Page 9 of Triple Protection

"What the fuck just happened?!" an angry Alex is shouting in my face as I start to come-to. I blink a few times, trying to get his blurry face to focus. His face is so severely handsome, with dark eyes and a sharp jaw. His eyes are so piercing it's hard to make eye contact. So, I close my eyes.

Brick has gone to the window to check it's secure, while Liam clears the bathroom. Now all three men are staring at me with varying degrees of anger, fear, and confusion, and I can't bring myself to give a damn. I'm just so fucking tired.

"Panic attack." I whisper, closing my eyes and hoping I could just black out again.

"How often have you been getting panic attacks, sweetheart?" Liam asks. His voice soothing, as if approaching a wild animal.

A drunken grin pulls across my face at his sweet words. Liam is like honey; Alex is like a jalapeno... but what is Brick? What food is dark and broody? Dark chocolate? A mocha coffee?

"She’s drunk." Alex says in disgust.

I shake my head. "Just tired."

"You dumbass, it's 9 o'clock in the morning and we just watched her go to the shower. When do you think she had time to get drunk?" Liam admonishes. "She had a panic attack; her brain is rebooting." Beneath Liam's happy-go-lucky and flirty personality was a deeply caring, smart man. I wonder momentarily how he is still single.

Alex and Liam move me to the bed, trying to keep the towel in place to prevent any accidental exposure, but I stiffen the minute my body hit the mattress. My adrenaline begins pumping again, my body foggy but vaguely aware I was in danger. My breathing starts to pick up again and I struggle against whoever is holding me to get off the bed. Anywhere but the bed.

Brick shakes his head before wrapping me up in my comforter like a burrito. "No. The couch." The other two boys look at him curiously but remain silent. Brick tosses burrito-me over his shoulder before walking down the stairs and stepping into my living room. He lays me down on the couch, facing the back of it, similar to how I fell asleep last night, before gently lifting my head and sliding his thigh underneath.

I should be uncomfortable at the closeness - at how inappropriate this position is again. But the softness of his worn sweats against my face, the warmth of the comforter and the smell of him - pine and leather - are exactly what I needed. I let out a deep sigh before closing my eyes.

The boys talk in low voices above me, discussing their rotating schedule, new sleeping arrangements, and more, but I couldn't have cared less.

"Thank you, Brick." I whisper, almost asleep already. There is so much more I wanted to say, but exhaustion means it has to wait.

Chapter eight

Angela

Angela

I wake up to the blaring of my phone alarm, still foggy. I have a virtual appointment with my therapist at 2pm and that was my 15-minute warning. Shit. I'd gotten nothing productive accomplished that day and Courtney was in for a field day.

In college, my dorm roommate was Courtney, a duel enrolled psychology and family counseling major. It took one night of tequila shots in our dorm for me to become her favorite pet project. Abandonment issues with my mother, terrible self-worth issues because of my siblings and lack of intimacy from my father make me a delightful mix of personal and familial issues for her to unpack and practice what she learned in class on me.

In addition to becoming my only best friend, she insisted on becoming my counsellor as well, and I was her first official client when she opened her private practice. I had temporarily tried on another therapist at one point, thinking maybe Courtney was tooclose of a friend to be an unbiased third party, but that therapist took my daddy issues to the celebrity gossip rags after our first session. Luckily, Courtney and I were very good at being able to separate friendship and therapist/patient relationship, and I trusted her with all of my secrets.

Brick must have already retired for the day because he isn't next to me on the couch when I wake, however Liam is nearby on his laptop. His normal, easy-going demeanor has been replaced with a scowl of hard concentration.

I wrap the comforter around my still naked body and stand, backing towards the stairs. "I'm just going to my office," I say, quietly. "I have a therapy appointment, so I'd like to be alone." He nods absently, still concentrating on his screen.

I drag my sorry ass up the stairs. It seems unfair to me to feel hungover without enjoying the fun of alcohol or drugs, but my nervous system disagrees.

I change quickly in my bedroom and hightail it to my office. I sit in my office chair after closing the door and log into our standing zoom meeting. A few minutes later, my best friend Courtney's face lights up on the screen and I can't help but smile. I may only have one person in this entire world that loves me, but she is my person.

"Hey beautiful," she says in her customary greeting. "How're you?"

"Can I have my friend Courtney before we get into Therapist Courtney? Girl, you're not going to believe the mess I've gotten myself into."

Her eyes widen. "What happened?!"

"So, you know about the break in..." She nods and frowns. "I hired a personal security company to protect me from any further break-ins." She nods her understanding. "Girl, would you believe me if three of the hottest men I've ever seen are assigned to me andmoving into my house?!"

"What? How hot are we talking?"

"Hold on, I took pictures just because I knew you'd ask. Let me text them to you." I had snuck candid photos of each of the boys when they weren't looking because I knew she wasn't going to believe me. I send them over to her and wait while she checks her phone.

"You've got to be kidding me!" She gapes at me incredulously.