Chapter 25

CHAPTER 25

Zeppelin

W hile I waited on the elevator down the hall from Jaxon’s hotel room, I pulled my phone out of my pocket and called Spencer. I hadn’t had time to after Eros sweet-talked the receptionist into giving us a room key. Seeing Jaxon so pale, sweat glistening on his bare skin and shivering, unable to become conscious enough to cover himself, Eros and I had both been too focused on getting Jaxon warm and figuring out what the fuck was going on to call Spencer and let him know we’d found his dad.

Jaxon was sick as hell. His fever was almost too high, and he was in desperate need of medication. Didn’t help that his clothes were still drenched when I picked them up off the hotel room floor, which meant he’d been in the rain for way too fucking long. And he smelled like he’d bathed in a bottle of Vodka.

Guilt churned in my stomach. Had I not overreacted, he wouldn’t even be in this predicament. He’d be at home, in mine and Eros’s bed, well-fucked and well-taken-care-of. Not in a random hotel, so out of it he’d used his son’s debit card to purchase a hotel room, and so sick he could barely stay conscious.

“Hey,” Spencer said, worry filtering into his voice. “How’s Dad? Have you found him yet?”

“Yeah, we found him,” I assured him as the elevator dinged and the doors opened. I stepped inside and pressed the button for the lobby. “He’s sick as fuck though. Running a ridiculously high fever and can barely stay awake.” I left out the part where he smelled like a liquor store. The kid didn’t need to know his dad had drank himself half to death. “I’m heading to the store now to get him some medicine, but Eros is with him. We’re going to take care of him. Right now, he’s under a mound of blankets.” It was one of the first things Eros had done. He’d grabbed the spare blanket out of the closet in the room and draped it over him before asking the cleaning lady, who’d been down the hall cleaning another room, for two more.

“I knew something was wrong,” Spencer muttered. “Do I need to fly up there or?—”

“No,” I quickly told him, stepping off the elevator into the lobby. “We’ve got it. Just keep an eye on Ash, and maybe, if you don’t mind, clean up his house a bit while you’re there? Just to make things easier on him. I want to get him home as soon as possible, so he might still be a bit sick when we get there.”

“Yeah, of course,” Spencer rushed out. “Thank you for going to take care of him, Zep.”

“Sure, kid.” I heard Logan in the background saying something to Spencer, though I couldn’t make out what. “I need to head to the store. I’ll keep you updated on his progress.”

“Thanks,” he told me.

“Make this shit right with him,” Logan snapped into the phone. “Or I’ll fucking kick your ass?—”

The line clicked off. I sighed, too tired to deal with Logan’s shit, but thankfully, Spencer seemed to have hung up the phone before I had to. I angled my body into the SUV we rented after landing in Atlanta and headed to the nearest pharmacy to get soup, a plastic bowl, some water, Pedialyte, and enough medicine to cure a small army.

Eros looked up when I stepped into the hotel room. Jaxon was sleeping, pressed against Eros’s body—practically plastered to him. I set the bags down on the desk beside the dresser and walked over, pressing a kiss to Eros’s lips before I pressed my fingers to Jaxon’s forehead.

He was still running a high fever. Fuck. It hadn’t broken at all.

“Wake him up,” I told Eros. “He needs to try to eat, drink some of this Pedialyte shit, and take some medicine.”

I walked over to the dresser and began warming up his soup and pouring some of the Pedialyte into a paper coffee cup that I found by the Keurig machine. Jaxon was groaning, refusing to budge, but finally, he lifted his head, blinking blearily at me as I strode over to the bed with the bowl of soup, a plastic spoon, and the drink. Eros leaned against the headboard, his chest bare, and tugged a naked Jaxon between his legs, wrapping his arms around his torso to support him.

“You need to drink this,” I told Jaxon as I sat on the edge of the bed. He frowned, shaking his head. “Come on, baby,” I coaxed, my tone gentle. “Please.” I wasn’t above begging to get him somewhat lucid again.

He groaned again before reaching forward and clasping the small cup in his massive hands. I watched as he slowly drank it, wincing with each swallow. I knew his throat had to be killing him. He’d barely been able to talk earlier.

Fuck, I hated seeing my strong, self-sufficient man so tired and weak. It wasn’t right .

When he finally finished it, I set the cup aside before feeding him spoonfuls of soup. Swallowing seemed easier with the warm, salty liquid, and I avoided the small chunks of chicken, knowing they would be too rough on his swollen, aching throat. He finished a third of the bowl before he turned his face away, silently letting me know he couldn’t stomach more. I wished he’d eaten more, but at least he’d eaten something . I’d take that win.

“You’re burning up, Jax,” Eros said quietly, reaching up to push Jaxon’s sweat-dampened strands off his forehead. Jaxon closed his eyes, leaning back against Eros, looking too exhausted to manage something as small as keeping his eyes open.

I stood from the bed and opened a bottle of the medicine I’d bought, pouring some into the little cup that came with it. “Here.” Turning, I pressed the plastic measuring cup against Jaxon’s lips. He grimaced at the smell of the NyQuil but opened his mouth anyway, allowing me to pour it down his throat. After, I helped Eros situate his heavy body on the bed, catching a glimpse of my husband’s bare, naked ass when the covers shifted.

I knew Jaxon was sick, but fuck , knowing the two men I loved more than anything else in this world were cuddling naked made my dick hard and my heart do funny things in my chest.

I arched a questioning brow at Eros. He shrugged one shoulder, a small smile tilting his lips. “He wanted skin-to-skin contact.”

Jaxon grunted, reaching for Eros. Eros quickly pressed against him, giving our man what he wanted. Jaxon was needy as fuck when he was sick, and I honestly couldn’t get enough of it. I liked it when he needed us.

“We need to sandwich him between us and try to sweat this fever out of him,” I told Eros as I rounded the bed. I began pulling off my clothes, ignoring the way my hard cock slapped against my belly. “He needs a shower, but I want him more conscious first before we attempt that.”

Eros pulled Jaxon close to him, and the blankets shifted on the bed as Eros tangled their legs together. “Well, come on. You can be his big spoon.”

Jaxon made a noise that rumbled deep from within his chest, but otherwise, he didn’t say anything else. But it wasn’t a sound that seemed like he didn’t want me cuddling him. It sounded like he needed it. And God, that did something funny to my insides.

How this man could still want me after how badly I’d hurt him was beyond me.

I slid beneath the heavy blankets and wound my arms around Jaxon’s waist, the backs of my hands pressing against Eros’s flat stomach as I did so. Jaxon sighed and sank into my hold when I pressed the entire front of my body to his back and buried my face in his hair. “I love you,” I told him, needing him to know that. We still had a lot to talk about, but until then, I would utter those three words as much as possible so he knew I wasn’t going anywhere. Not again. And I was never letting him walk away again either.

He grunted in response before his breaths slowly evened out. Eros reached over him and rested his hand on my hip, watching me over Jaxon’s dark hair. “Trust me—this speaks volumes,” he promised me. “You got on a plane and flew here without hesitation the moment you found out he might need us. You’re taking care of him while he’s at his lowest. This means a lot to him. I know it does.”

I just hoped my husband was right. Because I couldn’t fucking lose Jaxon. Not again.

It might damn well kill me if I did.