I nodded automatically, then froze when my body immediately betrayed me.
The air felt wrong, to say the least. It was thin and cold, like it would be on the summit of Mount Everest. I swallowed despite the tightness in my throat and tried to take a deeper breath only to gag so hard I almost knocked myself over. I pressed my palm flat to the nest before I could lose any more of my balance.
“You don’tlookbetter,” Skye said softly.
I’m fine,I signed.Just pregnant.
But, it wasn’t true. When I was with Vinny today, I felt fine. Fantastic, actually. Sure, the babies made me feel like a beached whale and my back hurt, but I wasn’t cold. Or tired. Or nauseous. Or any of that.
And now that I could faintly smell him on the sheets, I felt worse than ever. It was like my body was forgetting how to function. My fingers tingled, and my bones felt hollow.
“I’m going to wake Benji,” Skye said.
I signed to tell him not to, but he wasn’t looking.
“Benji,” Skye whispered, urgent but gentle. “Hey. I need you.”
Benji stirred almost immediately, blinking awake like he’d been half-conscious already.
“¿Qué pasó?” he murmured.
I curled in on myself as if that could prevent me dying of embarrassment.
“Vi?” Benji said quietly. “What’s wrong, Muñequita?”
I tried to sign nothing, but my hands shook too badly to make it convincing.
“Ay, let’s get you into a shower, steam fixes all.”
Skye glanced between us, worry written all over his face. “You sure that’s a good idea? I don’t want her to pass out, and you know, drown.”
“I’m sure, poor thing looks cold.” Benji shifted to his knees. “Warm water helps blood flow, we get the color back in her cheeks, then we go from there.”
The tiles below my knees were warm, and I was surrounded by dicks. No, literally, I had Benji’s uncircumcised cock behind me, and Skye’s pierced rod in front of me. Did I know why a shower was a group activity?
No.
Did I like that it was one?
Also no.
But–did I like that the boys wanted to spend time with me so badly that they invaded the shower in the name ofmaking me feel bettera thousand times yes.
“We have got to get some meat on your bones, Muñequita,” Benji muttered as his hands worked shampoo into my hair.
Notmyshampoo. Gods no. Mine smelled like citrus and honeysuckle, this one smelled like mint, and medicine, and made my scalp tingle. Benji promised it would help wake me up, and to his credit, he was right, but I still didn’t like it.
I hummed in disagreement of Benji’s statement before leaning forward, resting my forehead on Skye’s thighs as I held onto his hips for dear life.
“We do, for the baby,” Benji argued as he continued to scrub. “I am about to start bringing you breakfast in bed and sitting there while you eat.”
My nose crinkled at the idea of eating anything right now, but Skye vocalized his disgust at the idea before Benji could press.
“No food in the nest,” Skye argued.
“No, not our nest, bed. Her nest is in Vinny’s closet, she can eat breakfast in his bed.”
I tried to look back and glare at Benji, but he just twisted my head back and mumbled something about not wanting soap in my eyes.