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“Last night?” she asked to clarify.

“Yes.” He hung his head. When she looked to Ace, he wouldn’t meet her eyes either.

“So, you knew last night what my name was? What his name was?” She was fighting between shock and anger.

“We did,” Ace confirmed.

Her anger was winning.

“And you didn’t tell me.” It obviously wasn’t a question. She just needed for them to clarify so she had her own facts straight.

“You were sleeping,” Nick tried to defend.

“I’d already upset you,” Ace added helpfully.

“Yeah, thanks, I’d forgotten that tidbit. Good to know you didn’t actually want me, just the idea of a willing body to fill an empty space.” Regret, anger, confusion, hurt, they all warred inside of her for dominance, and she was striking out at them.

“I’m sorry,” Nick quietly said.

And she could hear it in his voice. “I believe you. But why didn’t you wake me up? Don’t you think that’s something I would have wanted to know immediately?”

The memory of her ex was forgotten with the wealth of new information she was now armed with. “So?” she asked, “What’s my name? What’s his name?”

“I don’t think that’s such a good–” before Nick could finish, she lashed out.

“You don’t think what now? I shouldn’t know my name? Tell me, Nick, how would you feel in my shoes? I’m imagining about a hundred different things right now, none of them good, and all of them include you guys using me, and I have to admit, I don’t like it one bit.”

When Ace attempted to interrupt her, she shot him a scathing look. “I mean, you said we’d lose power for a couple days, yet here we are. What? Only twelve hours later? And hey, all of the sudden, it goes out when I’m upset then comes back on after you guys fuck my brains out? Tell me how that looks to you!” She was getting hysterical.

Nick finally stood before her, his size overwhelming. She’d never paid attention before, now she was forced to.

“First off, Pepper, don’t ever reduce what we shared to fucking. We owned every inch of your delectable body this morning, and you owned ours. Don’t think for one fucking second that we don’t feel for you just as deeply as you fucking feel for us. The only difference is, we were always sure about what we wanted for you. You had shit to work through, so we took into consideration what was best for you. And yeah, this morning, when I realized someone had been on my fucking property—somewhere you should have been safe—I fucking freaked.” His hands had an unrelenting grip on her hips. She shouldn’t be turned on by his anger-fueled dominance, right? “Not waking you up last night was a mistake, but frankly, we wouldn’t have been able to do shit at that point. The power was out, and it was again this morning. I don’t even know when it turned back on.”

He took a breath, and Pepper knew she needed to lighten the mood. She felt horrible for jumping the gun on them when she knew they had her best interest at heart. So, when she helpfully pointed out that he kept swearing, she didn’t expect Nick’s mouth to come crashing down on her own.

Holy hell.

The heat. The need. The sheer force with which he consumed her was staggering.

There was no slow slide to taste each other, to savor any sweet sighs or moans. He took and took and kept on taking until her entire being melted against him in merciful surrender.

“Don’t,” he growled against her lips, “doubt me, baby. You are the only thing that matters, and if I do something, it’s because I want you safe.”

She could only nod her head.

“I need you safe. I need to know that when I give you new information, you aren’t already in a fragile state of mind. I would never intentionally hurt you, sweetheart.”

“I know,” she whispered. And she did, too. The shock made her crazy. She felt so lost not knowing who she was at all, and then only finding out a snippet of a name. She was afraid of never knowing the whole story but equally scared of knowing and hating the truth.

“What if I don’t like who I am?”

Ace walked up behind her, his heat at her back reassuring. “You’re not who you were anymore. You’re a completely different person, and you need to hold onto her. She’s going to be your strength when you think you have nothing.” He placed a finger to her temple, her eyes closing on instinct. “She’s going to remind you of everything you are now.”

How the hell was she supposed to argue with that logic? The simple answer was she wasn’t. The more complicated and logical side of her said it wasn’t going to be so easy.

“What’s my name?” she asked on a faint whisper.

“Pepper Wallace,” Nick answered with a regretful sigh. As if knowing her name was going to make her leave.