago, warning me of potential danger.
The news of the hospital hostage situation had dominated both local and national television. Someone from my past must have made the connection by now. My face had been flashed on screens and in print too many times to count. Too many times for me to do anything about it.
Why hasn’t there been any action? Is it possible they’d stopped searching for me?
No one had shown up at my doorstep to drag me back to the family I’d betrayed.
I held no illusion about what I had to face if they caught up with me. A fate worse than death. I knew firsthand what the Agostis were capable of. Their retribution was slow and merciless.
Normally, I would have left town and had the Marshals settle me with a new identity. They’d done it before when my cover was blown, but this time I couldn’t. I’d promised Bloom forever. I had to keep my word to him. But what if my promise brought him more danger?
You knew you’d forever be on the run when you decided to testify against your father.
But I never expected a day would come when I was unable to run. I never expected to meet the one . I never expected to care about anyone to the extent I did for Bloom.
Outside Bloom’s room, I inhaled deeply and fixed a smile on my lips. If Bloom suspected something was amiss, he would get involved. My stomach knotted. No matter what happened, I couldn’t have him in the middle of my mess again. He’d already come close to losing his life because of me. Once was enough.
I had no choice but to keep my past a secret from him. The less he knew, the better it was.
The door stood ajar, and the knob was cool against my palm. The murmur of voices reached me, one of them unmistakably Bloom’s.
“I’ll yank the needles out if you don’t let me go!” His voice was belligerent and hoarse, laced with frustration.
What in the world? I opened the door, the sterile smell of antiseptic hitting my nostrils.
“Don’t make me order you to be strapped down, Bloom.” Sven had Bloom by the shoulder, shoving him back against the bed. “I will do it if that’s what it takes to—”
“What’s going on here?” My voice was sharper than intended, but the sight of Bloom being manhandled ignited a fierce protectiveness within me.
The nurse jerked back, releasing his hold on Bloom. He huffed out a breath, big gray eyes flashing in his red face. “I’m simply doing my job, but by all means, criticize me for insisting he stay in bed instead of walking out of the hospital like he was about to do.”
“Bloom.” He pursed his lips and raised his chin. “Is this true?”
He twisted the crisp white sheet between his fingers. “I wanted to find you. I was worried.”
Tension seeped from my shoulders. Everything else became secondary to the young man in the hospital bed. His long, black hair flowed down past his shoulders, framing a small oval face that was void of makeup. Without the cosmetics, he looked even paler. So young. So vulnerable. So incredibly beautiful.
And I was fucked because, quite frankly, I couldn’t imagine my life without him in it.
“Sven, thanks for taking care of him.” I gave the nurse a nod of approval. When I was working at the hospital, I’d never cared what the staff thought of me, but it was different now. They took care of Bloom when I couldn’t.
“Just doing my job,” he said. He gestured at the aide who’d brought Bloom’s lunch. “Just set it on the table next to the bed. Dr. Collier, since you’re here, will you see that he takes his medication once he’s finished?”
“Of course.”
I took the pills from the nurse’s hand gently. They left the room quietly, and I was alone with Bloom, who had his head averted and his chin set in a stubborn line. Petty energy radiated from him. He still had so many childish tendencies. With anyone else, I might have been annoyed, might not have bothered, but with him, never.
“I’m sorry I’m late.” I leaned in to kiss his forehead, but he shifted away. “You’re not going to talk to me?”
He picked up the remote from the bed and turned up the television. I plucked the device from his hand. “I said I was sorry.” Placing my hands on the bed on either side of him, I trapped him within my arms. “Bloom, look at me.”
“I sure hope Crowe comes by soon,” he said in a wistful tone. “Sucks to be in this hospital room all alone.”
As usual, the mention of Crowe sent a twinge of irritation through me, even though I knew what their relationship was. I didn’t like him relying on someone else for anything—even company. “Maybe I’ll forbid him from visiting you.”
His eyes grew wide. “You wouldn’t!” His chest rose and fell in small, rapid motions. He couldn’t fool me. He loved this side of me, which I hated—the other end to his extreme. I might not wield a gun or knife like him, but my possessiveness over him was a sharp tool that could cut deep too.
Funny how I hadn’t even known I had such a powerful weapon until him.
He brings out the worst in me. I know it, and yet I can’t walk away.
“I will if you keep ignoring me.” He shifted away from me, but he didn’t have far to go. With his neck exposed, I leaned in to sniff him. I hadn’t liked the scent of hospital on him, so I’d brought him toiletries similar to the ones we used at home. I rubbed my nose against the soft skin, inhaling deeply. “Is that what you want, Bloom? Me to lock you up and keep you as mine? I know plenty of ways to keep you busy on your back so you wouldn’t have time to miss your friends.”
