Tall, Tatted and Tempting (The Reed Brothers 1)

Matt finally lets Logan go and says, “Shit, when did you learn to talk?”

Logan shrugs.

“This girl is teaching him all sorts of new shit,” Paul says, squeezing me tightly.

“What happened?” Logan asks. He’s signing while he talks out loud.

“I had a date to snuggle with your girl on the couch and we were going to watch a movie,” Matt says. “Next thing I know, she has my head in her lap, instead.” He looks over at me, an impish twinkle in his eye. “If you wanted to hold me, Kit, you could have just asked.” He chuckles.

“You remember?” I ask.

He grins this unrepentant grin. “I’ll never, ever forget the day you threw Logan over to hold me in your arms.”

Logan chuckles. Out loud. Everyone looks at him and he shrugs.

“You going to keep talking, bro?” Paul asks cautiously.

Logan shrugs again.

Paul squeezes me.

Suddenly, a team of doctors rushes into the room. “What’s wrong?” Paul barks.

The doctor comes in a moment later. “We’re going to be moving Matt to a different facility,” he explains. “So he can begin that treatment we discussed.”

“What?” Matt’s dumbfounded. As are the rest of them.

The doctor holds up his hands to silence them. “Don’t get too hopeful,” he says. “But now there’s a chance where there wasn’t one before.”

“There’s a chance he might live?” Paul asks.

The doctor smiles and claps Paul on the shoulder. “A small one, yes.”

“How?”

“I’m still working all that out.” The doctor looks at me, but I break eye contact.

The room is barraged with activity, and the nurses get ready to move Matt. “There’s a helicopter waiting,” the nurse explains.

“How?” Paul asks again.

Matt reaches for each of them in turn. He hugs his brothers. Then he hugs me to him last. “Take care of them,” he says. “No matter what.”

I nod. I’m doing that the only way I know how.

Logan

My brothers are solemn on the way back home. It’s early afternoon on Saturday, and I look down at my watch. “Shit,” I say.

“What?” Paul asks.

“I have an appointment for a tat this afternoon.” Kit’s walking beside me but she has been lost in her own world since we left the hospital. “I guess I can cancel.”

“Are you too tired to do it?” Paul asks.

Honestly, I’m so full of adrenaline right now I could climb mountains. And pick them up and throw them. I shake my head.

“So, why not do it?” he asks.

“Matt,” I say. Just that one word.

Paul claps me on the shoulder. “They won’t let us see him for forty eight hours, dummy,” he reminds me.

That’s right. They are going to do a bunch of tests and scans and shit and told us that he can’t see anyone until at least Monday. Until he’s settled in. I’m hopeful. I’m so hopeful and I haven’t been hopeful for weeks. I’ve watched Matt decline more and more, and I was at the point where I was coming to terms with it. But hope has bloomed within me. It’s not fair. It’s not fair at all. What if he still doesn’t get better? I have to believe he’ll make it.

“He said he’d call when he gets settled,” Paul reminds me. “Until then, we wait.”

Kit looks up at me, her eyes focusing for the first time since we left the hospital. “I think you should open the shop. Do your tat. You’re going to need the money.” She doesn’t look me in the eye when she says the last part of it. “Can I go, too?” she asks. “I want to watch.”

I wrap my arm around her and she smiles up at me. “You ok?” I ask.

She nods and leans in. I can feel the warm wind of her inhale against my skin. “Stop sniffing me, you little pervita,” I say.

Her eyebrows lift and she repeats the word. “Pervita?” She laughs. I hug her to me, never wanting to let her go. She’s a part of us now. All of us. And she’s mine.

Sam and Pete are walking behind us with their heads pushed together, talking softly. When they do that, there’s usually trouble brewing. “What are you two up to?” Paul barks. Their heads snap apart, and they try not to look guilty. They’re terrible at it, though.

“Nothing,” they say in unison.

Paul narrows his eyes at them. “I don’t believe you.”

They look at him sheepishly.

“I don’t believe you either,” I say.

“I think I liked you better when you didn’t speak,” Pete says. Then he grins.

I flip him the bird and he flies at me, jumping on my back. He bounces up and down, and leans over my shoulder so I can see his lips. “My feet are cold,” he says, batting his golden lashes at me. “You should carry me the rest of the way.”

He’s latched onto me like a koala. And he’s f**king heavy. It’s like carrying a load of bricks. But I hitch him up higher and start walking.

Sam turns his back to Kit and bends down. “You look tired, Kit,” he says. “Want a ride?” He waggles his brows at her. She laughs, and jumps onto his back.

“I’m not sure I got the good end of this deal,” I croak, as we all walk along together.

I can’t help but wish Matt were here. I miss the gentle giant already.