Page 6

FIVE

Dillon

I wake up the next morning to Jensen standing over me.

“Jesus!” I shout, jerking back on the mattress.

“Morning,” he says, smiling happily.

“What time is it?” I croak.

“Just after eight.”

“What are you doing in here?”

“I brought you breakfast in bed.”

“Great,” I grumble.

“How are you feeling?”

“Just peachy.”

He sits on the edge of the bed, and I sigh, rolling up until I’m sitting next to him.

I know I’m being rude, but it’s the only way to keep him at arm’s length. It’s getting harder and harder to keep my guard up around him. A part of me wants to trust him, but then I remember all the men my mom trusted and how each of them broke that trust.

“I have to leave for my shift at the station. Miles and I will be back at five. Maybe we can grab dinner tonight.”

I grunt, taking the plate of eggs, bacon, and toast from him and setting it on the bedside table.

“Do you need anything?”

“No, I’m good.”

He nods and stands. I look up at him, and he hesitates. I can tell that he wants to say something else, but he changes his mind at the last minute and smiles.

“All right. I’ll see you tonight.”

He leans down, kissing my forehead before he heads out. I watch him go, then collapse back onto the mattress.

I have every intention of going back to sleep, but a minute later, Mabel bursts into my room.

“Morning! How’d you sleep?” she asks as she hops onto the bed beside me.

“Good. Why are we up so early?”

She grins. “It’s not that early. What did you want to do today? Are you feeling sore or anything?”

“No, I’m fine.”

She sits next to me, leaning against the headboard.

“Breakfast?” I drag myself up and reach for the plate, setting it on the bed between us.

“No, thanks. Miles fed me already.”

I grab a piece of bacon. “How are things between you two?”

“Amazing,” she sighs. “He’s perfect, Dillon. I swear he knows what I want or need before I do.”

“He seems like the perfect man,” I comment.

“He is. Dillon is, too,” she says, nudging me with her knee.

“Maybe. He cooks good bacon,” I joke.

“How are things between you two?” she asks carefully.

“Weird.”

“Because you slept together and went back to ignoring him?”

I glare at her. “You know what the mating heat was like! How was I supposed to resist him?”

“Why are you still resisting him?”

“He doesn’t regret it, Mabel. He told me he would bite me again, whether I wanted him to or not.”

“He said that?” she asks in surprise.

“Not exactly those words. He just said he’d do it again.”

“Okay, and did you consider he said that because he saved your life?”

I shove a bite of eggs into my mouth so I don’t have to answer.

Mabel sighs as she leans against the pillows. “Did you look at your medical records from the discharge paperwork?”

“No, I was busy unpacking here.”

“Well, you should. It might shed some light on why he did what he did. It might change your mind.”

“Maybe.”

She sighs. “Okay. What did you want to do today?”

“I think I might look for a new car. We’ll have to file a report with the insurance company.”

“Miles grabbed the police report for us. It’s downstairs somewhere.”

“Okay, that helps.”

I unpacked last night before I fell asleep and put all my clothes away in the closet and dresser. All my money is stacked on the dresser next to my backpack. It’s not a ton, but it's enough for a decent used car.

“Any leads on a job in town?” I ask Mabel.

“No, I haven’t looked yet. I’ve been worrying about you and wrapping my head around all this.”

“Maybe we should look today. Start putting out some applications.”

“Sounds good. I’ll go grab Miles’s laptop.”

She slides off the bed and rushes out the door. I finish eating while she grabs the computer.

I set my empty plate aside and grab my phone as she climbs back on the bed.

“What towns should we look in? We might not find anything here,” I point out.

“Not Red Fog,” Mabel comments.

“It’s scary what they’re doing,” I whisper.

“I just hope they put an end to it before anything else happens.”

“Me too.”

We’re silent for a few minutes as we search job boards.

“Maybe something online? Something we could do from home?” Mabel suggests, and I know she must be coming up empty, too.

“Some of those jobs seem like a scam,” I say, showing her my phone screen for an online product reviewer listing who is somehow getting paid two hundred dollars an hour.

“Yeah, maybe don’t apply for any of those.”

We spend the morning applying for every job in a fifty-mile radius that seems halfway decent. By lunchtime, I’m sick of staring at my phone screen.

“Want to head into town and explore it a bit?” I ask Mabel. “Maybe we could ask around about places that might be hiring.”

“Miles said to stay put. He thinks things will get worse before they get better.”

I’m not exactly happy to be cooped up inside after being stuck in the hospital for days, but I don’t argue.

“I’m going to make lunch and maybe take a nap.”

I smile. “Sounds good. I need to take a shower.”

Mabel nods and grabs the laptop before heading downstairs.

I head across the hall to the bathroom and turn on the shower. Stepping under the hot spray feels amazing, and I spend a while standing under the water.

By the time I step out and dry off, the house is quiet. Mabel must be asleep. I tiptoe into my bedroom and pull on some clean clothes.

What should I do now?

I look around the room, and my eyes lock on the folder from the hospital. Mabel’s words from earlier play in my head. I sigh as I grab the folder and jump back onto the bed.

I open the folder and flip through the discharge paperwork. The first few pages are what they went over with me before I left. I almost give up, but then I flip the page and see the pictures from the X-rays.

“Whoa,” I whisper as I see the broken bones.

I flip faster, scanning the report.

Multiple contusions.

Internal bleeding.

Broken bones.

Cuts.

Bruises.

By the time I’m done reading everything, I’m in shock.

Mabel told me it was bad, but I guess I thought it was shock on her part.

I mean, I felt fine when I woke up that first morning.

A little sore but nowhere near as shitty as I should have felt, considering the injuries I sustained in the accident.

Could Jensen have been telling the truth? Was biting me really the only option?

“You read it.”

I jump, my startled gaze leaping to Mabel standing in the doorway.

“Yeah,” I whisper.

“And?”

“It was worse than I expected.”

Her eyes fill with tears, and I rush to her side.

“I’m okay, Mabel. I’m okay,” I reassure her.

“Thanks to Jensen. I love you, Dillon. I’d do anything to keep you here with me. If I’d known about shifters and what they could do, I would’ve begged Jensen to bite you. Would you hate me for that?”

“No,” I whisper.

She pulls back and gives me a sad smile. “Then maybe you need to stop hating him because that man loves you as much as I do.”

Deep down, I know she’s right. I’m punishing both of us by pushing him away when being with him feels so right.

“It’s scary trusting someone with my heart,” I tell her softly.

She gives me a wobbly smile. “I know. I get it. But Jensen will take good care of you and your heart.”

I take a deep breath.

How should I apologize to Jensen tonight?