“Easy, aww sweetie, don’t cry. Hush. Hush. It’s all going to be all right.” Hack awkwardly patted her hand. “Fuck, he’s gonna kill me for letting you get upset.”
She shook her head. “He doesn’t want me.”
“Doesn’t want you? Of course he wants you.”
A sob broke free. “Not like that. Not forever. J-just temporary.”
“Oh, baby girl, I don’t know what that idiot has been telling you, but he hasn’t left your side the whole time you’ve been here. He wouldn’t have left last night if I hadn’t threatened to have him forcibly removed and told him that I wouldn’t release you to his care unless he got some sleep.”
“W-what?”
Hack brushed her hair off her face. “Let me get you a tissue.” He grabbed a tissue then sat on the bed facing her as he carefully wiped her face. Maybe it should have been weird to have a stranger do that for her. But the honest truth was, she just didn’t care at this point.
“He’s kidding himself if he thinks he doesn’t love you, princess.”
Before she could say anything, the door opened.
“What the fuck is going on?” Spike snapped, walking in. “What are you doing? Why is she crying?”
Hack scrambled off the bed quickly, holding up his hands. “She was upset and I was reassuring her.”
Spike couldn’t believe it.
What the fuck was Hack doing sitting on her bed, brushing her hair off her face?
And she’d been crying?
“Why the hell is she crying?”
“Because she missed you for some Godforsaken reason. Maybe the poor girl enjoys having her eardrums blown.” Hack pulled at his ear while Spike sent him a look.
He walked closer and took Hack’s spot on the bed. “Mine.”
“I know. Wasn’t trying to steal your girl.”
He narrowed his gaze at the other man. “Go away.”
“Well, I do have to get going. See you later for rounds, princess. Good luck with the beast.”
Spike growled and Hack hastily left. He turned back to Millie, who had her mouth open, gaping at him. “Spike! That was rude. He’s my doctor.”
“He was hitting on you.”
“He was not hitting on me.”
“Sitting too close to you. Touching you.”
“Again, he’s my doctor. He kind of has to touch me.”
“Don’t like it.”
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“Shouldn’t that be my question?”
“You look better but you seem kind of on edge. Short-tempered. Angry, I guess.”
Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath. “Not angry at you.” When he opened them, his gaze held something she’d never seen before.