I placed soft kisses down his neck. His pulse fluttered under my lips, and his breathing became sharper. His thin hospital gown wasn’t nearly enough to hide his erection.
“Yes, Logan.” He caved in, dug his fingers into my hair, and pulled my head up, slamming our lips together.
His kiss tasted urgent, unbearably sweet, a cry for contact hidden beneath a stubborn facade. As he twined his fingers in my hair, he arched his body toward mine, a needy whine escaping his lips. He was like a starved kitten desperate for attention. Desperate to be held, petted, and loved.
Beneath me, his body felt so fragile. He had such a big personality that it was easy to forget that he was physically vulnerable. Easily breakable.
Pop!
A gunshot from the past blasted in my ear, and an image flashed through my mind of Bloom on the floor, his life dwindling away beneath my gaze. I could have lost him.
I pulled back, gasping for breath. How could I keep him safe? If I couldn’t, was it selfish of me to hold on to him?
“Logan, what’s wrong?” Bloom brushed my hair away from my forehead.
I forced a smile and got to my feet. “That sort of kissing isn’t what you need right now. You must be hungry.”
“Not for food. The bed is big enough for two.”
I picked up the tray carefully arranged with his meal: a small serving of grilled chicken breast, its golden skin glistening, steamed green beans, and a portion of whole grain rice. A bowl of clear chicken broth sat on the side, next to a small dish of applesauce.
“You’re recuperating from a gunshot wound, Bloom.” I sat on the side of the bed, placing the tray on his lap. “I’m not going to ravage you on the hospital bed.”
“Even if it’s what I want?”
“That’s right.”
“And if I refuse to eat?”
I dipped the spoon in the soup. “Open up.”
A couple of seconds passed. Then he sighed and did what I instructed. I bit back my smile of triumph. It was unhealthy but still nice to have this kind of hold on him that made him obey me, even when he was inclined to be disagreeable.
“I had an errand to run, and that’s why I’m late,” I said.
“I called your phone.”
“Don’t speak with your mouth full.” He opened his mouth as if to argue, and I quickly pushed the spoon between his plump lips.
“There you go. Good boy.”
He preened and shuffled closer to me, placing his head on my shoulder. I chuckled. He was the sweetest, deadliest person I’d ever met. “Bloom, I can’t feed you like this.”
“Yes, you can. I missed you so much, Logan.”
From the way he clung to me, I knew he meant it. I’d had guys who were good with words and using them to get what they want, but Bloom wasn’t like that. There were no games inside him. No saying stuff just to get me to do what he wanted. He was blunt but honest. Whatever he said, he meant, and I found comfort in that.
How could I be tough on him after that? Silence enveloped us as he ate, kernels of rice clinging to the corners of his mouth. I carefully wiped them away with my thumb. The belligerent young man I’d encountered upon my arrival was gone. In his place was the soft, vulnerable Bloom who only very few people had the privilege of seeing.
“I’m full.” He shook his head to reject the next piece of chicken. His fingers found my free hand, and he twined them together like vines around an old oak tree.
A burp escaped his lips. “Sorry,” he murmured.
“Don’t be.” I tried to move, but he clung to me. “I’m just setting down the tray, sweetheart.”
He tightened his grip. “Then you shouldn’t have called me sweetheart. I ain’t gonna let go now.”
I relaxed against him and let him take the comfort he needed. Soon enough, his hold on me slackened, giving me the chance to set down the tray and grab the water bottle.
“Time for your pills.” I checked his mouth that he’d indeed downed them. He hated taking the pills because they sometimes left him confused.
“I’ve been good,” he said. “There are other things I can swallow as well.”
“No sex.”
“What if I lie really still?”
“Bloom—”
“How’s this fair? You’re the one who got me hooked on sex, and now I can’t have any? Save me from boredom, Logan.”
I let out a huff of laughter, a swell of pride filling my chest at how much he enjoyed our intimacy. “There’s one thing I can do for you, but you have to promise to lie really still.”
“I’ll be as still as a statue.”
Dammit, this went against everything I believed in, but his eager expression and soft eyes did me in. Why was I so weak to that puppy gaze? As long as he stayed still, he wouldn’t aggravate his wound.
“All right, but if you move an inch, you understand I’ll stop, right?”
“Yes, I’ll be as still as a mannequin, I swear.”
Now why the hell did that turn me on?