“She’s sleeping.” Wren greets me outside Aedon’s hospital room. “Her mom and dad are in there. How is Traci?”

“They are just finishing up surgery. It looks like she will have a decent recovery, but a long time in rehab. How is Aedon?” My gaze is on her through the door. Her mom is holding her hand and her dad has fallen asleep in the hospital recliner.

“She’s lucky, considering what all she’s been through. Two broken ribs and no internal injuries. She has a few stitches in her eyebrow, other minor abrasions, but nothing serious.”

“She has to be exhausted.” I run my hand through my hair. “I think while she’s sleeping, I’ll go get a shower and something to eat.” I walk into the room and kiss her mother on the top of the head. “I’m glad our girl is back,” I whisper and she smiles up at me.

Aedon’s head turns in my direction. She says my name, but doesn’t wake up. I turn to see Wren’s scowl form around his eyes. Now that he’s admitted that he loves her, I see every emotion play on his face. I saw glimpses of it before, but ignored it.

I stuff my hands deep into my pockets. “I’ll be back in about an hour. Do you guys need me to bring you anything?” Her mom shakes her head. I walk out the door and Wren is on my heels.

“Aedon might want some coffee when she wakes up,” he says from behind me and I stop.

“I’ll make sure to bring one back.” He stares at me like he wants to say something, but instead he turns and walks back into the room.

I hate this. He’s one of my best friends and this is going to tear us all apart. My mind is on Aedon as I take the short cab ride to my hotel. As soon as the key opens the door, I head to the shower, peeling off clothes as I go. The hot water feels good and my head clears for the first time in a long time. I feel alive. As I wash my cock, it comes alive. I say her name as I stroke myself, growing harder by the second. I would love to be inside her and feel her walls contract around me, shoving myself deeper inside with every thrust, feeling her grow warmer and tighter. My strokes are harder, almost painful as my cock becomes rigid. My need for her rages through my body until I’m torn apart, releasing myself on the shower floor.

I’m not satiated in the least. My cock grows hard again as I wash my body. I ignore my intensely aroused state and dry off, wrapping a towel around my waist. The towel tents out as I make my way to the stocked fridge and pull out a small bottle of whiskey. I unscrew the cap and down it like it was water. I need something to ease the adrenaline that is scouring through my body. Every cell feels energized, excited to be alive.

I slam the bottle down on the counter hard enough to shatter it and glass slices through my hand. I hold my hand up in the air and watch as the scarlet-colored blood runs down my arm and pools onto the counter. There’s no pain.

A phone chirping draws my attention away from the hand, which I am staring at coldly as if it belongs to someone else. I yank the kitchen towel off the sink and wrap it firmly around my hand to stop the bleeding.

“Hello!” I snap into the phone.

“I thought you would be here when I woke up. Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I just cut my hand. I’m sorry, I thought I’d make it back in time. Give me a few minutes and I’ll be there.” I say, heading to the bedroom to find some clothes.

“How bad is it?”

“How bad is what?” She can’t possibly know how alive I feel without my medication.

“Your hand.”

“Oh, I probably need some stitches. I’ll have Wren take care of it when I get there.” I toss my damp towel on the ground and stare down at my raging hard-on. Even slicing my hand open didn’t dissipate it. “How are you feeling?”

“Sore, but better. I want you to take me to see Bia when you get here and get an update on Traci.”

“Okay, I’ll be there soon.” I hang up and pull a pair of jeans on, adjusting myself in hopes to make my cock settle down. It doesn’t work, so I tuck it into my waistband so it is less obvious. I’ll swing by the pharmacy on my way back from the hospital. I haven’t missed a dose in so long, I’ve forgotten what it feels like to not be medicated. I wish it didn’t feel so damn good.

I quickly brush my teeth and hair, deciding to skip the shave. I pull on a white button-down and grab my wallet, calling for a cab as I exit the hotel room.

Several minutes later, I’m back in Aedon’s room. Her eyes light up the minute she sees me. “There you are.” She holds her arms out for me to walk into. I sit on the side of the bed and just hold her.

“Let me see your hand.” She pulls my hand off her and unwraps the towel, holding it out in front of her. “I don’t know what looks worse, the blisters or the cut.”

Wren walks in, holding a tray of coffee. “I knew you’d want to get back here and forget all about the coffee.” He walks over to the hospital table and puts them down.

“What did you do?” he looks over at my hand being held by Aedon.

“I dropped a glass and tried to catch it,” I say, not wanting to admit what I had done. “Where are your parents?” I ask Aedon.

“I sent them back to the hotel. Wren rescheduled their flight and they’ll be leaving early in the morning.”

“I can drive them,” I offer.

“You can drive all of us because we’re all going back home.”

“They haven’t released you yet.” Wren has walked over and is examining my hand.

“No, but you are going to sign me out. They can’t refuse me to leave in the care of two capable doctors.” She smiles at me.

“You need stitches in this.” Wren says.

“How about we butterfly it?” I take my hand out of his.

“I think stitches would work better, but it’s your hand,” he shrugs. He digs through one of our medical bags that is laying in the corner of the room.

“Did you hear anything more about Traci?” Aedon pats the side of the bed for me to sit down.

“I called on the way here. She’s awake, but she’s got a long road ahead of her.”

“Do you think you could get me into the ICU to see her on the way to see Bia?”

