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She wasn’t sure she liked his ability to immediately ground her.

He crouched on the floor facing her and set the ice pack on her leg.

“You will stop talking about yourself like that. Now.”

She bit her lip, glancing from him to Jenner.

“It’s just the truth,” she whispered.

“No, it’s not. And you’ll cease talking about yourself like that. Now.”

What shocked her was that those words came from Jenner. Not Tobias.

Tobias grunted in approval, though.

What was this? Gang up on Immy?

She sniffled. “I should be able to talk about myself how I like.”

“Words can hurt, Immy,” Jenner said quietly. “And your mean words are hurting you. And they hurt me. So I don’t want to hear them coming out of your mouth. Understand me?”

Immy opened her mouth, but she had nothing to say to that. Her mean words did hurt.

She’d meant them to hurt her. But she never wanted to hurt anyone else.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, feeling a tear drip down her cheek. “This entire night has just been a disaster.”

“Look at me, Immy,” Tobias pressed.

She glanced down at him and he lightly squeezed her hand. “You’ve got nothing to be embarrassed or upset about.”

“I made a fool of myself. I fainted just because I went outside. Who does that?”

“Why were you out there?” Tobias asked. “You know you’re not supposed to go outside at night on your own.”

Unicorn poop.

“Tell Tobias why you went outside, Immy,” Jenner ordered, squeezing her lightly.

Darn it. She really didn’t think she liked having them gang up on her.

“I was trying to find you. To apologize. I feel so terrible about what I said. I just wanted to find you so I could breathe properly again. I thought you must have gone out to the guest house so I walked outside. It felt like everything was closing in on me. And I fainted.”

“Cherry, why didn’t you just call me?” Tobias asked.

“Call you?” she asked, numbly.

“Uh-huh. You could have called me, then I’d have come back to you.”

“You would have?” she asked. “Even though I was a meanie-bo-beanie?”

Shoot. Why had she said that?

“I would come, no matter what,” he told her firmly.

Well. Heck.

“I didn’t really think of doing that.” She sounded like a complete idiot.

You are an idiot.

“I’m so sorry,” she added. “For what I said and for going outside when I know I’m not supposed to. I must have given you a fright.”

“You did,” Tobias replied without censure. “But look at me, Immy.”

She forced herself to stare into his face, even though it was hard.

“We’re all good, understand?”

“We are?”

“Yep.”

“You’re not gonna stay mad at me?” she whispered.

“Nope. We’re all good.”

She wasn’t so sure. She chewed at her lip. “I wasn’t nice, though.”

“And you said sorry. Next time, though, you obey the rules. Understand?”

“Yes, I understand.”

“That’s a good girl.” Tobias got to his feet and gave the ice pack to Jenner. “Keep that on her leg. Gotta go check security.”

She stared after him as he left the room. Immy still felt a bit off about everything that had happened. She wasn’t sure why.

Maybe because she had difficulty letting go when she was in the wrong. Because she hated upsetting other people and it ate away at her.

“You scared him,” Jenner said as he placed her on the bed and then put the ice pack over her leg.

“You think so?”

“Yeah, I definitely think so. He was scared when you fainted on him. Because he cares about you.”

“We’ve become friends.”

Jenner hummed.

What did that mean? Did he think Tobias cared about her more than that?

That was crazy. Right?

“I don’t like that you fainted. We need to check your blood pressure.”

“I’m fine. Really. And the ice pack isn’t necessary. It’s just a bruise.” She reached for the ice pack to take it off and he brushed her hands away.

“No. Leave it.”

Immy narrowed her gaze at him. “You’re both overreacting.”

“Immy, leave it. For me. I’m worried about you.”

Well, heck.

Now she couldn’t move it. “You shouldn’t worry about me. I’m good.”

“Baby, all I do is worry about you,” he said quietly as he grabbed the blood pressure monitor out of the bedside drawer.

Shoot.

Guilt flooded her.

“I’m so sorry. I’ll try to be less of a burden.”

Jenner turned so quickly that she let out a small squeal. “You are not a burden.”

He spoke so fiercely that she was shocked. “Understand me, Immy?”

She nodded slowly.

“Words,” he said in a dark voice.

This wasn’t normal for Jenner. He could definitely be bossy and commanding. But he wasn’t usually this . . . stern with her.

Not that she didn’t like it.

“Yes.”

He looked like he wanted to say something else, but held back. Then he set up the blood pressure machine and pushed the button. Immy was quiet as it took her blood pressure.

“It’s low,” he said. “Have you been drinking enough water?”

“Umm,” she said guiltily.

“Immy,” he warned. “Do I have to start monitoring your water intake?”

She didn’t see how he would be able to do that considering he was busier than ever.

“No, of course not. I’ll try harder.”

“That might be why you fainted. But I want you to see the doctor tomorrow. Tobias should have called Eric straight away.”

“It’s not likely to be my blood pressure,” she said. “It was the dark.”

