An agonized moan came from the next bed. Trey sounded more wounded animal than human. Sed jumped out of bed and into his pants. He forced Trey to take a drink of water. Trey slurped from the glass, gripping Sed’s wrist.
“Oh God, kill me, Sed. Even my bones hurt. Please, just kill me.”
“Can’t do that, buddy,” Sed told him. “I need you. And we both know this is all about me.”
He glanced over his shoulder at Jessica and winked.
Okay, she couldn’t try to deny it any more. She loved him. So much. She needed to tell him. Wanted to tell him. But she didn’t. She would. When the moment was right. And it wasn’t right. They needed to get Trey better first, so they could decide what to do about these feelings.
Trey covered his mouth with the back of his wrist. “I’m gonna throw up.”
Sed hauled Trey out of bed and got him as far as the bathroom threshold before he vomited all over the floor. Jessica slid into her nightgown and climbed out of bed to help.
“Sorry. Sorry,” Trey groaned and got sick again. In the toilet this time.
“Nothing to be sorry about, man.”
Sed pulled a towel from the rack above the toilet and Jessica took it from him. “I’ve got it.”
He smiled his gratitude and she bent to clean up Trey’s mess.
“Don’t make her clean that up. I’ll get it,” Trey whispered. He threw up again.
“It’s not a big deal, Trey,” Jessica assured him. He hadn’t eaten anything all day so it really wasn’t a big deal. She rinsed the towel out in the sink and made another pass over the floor. “I’m just glad you missed the carpet.”
“Do you want another drink of water?” Sed asked.
Trey’s eyes widened and he shook his head vigorously. “That’s what made me puke.” Sitting on the floor, he leaned against the tub and rested his forehead on his bent knees. “Can I have another pill yet?”
“Half a dose,” Sed reminded him. He glanced through the bathroom doorway at the clock radio on the nightstand. “And not for two more hours.”
“I’ll die by then,” he whispered and then went quiet.
Jessica watched Trey with concern. He didn’t move a muscle. Almost as if he really had died. “Is he asleep?”
“I think so.” The two of them stared at him for several minutes. He’d gone so still, Jessica wasn’t sure he was still breathing.
She worried her bottom lip with her teeth until she couldn’t stand idly in the doorway any longer. She grabbed Sed’s elbow. “Sed, check him.”
Sed leaned over and shook Trey’s shoulder. “Trey. If you’re going to sleep, go back to bed.”
Trey took a deep breath and lifted his head. “Yeah, okay,” he murmured.
Sed helped him to his feet and Jessica stepped aside as they moved out of the bathroom toward one of the queen-sized beds. Sed dumped Trey onto the bed. Jessica wet a washcloth in the sink and wrung out the excess water before going to sit on the edge of Trey’s bed. He started when she touched the folded washcloth to the back of his neck.
“This used to make me feel better when I was sick,” she said. “If it bothers you, I’ll leave you alone.”
He relaxed slightly. “It’s fine.”
She left the cloth on the back of his neck and lightly rubbed her hand back and forth over the soft T-shirt along his back. He blinked his eyes wearily. “Feels nice,” he murmured, his eyes drifting closed.
She glanced up at Sed, who was watching over them like a mother hen.
“Save some of that for me,” he said, grinning.
She nodded, still rubbing Trey’s back. “I won’t be able to keep yours platonic though.”
“I can probably live with that.”
“When’s he supposed to start feeling better?”
“His dad said as long as a week, so at least a couple more days. I should probably call the guys. I’m sure they’re worried.”
“Yeah. We did sort of kidnap him and disappear.”
“If we hadn’t, they’d have caved and given him more meds. I mean look at him. He’s a mess. And he’s always been very good at getting his way.”
“Because he’s a sweetie.” Jessica brushed his long bangs out of Trey’s face with her free hand. He hadn’t shaved in days. Scruffy wasn’t a good look for him.
“And I’m an ass**le, so I get stuck with all these crappy jobs.”
“I already told you. You get stuck with this kind of stuff because you’re strong, Sed. Dependable.”
“Nope, he’s an ass**le,” Trey murmured. “He’s trying to kill me and he gets off on it.”
Jessica swatted Trey on the butt. “You behave.”
Trey squirmed beside her and curled into a fetal position. “Rub back,” he requested in an exhausted, yet impish voice.
She rolled her eyes at him, but rubbed his back gently. His body slowly relaxed again. She turned the washcloth to the cool side and looked up at Sed. He was watching them with his cell phone in his hand and a puzzled expression on his face.
“Something wrong?” she asked.
He shook his head as if to clear it of cobwebs. “No. I’ll be back in a few.”
Jessica watched Sed leave the hotel room, wondering what had him so introspective.
Chapter 33
Sed stood on the landing outside the hotel room and stared out at the parking lot. What did Jessica want from him? He couldn’t figure her out. Didn’t she hate his overbearing nature? The way he took charge without even considering what anyone wanted? She’d said that was the entire reason she’d left him. But when he exerted his will over Trey, she praised him for it. Like it was a good quality to have. How could she praise him for it and hate him for it at the same time?
He sighed and wiped a hand over his face. If there were a Jessica Chase instruction manual, it would be written backwards in Arabic Pig Latin and twelve thousand pages long with random pages missing. Sometimes he wished she wasn’t so damned complex. He couldn’t puzzle this out right now; he needed to call Brian and get reamed for snatching Trey from under his nose.
He checked his phone. He’d had it turned off for a reason. Twenty-three missed calls. Ten voice mails. Sixteen text messages. All from Brian and Myrna. Even a couple from Eric. He dialed Brian.
“Where the f**k are you?” Brian answered on the first ring.
“Nice greeting,” Sed murmured.