Shane’s painkillers had just kicked in when he heard a familiar voice in the hall outside his hospital room. Groaning when he saw the man who strode in, Shane buried his face in the pillow.

“Hey, Shane. Heard you got shot in the ass.”

His head popped up. “What? I did not get shot in the ass.” He twisted around to better see Jude Torrez, his friend and former boyfriend—or better yet, friend with benefits. One who’d never failed to get a rise out of his lower regions because the man was flat out hotter than hell with his intriguing mix of Spanish and Greek heritage and his toppy-as-fuck attitude. They’d started sleeping together in high school and hooked up off and on over the years, but that stopped for good when Jude fell for a surgeon at this very hospital, one who was now following him into the room. Shane got the attraction there, too, and that had only been reinforced the few times the two men had him over for dinner. Jude was truly whipped by the tall, bossy doctor.

One who must love to bottom, because Shane knew Jude well. He also knew the smile he was giving them was dorky in the extreme but he couldn’t help it. Good painkillers. And funny enough, they must have been doing something bad to his body because for the first time, nothing perked up at the sight of Jude.

Well, shit. Shouldn’t painkillers make him want sex?

“If you were to pick a place to get shot, it’s the ass,” Dr. Ashton Frost, or Snow, as most called him, announced as he stopped at the foot of Shane’s bed where Shane couldn’t see him. He still felt him in the room—the man was just too larger than life, too present. “Lots of muscle and far from all the more dangerous places you could be shot.”

“I didn’t get shot in the ass,” he repeated, resting his head on the pillow.

“You sure?” Jude asked as he stopped within Shane’s view. He wore casual, loose jeans and a black pullover sweater that matched the hair on his head and scruff on his chin. He must have been off for the night—he worked as a paramedic at this hospital. His partner, however, wore a doctor’s coat, so he was obviously on the clock. Jude leaned down, his dark eyes shining with mirth. “Let me see it.”

“No.” Shane curled his lip at him. Or at least, he thought he did.

Chuckling, Jude reached for the light blanket over Shane. “Seriously, I’m a professional. Let me see it.”

“Why do you want to look at his ass?” Dr. Frost came around the bed and aimed a frown at Jude. It didn’t hold a lot of heat, though, and that was one of the things he liked most about Snow. The man knew his relationship with Jude was strong, so he didn’t pull any of the he-man, alpha jealousy crap. He looked like he had that sort of personality.

He-man alpha jealousy crap. He loved whatever that nurse had given him. Shane snorted loudly, causing both men to look his way.

“He’s my friend,” Jude insisted. “I want to make sure he’s okay.”

“Then read his damn chart.”

Shane rolled his eyes because there might have been just a little bit of heat behind those words. “Go the fuck away, Jude. I’m fine.”

“It wasn’t his ass.”

Shane perked up in more ways than one with the addition of that voice. Quinn strolled into the room, dirt streaks still on his clothes from hitting the ground in the park earlier. He also had some on his face. His hair stuck up all over the place from him running his fingers through it and those pretty blue eyes looked closely at him behind the black glasses.

God, he was so fucking cute. And sexy. So, so fucking sexy. And…now, Shane was really loving the painkillers. They were certainly not inhibiting his blood flow, because he looked at Jude, then back to Quinn and sure enough, everything worked. And it was all due to the computer geek. Shane was suddenly glad he was lying on his stomach, because he’d never hear the end of getting a hard-on in the hospital, and Jude was shrewd enough to figure out who’d caused it, too. Especially because Shane could not take his gaze away from Quinn.

Jude patted his ass, chuckling. “You’re flying high, aren’t you?” He sat down in the chair next to the bed. “So where is the bullet hole?”

“S’not a hole,” Shane muttered, finally pulling his gaze back to Jude and aware that he might be slurring. Just a little bit. “It’s a graze on the back of my thigh. Hit z’muscle only. It’s not bad at all. They’re even sending me home tonight.”

