Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 81518 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 408(@200wpm)___ 326(@250wpm)___ 272(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81518 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 408(@200wpm)___ 326(@250wpm)___ 272(@300wpm)
“How’s our little fighter?”
“He’s fighting below-zero temperatures,” I groused. “My head hurts.”
“That’s not good.” He sat down on the edge of the bed and opened a bottle of painkillers.
Despite the pounding in my skull, I forced myself up on my elbow so I could take the pills and some water.
“You were joking about the rectal thermometer, right?” I asked, throwing back the two pills.
Reese smiled and touched my forehead. “Not at all.”
Goddammit. “What if I use my safeword?”
“You’d be spared, obviously.”
Oh.
I should call red, then. Because I definitely didn’t want this weird Sadist to stick a thermometer up my ass. I didn’t.
“You should eat something, Shay,” he murmured.
“Later. Please.” I couldn’t right now. I carefully rested my head on the pillow again. “I feel like my head is going to split into pieces.”
“Okay. We’ll save it for later.” He nodded and rose from the bed, only to remove his belt, undo his jeans, and step out of them. “Get some rest while I take a shower.”
“Enjoy the freezing cold,” I mumbled and closed my eyes.
“No,” I whimpered pathetically, clinging to the thin film of sleep for all I was worth. “Leave me alone, please.”
“You don’t have to move an inch, sweetheart.” Reese’s warm voice came from behind me, and he slipped a hand into the boxers I’d borrowed from him. “You’re burning up. Can I take your temperature?”
I didn’t care. “Do what you want. Let me sleep. Hurts to talk.”
“Leave everything to me, then,” he murmured.
My headache had faded somewhat, but now I hurt everywhere else. My skin felt raw and supersensitive, I was so cold, and each movement caused tremors of pain to radiate through me.
Heat washed over my front, and I vaguely noticed a body shifting closer. It had to be River. I exhaled shakily and burrowed into his embrace, so far past giving any fucks about who they were, or that I’d barely exchanged any words with him. He was warm; that was enough.
I sucked my bottom lip into my mouth as Reese slowly slid the thermometer up my ass. At the same time, he kissed my shoulder and told me he wanted to ask some questions, but I didn’t have to talk. One tap on River’s chest meant yes, two taps for no. I could use my finger.
“Any nausea?” he asked first.
I tapped my index finger twice on River’s chest, and I felt him shake his head.
I genuinely didn’t care about the thermometer Reese had opted for, but even when I was sick as a dog, it was impossible not to register what it did to my mental state. It wasn’t as humiliating as I’d expected it to be, but it stripped me of my adulthood in a bizarre way. I felt small and pitiful, and it wasn’t necessarily bad. As long as they didn’t leave me to fend for myself.
“Upset stomach or stabbing pains?” he wondered next.
I hesitated, then tapped once. “Not as much as before,” I croaked in a whisper. “I don’t need to go to the bathroom.”
“I understand. You’re being such a good boy.”
I shivered and pressed my face against River’s chest. God. Why were my eyes welling up? And why had he called me a good boy? Fuck all of that. I was a grown man, dammit. I was not a good boy. I sniffled and cleared my throat.
Reese withdrew the thermometer and righted my underwear. “103. You’re staying in bed all day tomorrow and letting us take care of you.”
“Ugh,” I whimpered.
“Get some sleep, pup.” River’s voice was as warm as his brother’s, but it held a lower note and reverberated through me.
“Okay.” I sniffled again and waited until Reese’s body heat covered my back. “Don’t leave.”
“We won’t.” Reese kissed the top of my head. “You should take another painkiller, though. Riv, can you reach them behind you?”
“Yup.” River’s warmth disappeared from me, and I started shivering instantly.
For the next minute, which felt like an hour, they forced me to drink several gulps of water and take a Tylenol. Sadists, man… But then they became nicer, and they cuddled me tightly between them.
I just hoped my temperature didn’t get any higher, because Reese promised to monitor it closely and haul out cooling pads if the fever required any assistance to dissipate.
The fever sweats began around noon the following day.
I emerged from the thick duvet with a labored breath and pushed the fabric fortress off of me.
Reese was probably still out. I’d woken up around ten when he said he was going to the store with someone named Luke. I assumed it was Lucas West. He was one of Kit’s Daddy Doms.
River was…somewhere. He’d been reading a book in the single bed before when I’d gotten up to go to the bathroom.
I squinted out the triangular window, cursing the sun that poured in. My mouth was drier than a desert, and I didn’t know what I wanted more—a shower, a drink of water, or a dip in the pool. I could hear people outside, laughing and splashing around in the water. An early Saturday in a kinkster’s paradise… Jesus Christ, how had I ended up here? With the freaking Tenley twins, no less.