Page 27 of Protective Love

"I knew I never should've introduced you to Miles," Kaleb grunts. "Besides, you can't keep using that against me. I never actually followed through with it."

"That's only because Miles refused to do it!"

Jess and I both start laughing at their bickering and I finally crack my eyes open, seeing Kaleb sat in the chair beside me with a scowl on his face and his arms crossed while Sophia stands next to him shaking her head.

"I'm so glad you're awake now," Jess says, walking over to me and placing a light kiss on my forehead. "I can't cope with these two alone."

Sophia turns to her with raised brows.

"Girl, you've hardly been around."

My gaze swings back to my sister and I frown at her.

"G-good point," I say, my voice strained and rough.

My fingers twitch at my sides as I feel the urge to rub my sore throat, but all I can manage is to move my hand to the side slightly, still unable to control more of my body.

"In my defence, I was here every goddamn day while you were passed out. It's not my fault that you decided to wake up from your month-long coma the day after I had to go to Paris," she replies, rolling her eyes as she takes a seat beside me.

"You were in Paris for a total of like, twelve hours," Kaleb chimes in, pulling Sophia onto his lap and resting his head on her shoulder.

Jess shrugs and glances around the room, avoiding all of our intense, curious stares.

"Well, I'm here now. Anyway, you told me that he was fine and that he was distracted by some hot nurse."

Her gaze turns to me and she wiggles her eyebrows, trying to distract me from the subject at hand.

I narrow my eyes at her, and she subtly shakes her head, telling me to leave it alone for now.

"Unfortunately for him, he's scared the hot nurse away now," Kaleb says, earning an elbow to the gut from Sophia.

"No, he hasn't scared her away at all," she says, giving me a reassuring smile. "Has she come back in here yet?"

I nod and my gaze falls away from my cousin's face as embarrassment fills my chest.

"I pretended to be asleep," I tell her.

"Jesus Christ," Jess says, amusement laced in her words. "I don't know why I'm surprised you're single when you do stupid shit like that. Why the hell did you do that?"

I close my eyes and allow my head to fall back onto my pillow.

"I don't know," I mutter, cringing at the sound of my croaky voice.

"Jay, you did nothing wrong, you know?"

I peel my eyes open and glance at Sophia.

"I shouldn't have said anything. She was clearly trying to hide it, and I should've known it was going to upset her."

"You can't blame yourself for the way that you reacted, Jay. It was instinctual, and I'm sure if you explain that to her, she'll understand. She doesn't seem like an unreasonable person."

Jess waves her hands between us, gaining both of our attention.

"Can someone fill me in on what's going on?"

"I'd also be partial to some information," Kaleb adds, tapping his hand against Sophia's leg.

I huff and shake my head.