“How about you stay with us over the weekend? You could probably use some extra hands, so you can lie flat a couple of days.”

“Nah, I’ll call my dad.” Shane’s gaze went back to Quinn, who stood quietly by the door and he smiled at him as the room spun a bit. It must have been a weird smile, because Quinn sucked in a breath and Jude turned to give Quinn a closer look. Shane didn’t give a shit what anyone saw. He was just so happy Quinn was there and he wished he’d come closer. Before he realized what he was doing, he was crooking his finger to beckon him over.

“I’ll help him,” Quinn said quietly. “I’ll stay at his place and take care of him this weekend.”

“Oh, you will?” Jude turned back to Shane and waggled his eyebrows.

Shane ignored him because Quinn had come closer and put his hand on the small of Shane’s back. He closed his eyes and sighed, feeling better just with the man’s touch. “I like this idea,” he said half into the pillow as drowsiness rose up so fast, he started spinning behind his eyelids. “I like that you’re not stillmadat…me,” he slurred as he dropped off.

Shane didn’t remember a lot about the next few hours other than his father showing up and Quinn yelling at Snow—something about his medication. All he got out of it was they had to switch out those lovely painkillers because he had some sort of reaction that had Snow and Jude both jumping into the fray.

The next time he woke, he was in his own bed in his room and Quinn was stretched out next to him, softly snoring. He rolled over and swung his legs to the edge of the bed, wincing when he felt the pull of the stitches on his thigh. Lights from the city came in through the glass door to his balcony. He always left it uncovered because the room would be pitch black with the two, full brick walls and the lack of windows. The soft glow was a nice reminder of where he lived. He loved this section of the city. Right now, he liked the light because he could see Quinn.

Looking over his shoulder, he sighed, wanting to cuddle back against him, but his bladder had other ideas. He took care of business, grabbed a water to hopefully wet the desert in his throat, and walked back into his room only to stop at the end of the bed.

Norma Jean had stolen most of Quinn’s pillow, forcing him to cock his head to the side, which didn’t look all that comfortable since he was sprawled on his back. Half his face was squished into her side and her purr was loud enough to shake the room. It should have awakened the man, but it hadn’t. Shane took a moment to admire how good he looked in his bed, his long legs sprawled and bare since he wore only boxers with one of Shane’s T-shirts. He’d talked about not enjoying exercise, but it hadn’t hurt him at all. His body was on the thin side, but Shane really liked it. A lot. Liked his long, slim legs with their surprisingly thick calves. He liked his narrow hips and the trail of dark hair under his belly button he could see because the shirt had ridden up.

And for some reason, he absolutely loved seeing the man wearing his clothes. He couldn’t even describe the thrill it gave him without using words like “mine” and “boyfriend,” and he couldn’t really compute how that made him feel—especially because he’d never felt that way before. The closest he’d come to wanting a relationship had been with Jude and even then, he’d known it would never work forever because Jude had needed something in the bedroom that Shane never had. He didn’t mind dominance play and loved it on occasion, but it wasn’t something Shane necessarily had to have. For Shane, it was play and for Jude, it was something deeper.

Jude may not have gone out looking for that, but his need for it was embedded in his personality as much as his two heritages were. Shane had never seen anyone more perfect for his friend. Snow had the domineering personality, but he also had that wounded needy side that tripped every one of Jude’s protective buttons. He was honestly happy for his friend.

And occasionally, he was a little jealous of what they had. But it was usually just a spark that he forgot about with the next fun roll in the sheets.

Quinn felt like more than a roll in the sheets. Just looking at him sleeping, spread out inelegantly with his face smashed into Norma Jean had Shane’s heart beating hard. Had him thinking of things like dating and sleeping over and silly shit…like holding hands and cooking meals together. The pang that twisted in his chest let him know that it was a very real possibility that he was ready for such a thing and that maybe he was because he really, really liked Quinn.

Today, when those gunshots had gone off, he might have thrown his body over the woman’s, but it was Quinn he’d worried about first.