“Baby,” he murmured as he cupped her cheek. “You need to talk to someone about that.”

“I don’t,” she said with frustration. “I just need to get over it! It’s ridiculous!”

Jenner drew her close and she wrapped her arms around him. She took comfort in his touch, the way he hummed her favorite song.

“His Everything.”

But as he held her, soothing her, her heart was torn.

Because she couldn’t stop thinking about Tobias. And wishing that he was here too.

Jenner joined him outside.

This was unexpected.

Well, maybe he’d come to tell him everything he’d done wrong. Tobias knew he deserved that.

Or maybe he was going to warn him away from Immy. That was the likely scenario. Because it was obvious Jenner wanted her, he just wasn’t making a move.

“You care about her,” Jenner stated.

All right. They were doing this, then, huh? Straight into it.

“Yep.”

“That’s good. She deserves someone to care about her. Immy is special.”

That wasn’t what he’d expected Jenner to say.

“She is. Not what I thought you were coming out to say.”

“No? Hell, I wasn’t sure what I was coming out to say.”

“Is she all right?” Worry swirled in his gut. Tobias hadn’t wanted to leave her, but if he’d stayed . . . well, he might never have left.

And she wasn’t ready for him to make that move yet.

Tobias wasn’t used to waiting to take what he wanted. But he couldn’t mess this up. Immy was too important.

“Her blood pressure was low. And she’s tired. She should rest tomorrow. You should make sure she rests.”

He shot the other man a sharp look. It was dark and the outside lights didn’t illuminate the back porch enough for him to see the expression on Jenner’s face.

“ I should make sure she rests? What about you?” Tobias asked.

“I will take care of her as much as I can. But I can’t be here all the time. Immy deserves the fucking world. Don’t tell her I was swearing.”

“You can’t afford the swear jar fees?” Tobias asked dryly.

Jenner let out a huff of laughter. “Something like that.”

“Pretty sure I could have bought myself a new car with how much money I’ve had to put in that jar,” Tobias said.

Jenner nodded. “She’s been scared of the dark for a while now, although nothing like this has ever happened before. It has to be because of our time at the Camp. That was part of the reason she fainted. The rest was likely her low blood pressure. She needs to drink lots of water and eat regularly.”

What the fuck had happened at the Camp? Who the fuck did he have to kill? Because if some fucking asshole had scared or hurt her . . .

“The Deity had a naughty cupboard where bad kids got locked up. It was small and dark. We didn’t know that Immy had been locked in there a few times.

Or we would have snuck her out. She didn’t tell us until later.

” There was fury in Jenner’s voice. “If I could go back and kill that bastard, I would. Immy won’t talk about it, though.

Or speak to a therapist. I just thought you should know since you’re spending so much time taking care of her. ”

Jenner really did care about Immy. A lot. Enough that he was telling Tobias this even though Tobias was technically just her security.

And it made Tobias angry for some reason.

“You ever think about making her yours?” he asked as Jenner turned away.

The other man froze. And Tobias could hear his harsh breaths.

“All the fucking time. Every second of every day. All I think about is Immy. About her being mine.”

“She would be if you would step up and claim her.” Although Tobias wasn’t letting her go without a fight.

“Maybe. But I’m not what she needs. I don’t deserve her. We all have our own demons and unfortunately, my demons are tied to Immy.”

“Because of your time in the cult?” Tobias asked, confused.

“Yeah. Our time in the cult. And the assholes who . . . who abused us.”

Tobias swallowed heavily. “Abused you?”

“There’s all sorts of abuse.”

“You talking to someone about that?”

“I tried once. It could be time to try again,” Jenner said.

“You’ve got a good thing here. A good family. They need you.”

“I know that. Believe me.”

There was something in Jenner’s voice that he didn’t understand. And before he could question him, the other man was gone.

Maybe Tobias had been wrong about him. Perhaps he wasn’t an oblivious asshole who didn’t see what was right in front of him.

Maybe he was a damaged man who did see the beauty presented to him and was too scared to touch it for fear of tarnishing it. Tobias knew all about that, he just didn’t let it get in the way of what he wanted.

What would be best for Immy, though?

Who would be best for Immy?

Jenner. They fit together. They had a past. Immy clearly loved him.

However, Tobias wasn’t a good enough man to step aside and let him have her. Especially as he couldn’t trust that Jenner would actually catch her when she reached out for him.

And no one got to upset his girl.

Not Jenner.

And not him.

Tobias stared down at the hand he’d used to smack her ass. He’d gone too far tonight, that was clear to see.

And he would owe her an apology. The way she’d run from him . . . yeah, he didn’t fucking like that. Nor the way that she’d run outside to find him, breaking one of her rules.

She’d deserved a scolding. To be punished.

But he shouldn’t have done it that way. Nope, he’d pull back a bit on his Dominant side until he could have a proper conversation with her about rules.

And punishments.