Page 35

I mmy was so naughty.

She’d noticed Jenner’s dick pressing against his pajama pants as he’d caught sight of her half-naked body. Then pretended she hadn’t.

Did want her?

But maybe wanting her wasn’t the issue.

Perhaps he’d regretted what they’d done because he didn’t want to ruin their friendship.

She could understand that.

Urgh.

She was too sick for this. So she pushed it to one side. Right now, Jenner was taking care of her. He was touching her. And it was heaven.

Even if she was blazing hot with a fever and felt like her head was stuffed with a thousand feathers.

It was awful.

But at least she was clean and her sheets were changed. Now, she was sitting up and trying to avoid the spoonful of soup that Jenner was trying to get her to eat.

“Immy, eat the soup.”

“I’m not hungry. I just wanna sleep,” she grumbled. “Where’s Snowy?”

He sighed. “All right, baby. Just let me check your temperature.”

She opened her mouth without complaint. Urgh, it felt like there were shards of glass in her throat.

This was awful.

“Still a bit high. But the fever reducer seems to be working, at least.”

“Can you put a movie on for me?” she said as she snuggled down under the covers and he tucked them around her.

“Sure thing, baby.” He turned on her television and found one of her favorite movies.

“You won’t leave, will you?” she asked.

She knew it was unfair of her to ask that. He had things to do. She should let him go. But she didn’t want to be on her own. And she wanted Jenner.

He knew how to take care of her the best.

His face softened. “No, baby. I’ll stay here. I’ll just go get dressed. All right?”

Good.

Immy settled in to watch the movie as Jenner left. It didn’t take him long to return and he was dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, carrying his notebook. He moved an armchair over next to the bed, then started writing in his notebook while she watched her movie.

Until gradually, she slipped off into sleep.

Tobias felt like he was losing his mind.

Being kept from his girl was completely unacceptable.

Sure, she didn’t know that she was his girl yet. He was still going slow-ish.

Immy was a forever girl.

Immy was his forever girl.

And that was why he was doing this right. He knew he had to pull her away from Jenner. That crush had to be slowly stifled in order for him to have a chance.

Lately, it had seemed like Jenner had done the work for him. Oh, he didn’t know what had happened between them.

Only that over this last few weeks they’d barely spent any time together.

Leaving Immy for Tobias.

But he was concerned that Alejandro would pull him back before he had Immy in his net. So now he had to move quicker.

Which wasn’t easy when nearly two days had passed since he’d last seen her.

He’d woken up yesterday morning and gone looking for her only for Sampson to completely block him, telling him that she was sick and that he wasn’t needed at the moment.

That was it.

That was all that bastard had told him.

All any of them had said.

Well, he wasn’t taking that anymore. He snuck through the backdoor of the house after turning off the alarm. Then he turned it back on and started to move to the stairs. Isaiah would be in his room, no doubt. Abe was out; he’d seen him leave about thirty minutes ago.

That just left Sampson and Jenner.

Tobias walked up the stairs and headed toward Immy’s room. He knew exactly which steps to take and which ones to avoid.

This wasn’t his first rodeo. He’d figured that all out on the first day he’d been here. This also wasn’t his first time sneaking up to check on Immy. Yeah, he’d be in a lot of trouble if he was caught.

But he didn’t intend on getting caught so that fact was moot.

It was late, well after eleven. Which did make him wonder where Abe was going.

Then again, Abe wasn’t actually his concern.

Immy was.

He had to turn off the motion lights that Jenner seemed to have had installed everywhere. They made his job of getting to her room undetected harder.

Tobias quietly slid open her door.

Hmm. There was no one in here? That was unexpected. But he was glad. Tobias moved over to the bed. There was a nightlight on, which gave him enough light to take her in.

He sat on the armchair next to her bed. He couldn’t stay, unfortunately. He fully expected one of the guys would be back soon. They wouldn’t leave her alone for long.

Reaching over, he placed his hand on the back of her head.

She felt warm. He frowned, not liking this at all.

Everyone seemed very worried about her. Was this more than just the flu?

They’d even gotten the doctor here to check on her.

He was some kind of friend of theirs. Tobias knew there had to be stuff that they weren’t telling him.