Fuck. It was possible he more than liked Quinn.

He stared at him a long time before he finally gave in to his exhaustion and climbed into bed. He stretched out on his side, moving carefully so he didn’t wake Quinn, but it didn’t work. Probably because he tried to bite off a groan of pain and failed miserably.

“Your cat is on my face,” Quinn said, his voice thick and rusty with sleep. He rubbed his nose and turned a sleepy smile Shane’s way.

Quinn was on guard so much during the day that Shane loved the open sweetness he had when he was half-asleep. He couldn’t stop himself from tugging Quinn in close but again, he winced.

“You okay?” Quinn started to sit up. “You need something for the pain?”

“In a minute.” He pulled him back down, leaving his hand on Quinn’s side. He ran his thumb over ribs and warm skin because he’d pushed the shirt up more. “What happened at the hospital? Did you yell at Snow?”

Quinn shrugged one shoulder. “You don’t remember? You had some kind of reaction to the pain meds. You were fine—it wasn’t anything life threatening, but they switched them out.” He put his hand on Shane’s chest. “They also wanted you to stay all night and you absolutely refused. Just so you know, your dad is asleep on the couch. I think he was worried.”

“I don’t remember any of that. I also went to the bathroom and didn’t even notice him.” Shane chuckled. “I need to get back up and close the bedroom door.”

“I’ll do it.” Quinn rolled away from him, padded to the door, and slid it shut. He came right back and settled in against Shane naturally—like he belonged there.

Shane was really starting to feel like he did. “Thanks for offering to help me out this weekend.”

“You remember that?”

He nodded. “That and Jude being an ass to rile up his boyfriend. They get off on angry sex.”

Quinn snorted and yawned, his body going pliant as he started to slip back into sleep. And when he relaxed into Shane, he pressed right into Shane’s full dick. He pulled back to blink at Shane in the near darkness. “Really? With a gunshot wound?”

“It’s just a graze and you’re gorgeous and in my bed, so of course I’m hard. We don’t have to do anything about it. It feels good to just hold you now that you’re not angry. You aren’t, right? Things still felt awkward yesterday.”

“I’m not. Getting shot at turns out to be good for letting things go.” Quinn paused and licked his lips. There was no missing the sudden stiffness in his frame. Shane held back from reaching out to pull Quinn even closer, wanting to kiss away whatever thoughts were passing through his head.

“You know how I told you that my mom was in a car accident? That it’s the reason she’s the way she is now?” Quinn started after several seconds of silence. His voice was low and rough like he was forcing it past a lump in his throat.

“Yeah.”

“I think she’d been leaving the guy she’d been living with…because he hit her.”

“Quinn…” Shane said on a heartbroken sigh.

“They’d been together for about a year, but I didn’t see him often because I was so busy with school. I-I didn’t know. She never said anything. After she was in the hospital for a few days, the doctor pulled me aside and told me that she had a lot of really old bruises and a few scars that weren’t from the car accident.” He closed his eyes and tears slipped out the corners. “Her car was full of her stuff. She was leaving him. Trying to break free. She never told me.”

Shane reached over and cupped the side of Quinn’s face, using his thumb to wipe away a tear. “It’s not your fault.”

“I should have been there. If I hadn’t been so caught up in school and my life, I would have known something was wrong. I could have saved her. Then maybe…”

“Don’t do that to yourself, Quinn. Don’t!” His fingers tightened, digging into the back of Quinn’s head until Quinn opened his eyes and looked at Shane. “You didn’t know. You can’t know everything. You can’t save everyone.”

“But she’s my mom. She did everything to save me from myself.”

“And you’re doing everything you can now to take care of her. You are a good son. A good man.”

“Thank you,” Quinn whispered.

Shane leaned forward and kissed both his cheeks, kissing away the tears. “Thank you for trusting me with that.” It made sense now, Quinn’s sensitivity to Brenda Spring’s suffering. Another woman Quinn couldn’t save and the perpetrator poised to get away.