“I’m sure that can be arranged.” I hold my hand up as Wren stands beside me. He ever so gently applies antibiotic ointment. He gives it time to dry before he places six Steri-Strips in place, pulling the cut tight.

“That should do it,” he says, placing the last one. “I’ll go find a wheelchair so our patient can make her escape,” he says as he throws the empty package in the trash.

Aedon’s fingers toy with the scruff on my face. “I kinda like this look on you.”

“Do you now?” I lean in and kiss her. She winces as my hand touches her waist. “Sorry,” I say and pull away. She draws my hand back to her and places it on her gown-covered breast.

“You can rest your hand here if you would like,” she teases me.

Damn it, my cock had finally settled down and now I can feel it arousing again. I shift to discourage it and place my hand on my lap.

“You got a problem there?” She points and laughs.

“Nothing you can’t handle when your better.” I kiss the tip of her nose.

“We could have a quickie while Wren is hunting down the wheelchair?” She raises her eyebrows.

For a split second, the selfish bastard in me wants nothing more, but I reign him in for her sake. “I think you need a little more recovery time before I take what I want from you.”

She lets out a soft sexy moan. “I don’t think that part of me has been affected. In fact, just thinking about you taking me has made me wet.” She licks her lips and it takes all the restraint I have not to fuck her right here.

Thank God, Wren has perfect timing, rolling the wheelchair into the room. “Here is your escape vehicle,” he says laughing.

I help her stand and make sure she’s all tied up in the back before she sits down. I follow close behind and call Ander to catch up on news about the Pentagon. Wren and I stand outside Traci’s ICU room as Aedon talks quietly to Traci.

“Ander says the mission is no longer in rescue mode. They are sending search parties out only now.” I lean my tall frame in the doorway. “We lost hundreds of men and women in that building and we only rescued just shy of a hundred.”

“I spoke to General Briggs earlier today. They’ve already caught the men responsible for the act of terror.”

“ISIS?”

He nods his head. “I don’t know how that they were able to get even remotely close to the Pentagon with all the security we have in place.”

“I’m sure all the laws that the President of the United States has been trying to put in place to tighten our borders will pass quickly now. The terrorists have left us no choice. It’s too bad that many good and hardworking people will be forced to jump through hoops to get into this country. It will be a long time before we recover from this.”

Aedon waves me into the room. “She’s fallen asleep. Can you take me to see Bia now?”

I quietly push her out of the room and down the long hallway to the elevators. We take them to the pediatric floor and check in at the desk. General Briggs is coming down the hallway.

“Bia will be so excited to see you.” He leans down and kisses Aedon on the cheek. “Thank you for saving my little girl.”

“I think she saved me back.” Aedon smiles up at him.

“I’m so glad that the two of you made it out. Others weren’t as lucky.” The wrinkles in his face grow deeper with sadness.

“I’m sorry we weren’t able to save more people,” I respond.

“We saved the ones we could. Unfortunately, most of them were dead when the bomb exploded.” He glances at his watch. “I don’t mean to be rude, but I have a meeting at the White House.”

“Certainly. Let me know if there is anything you need from us. We can send more teams out, but I know you’re working strictly with the military.”

“I’ll let you know, Ashe. Thanks for everything.” He shakes my hand and heads out.

Bia shouts as soon as she sees us enter her room. “Aedon!”

“Well, that traction doesn’t look like a whole lot of fun.” Aedon says as she leans in to hug her.

“Yeah, it kinda sucks, but Mom and Dad bought me a new laptop so that I could watch Netflix and play some games.”

“That was nice of them. Nobody bought me anything.” She playfully reaches behind her and smacks me in the stomach.

“I bought you coffee,” Wren chimes in.

Aedon sticks her hands out, moving them up and down like a scale. “Coffee…laptop…coffee…laptop,” she teases with him.

“I’m so glad they found you,” Bia says.

“Thanks to you being so brave.” I pat her hand.

“More like Houdini,” I add.

“Who?” Bia tilts her head and asks.

“He was a magician. He was able to escape from anything.”

She’s still looking at me oddly. “Never mind, he was way before your time. The point is, I can’t for the life of me figure out how you got out of there.”

“I don’t know either. At one point, I passed out and when I woke up, I was on the other side of the concrete barrier. I think maybe my guardian angel carried me over. Or maybe it was Wonder Woman.” She smiles and winks at Aedon.

“It was nothing short of a miracle.” Aedon says.

“I’m going to let the three of you visit. I need to run down to the pharmacy.”

“I’ll follow you out. I want to make sure that everything is set up for her discharge,” Wren says.

We part ways at the elevator. I’m still starving so instead of heading to the pharmacy right away, I locate the cafeteria. The place is filled with visitors and it takes forever to get through the line. The hamburger I bought from the grill is cold by the time I get to eat it. I scarf it and my French fries down like a pig eating slop. I can’t remember the last time I sat down and ate. Now that I have, I can’t get my fill. Great, now I’m craving sex and food, I laugh to myself. I’m so energized, I feel I could run a marathon. I get in line again and order another hamburger. This time I eat it while standing in line to pay for it.

By the time I make my way down to the outpatient pharmacy, they are already closed. I dig my phone out of my back pocket to locate a pharmacy that will deliver to the hotel, then call and give them my prescription. They tell me it will be several hours due to people rushing in from the terror attack. The people that live here are trying to get out of town, and people that are injured need their scripts filled.