Page 37 of Knot Your Sugar Rush
Jamie leans forward from the windowsill, his eyes soft. “We’ll keep an eye on her if she tries to escape early.”
“I’m scrappy,” Gram says with a wink.
“You’ve always been,” I murmur.
Theo glances at her IV and then back to her face. “Just don’t try to sweet-talk the nurses. I’ve seen you in action. They won’t stand a chance.”
“Oh hush,” Gram says, swatting at him with the edge of her blanket. “Now you’re just trying to charm me.”
“Only a little.” Theo grins, and it’s that rare, quiet kind of grin that catches you off guard.
She turns back to me. “Cam, love, would you be a dear and make me a proper cup of tea? These sweet hospital aides mean well, but they steeped the last one until it tasted like an old boot.”
“Absolutely.” I stand, trying not to glance back at her vitals. “Any preference?”
Theo steps toward me and reaches into his jacket pocket like a magician pulling out a trick. “Here.”
I blink. “Is that... a teabag?”
“Proper British tea. I carry tea bags for emergencies.”
I blink again. “You carry emergency tea?”
“I refuse to be caught unprepared. It happened once. Never again.”
Dane groans. “Not the Chicago incident again.”
Jamie grins and clutches his chest. “Chicago 2017. A dark day in tea history.”
Dane lifts his chin. “You drank that lukewarm hotel swill and liked it.”
“Out of desperation!” Theo protests.
Gram is nearly doubled over laughing, her eyes dancing. “Now that’s what I like to see. Men with strong opinions about tea. Camellia, sweetheart, you hold onto this one.”
Theo’s ears go pink, and I try not to blush as I accept the teabag like it’s a sacred offering. “Thanks. I’ll go see what I can find for hot water.”
I hesitate at the door, soaking in the soft laughter, the teasing energy swirling around the room. It’s like they’ve always belonged here, like their laughter belongs in this hospital room just as surely as Gram does.
And I realize, as I walk away, that I’m smiling. Smiling despite the hospital walls, despite my worries, despite the acheof uncertainty that’s been gnawing at my ribs since I saw Gram collapse.
But as the hallway quiets around me, doubt creeps in. I left them all in that room—three big, charming, loud alphas and my barely-recovering grandmother. She’ll love them. That’s not the problem.
The problem is that I do, too.
And if I’m not careful, this might stop being temporary. This might start becoming something else entirely.
Dangerous. Real.
Chapter twenty-three
Jamie
Gram waits until Cam disappears down the hallway before turning her keen gaze on the three of us.
“Boys,” she says, voice low but unmistakably firm. “Come closer.”
The fluorescent lighting above flickers faintly, casting long shadows across the pale hospital tile. Everything smells like antiseptic and distant coffee. But Gram's tone slices through it all, clear and commanding. We exchange glances—Dane arches a brow, Theo shrugs with a sigh, and I step forward, drawn to her presence like gravity.