Quinn cleared his throat and moved in close enough to press against Shane harder. He slowly rolled his hips, rubbing and turning Shane’s brain into mush. “Tell me we’re going to have sex again when you heal, because this time I want to feel you inside me.”

Shane groaned. Holy hell, the guy was so, so much more open when sleepy. He was so fucking hot like this; Shane just wanted to tie him up and keep him. Ooh, there was a thought. He should have bought a better headboard for such things. His was a thick, rectangle of wood. Pretty, but not practical for strapping Quinn to his bed. And shit, now he was really starting to burn. “We most definitely are having sex again, and more than once, if I have anything to say about it.” He kissed his chin, his neck, nuzzling in and inhaling Quinn’s fresh, clean skin. He must have showered here. The image of him standing in Shane’s shower kicked up the heat despite the dull ache in the back of his thigh. “We can do something now. We need to.”

“It’ll hurt you.”

He wasn’t saying no and Shane could feel his cock throbbing against him. “In the table on your side is a bottle of lube. Grab it?”

The eager roll and grab made him chuckle. The way Quinn handed him the bottle with such trust and not a little innocence had him ready to roll the man over and show him just how good bottoming could be, but that was going to have to wait. For now, touching, kissing—it would be enough.

He carefully pushed down his boxers and Quinn eagerly followed. Hell, his enthusiasm alone had Shane ready to come out of his skin. Shane quickly poured lube onto his hand and tossed the bottle over his shoulder to hit the wall and clatter to the floor. The noise wasn’t loud enough to wake his father, but it did cause his cat to jump to the floor. He didn’t care as he swept in to capture Quinn’s mouth in a deep, wet kiss.

Quinn moaned, the vibration rumbling against Shane’s tongue making him shiver in anticipation as he wrapped his lubed hand around both of their dicks. Quinn gasped into his mouth, then began thrusting his hips.

Smooth skin, silky and slick with lube had Shane dying to thrust as well, but he found that if he just gripped them and moved his hand, Quinn thrust enough for the both of them. It made his cock rub deliciously against Shane’s. He forgot all about the pull in his thigh as he lost himself in Quinn’s mouth.

Quinn was shaking with excitement and releasing soft moans and sexy gasps and holy fucking shit, he made Shane spin out in a rush of lust and affection so overwhelming he expected to crash. But instead, he sped up his hand and ached to be as close as he possibly could to the other man. Quinn nipped and licked Shane’s bottom lip, then pulled back, his eyes open and locked on Shane’s as he kept moving his hips in an incredibly sensual roll.

“So hot,” Shane whispered. “Fuck, Quinn, you are so fucking hot.”

Quinn grasped on to the back of Shane’s neck and slid his wet lips across Shane’s and he opened for the thrust of that talented tongue and tightened his fingers. The gasp that sank into his mouth this time had an urgency Shane recognized. Recognized and felt because his own orgasm was racing through him like lightning.

“Gonna come,” Quinn breathed against his lips.

“Me too. Do it. Let me feel it.”

His words must have helped send Quinn over, because he bit down on his bottom lip and shut his eyes, his head going back to show the taut tendons in his neck as he quaked and shot all over Shane’s hand and stomach. He did all this quietly and Shane wished Quinn could yell. Hell, he wished he could yell in triumph as he stared in complete fascination.

Quinn was so goddamn beautiful, Shane couldn’t look away as he sped up his hand and clenched his ass and when his own orgasm hit, he shuddered and couldn’t keep his eyes open as wave after wave of pleasure washed over him.

“Shit, Shane,” Quinn whispered, his tone faintly urgent as he came in for another deep kiss, his hand coming up to rest on Shane’s cheek before he wrapped that arm around Shane’s neck and pressed their bodies together. Shane’s wet hand went around Quinn’s back as he clutched him just as close.

They held each other as they calmed and this time when Shane felt all those new, possessive feelings, they didn’t scare him. The only thing scaring him now was whether or not Quinn was feeling them, too.

God, he hoped so.