Page 19 of Beautiful Unity
“Go Fish, it is. But with a twist.”
“What’s the twist?” Brooks asked, picking up the cards.
“This.” Maddox dumped a bag of M&Ms on the table. “You get an M&M when you make a pair, two if you have all four cards. You keep what you have at the end of each round. But here’s the twist. You have to barter one to take a card from someone. If it’s not your turn, but you need that card, you can jump in and steal with a bigger wager.”
“Sounds easy enough.” I shrugged and sorted my cards.
The game was easy. I just hadn’t accounted for the cutthroat competition among the three of us.
“Princess, you know you want to give it to me. I have five M&M’s to offer.”
“But he’ll win if you do that,” Brooks countered.
I bit my lip, counted the candy pieces, and debated. If I took the five, would I have more than Maddox, or would he still win?
Before I could decide, a key was inserted into the door, and it was flung open. A giant of a man lumbered in with Bubba under his arm. I bolted upright and my chair fell to the ground in the process. I scrambled over the table, sending M&M’s everywhere, but I didn’t care.
Another guy was under Grayson’s arm, and my eyes pinged back and forth as I searched the four of them. There was blood and dirt, but I couldn’t tell where it came from.
“Hot damn, Rosebud. You do exist.” The deep voice pulled my focus, and my eyes bugged out at the man it belonged to.
“Tiny! Oh my god. You’re huge!”
“That’s what he said,” the unfamiliar guy chuckled, then groaned like the action hurt.
My heart pounded, and my mind raced with what to do. Finally, I broke my frozen state and jumped into action.
“You’re hurt. Sit, sit.” I gestured the four men to the table. Grayson’s smile was thankful as he lowered the man into the chair. Tiny did the same for Bubba. The grimace on my Viking’s face had me rushing to his side.
“What happened?” My hands hovered over him, scared to touch him anywhere.
“Let’s tend to injuries first,” Maddox said, handing Tiny the first aid kit.
“Here,” Brooks said, handing me a washcloth.
Gently, I wiped away the grime from Bubba’s face and took in the injuries. He had a cut on his eyebrow and a bruise forming on his cheek, but it didn’t look fatal. Pretty Boy returned with the ice bucket and made an ice pack, handing it to Bubba.
“Thanks,” he croaked.
After removing his shirt, I tenderly touched his ribs. The skin was already purpled and inflamed, but his ribs didn’t appear to be broken, just bruised. I made him remove his jeans next, much to his dismay, and cleaned a few scrapes on his knees. There was a slight burn on his hand, so I bandaged it and rubbed some arnica cream on his ribs.
“Might need to wrap them if it gets too painful to move.”
“Thanks, baby.” Bubba cupped my cheek, his eyes soft as he held me. “I’m okay.”
I nodded, sniffling, but I didn’t let the tears fall. I kissed him once and turned to Grayson. His hair was wet, and he was wearing a clean T-shirt and sweats.
“Are you injured?” I asked, scanning him like I had X-ray vision.
“Just my pride,” he mumbled, wrapping his arms around me. I squeezed him tight, my body relaxing now that they’d both returned. Once my heart slowed to its normal rhythm, I stepped out of his hold and turned to take in the two new men in the room.
Tiny smiled at me and held his arms out to me. I rushed over and accepted his hug. It was warm and comforting, just like it had always been.
“Good to see you, Rosebud. You’ve been severely missed around here.”
“It’s good to see you, too.” I pulled back, tracing my eyes over him. “I know it’s been a while, but I don’t remember you being, well, this big. You’re huge, Tiny!” My eyes widened as I squeezed his arms.
He chuckled. “Since I didn’t have a mouthy teenager to keep me occupied, I had to find new ways to entertain myself. Plus, the bigger I got, the more I could protect the people I cared about. Speaking of… I’m trying to figure out who you’re with. I assumed it was Mad Dog, but…” he trailed off, implying he’d seen me kiss two other guys.