Yep. He didn’t like not knowing everything about her.

He moved his fingers to take her pulse, noting that there was a thermometer and a blood pressure machine on the bedside table.

“Toby?” she whispered.

Toby? No one called him Toby. Not even his mother.

“Tobias, sweetness.”

“Immy likes Toby. What Immy wants, she gets.”

He raised his eyebrows at that statement. “Is that so?”

“It is so.” She nodded her head, then winced. “Immy gots a headache.”

“Do you always talk about yourself in the third person when you’re ill?”

“Immy does not do that. Pass me some water.”

Okay, so she got some leniency because she wasn’t feeling well, but not so much that she thought she didn’t have to use her manners.

“Excuse me? What do you say?”

“Um, pass me some water, Toby.”

“I don’t think so.” He put his hands on his hips as he glared down at her. “What about your manners?”

“Ohh. Those,” she said dismissively.

“Yes, those, Little girl.”

“Immy isn’t a Little girl. She’s a goddess. A sexy, gorgeous god-god-goddess!” she sneezed loudly. “Oops. Need a tissue.”

“Immy can be a goddess and a Little girl. Also, just because she is a goddess does not mean that she can get away without using her manners.” He grabbed hold of a couple of tissues and used them to wipe her nose. “So what do you say?”

“Thank you, Toby.”

“Thank you, Tobias. Or thank you, Papa. Thank you, Toby is not happening.”

She sighed. “I tolds you, I’m not a Little.”

Really? Because she was sounding and acting very Little right now.

“I think that’s a conversation we really need to have another day.” He grabbed the glass of water which had a metal straw sticking out of it. Then he held the straw to her lips. She sucked on it and sighed, smacking her lips when she was finished.

“Good, sweetness?”

“Yeppers.” She slumped back on the pillows. “Immy tired now.”

“I can see that. Does Immy know what’s wrong with her?” he asked carefully. He wasn’t sure how much she would remember of this conversation so he had to watch what he said.

“Immy got the flu. Eric said. Don’t like Eric. Likes to stick things up Immy’s bottom.”

“He what?” he half-yelled. “I’ll fucking kill him.”

“She’s talking about a thermometer. And some medicine. And it’s not that he likes to do it, Immy,” Jenner said, walking into the bedroom. He eyed Tobias with interest. “It’s easier on her stomach. Sometimes, her body rejects oral medication when she’s ill.”

“Yeah, but what’s with the thermometer in the bottom?” Immy muttered as she snuggled under the covers. “There’s no need for it, I tell ya! No need! It’s like he taked plea-plea-pleasure . . . achoo . . . in sticking things in my bottom.”

Jenner moved around him to grab some tissues and leaned over Immy, wiping her nose. Then he spoke to her quietly as he brushed the hair off her face.

“Don’t worry about Eric and his obsession with your bottom. You know he’s just a bit old-school. He thinks that a rectal thermometer works better than an oral one.”

This wasn’t good.

Not good at all.

And he wasn’t talking about Eric’s obsession with Immy’s bottom. Although he didn’t like that.

He was talking about the way Jenner was looking at Immy. As though she was his world. And she seemed to be just as wrapped up in him.

Was Tobias losing her? When he’d just gained her attention?

“Go to sleep now, baby,” Jenner said to her quietly. “I’m here. I’m not going anywhere.”

“Promise,” she said as she hugged her owl.

“Yep. Right here. I’m staying all night.” Jenner wasn’t looking at her as he promised her that.

Nope. He was staring straight at Tobias.

Tobias got the warning. But that didn’t mean he would heed it. He waited until Immy was snoring adorably, before he nodded at the bathroom.

Jenner leaned over Immy and placed a kiss on her forehead.

Yeah, Tobias was getting the message loud and clear. He stepped into the bathroom and waited for Jenner to join him.

“What were you doing in her room?” Jenner demanded.

He raised an eyebrow at the aggressiveness in the other man’s voice. Not that he could blame him. He’d likely be going for blood if he’d found someone in his girl’s room who wasn’t supposed to be there.

So he couldn’t quite understand why he wasn’t more upset about Jenner being here with her.

Maybe because no one knows she’s your girl yet.

Maybe . . .

“I came to check on her.” He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back against the vanity.

It was curious that he didn’t feel like going for Jenner’s blood. There was obviously something between the two of them. And he’d just said that he was staying with her the whole night.

So yeah, he should be feeling bloodthirsty.

“At eleven-fifteen at night?” Jenner asked.

Tobias shrugged. “Nobody would tell me how she was. No one would let me in here to see her. So I had to do it myself.”

Jenner eyed him. “If I told Alejandro you snuck into her room, what do you think he would do?”

Shoot first and ask questions later.

But Tobias didn’t allow that thought to appear on his face. He simply shrugged. “We’ll never know since you’re not going to tell him.”

“I’m not? Why not?”

“Because Immy likes me. If Alejandro has to send someone else here, she might not like them. She might not listen to them the way she listens to me.” Sometimes.

He was still working on that part. “And I don’t think she’d be happy if I ended up six feet under.

Plus, I’m here to protect her. I was concerned about her.

It’s not wrong to be concerned about your charge. ”

“It is wrong to sneak in here.” Jenner sighed.

“I’m the one who has been taking care of her while you’ve been ignoring her.”

Jenner flinched.

It was a low blow. He knew that. But all was fair in war and winning Immy.

The prize was worth whatever low blow tactics he had to engage in.

“That was a misunderstanding and it won’t be happening anymore. I won’t tell Alejandro about this, but you aren’t to sneak back into her room. Understand me?”

“Sure. I understand.” Didn’t mean he agreed. But Jenner didn’t seem to see the difference or the fact he hadn’t given his word.

The other man wasn’t a fool. But he did look exhausted. Tobias guessed he’d been taking care of Immy since she got ill.

Something that he should be doing.

“You look tired,” Tobias told him. “You should get some sleep.”

“I’ll sleep when she’s better.”

“You’re pretty worried considering it’s just a flu. Not usually something you’d get a doctor in for.”

Jenner startled, then looked at him. “Shit. I don’t know why I thought you would know. She wouldn’t tell you. Immy hates talking about her health.”

Yeah. Tobias really didn’t like that he didn’t know what was going on. Someone should have told him. Immy had just brushed it off as vitamins.

He was beginning to see that Immy lied sometimes.

“I don’t think I should say too much,” Jenner added.

“Yeah? And what if she gets sick when I’m the only one around?”

“Then call someone.” Jenner sighed. “Look, she has a poor immune system. Likely that way from birth but it didn’t help that she missed a number of vaccinations growing up because the Deity didn’t believe in the Devil’s medicine.

So now, she gets sick easily and when she does, she can get really ill.

It doesn’t take much for a cold to turn into pneumonia and for her to end up in the hospital.

I know it might seem like we’re all overprotective of her, always pushing her to rest and take her medication .

. . but for years we’ve watched her suffer.

She’s been in the hospital a number of times and it’s fucking scary.

So we try our best to keep her healthy.”

“Got it,” Tobias said. Weak immune system? “So should she be going to things like concerts with you? To places like hotels? Supermarkets?”

Dirty bars that looked like they hadn’t been cleaned in years and whose inhabitants didn’t look much better?

“Likely not,” Jenner replied with a small smile as he glanced through the door to where Immy slept. “But try telling her that.”

Oh, he would tell her. But it wouldn’t be phrased as a request or question. She’d simply do as she was told.

“I once tried to put my foot down. I told her that she wasn’t needed at my concerts anymore.

She got so mad at me. Said if she couldn’t do the things she enjoyed, then what was the point of living anymore.

That scared me. Because I can’t imagine a life without Immy in it.

If I could control every aspect of her life, I would.

But we lived with someone like that for years.

So we balance keeping her safe with letting her live.

I know we don’t always get it right. We’ve always protected Immy.

Taken care of her. She’s always seen the bright side of life, even at the cult.

I don’t know how she did it. You don’t know how it feels to have one person have complete control over you. ”

Hmm. That was debatable.

Jenner smiled. “Things could be terrible and Immy would smile or make a joke or give us a compliment and it was like the world became lighter. Like it lit up. Just being around her made everything feel better.”

Fuck. Tobias didn’t want to feel sorry for him or understand him.

Or fucking like him.

But it seemed like it was too late. He already felt all of those things.