I followed my uncle into the kitchen. He’d pointed it out while showing me other areas I would need to be familiar with but he hadn’t taken me in there. Huck was leaning against the counter with a cigarette between his lips, scowling at his phone. There was another man at the table who looked up at us and nodded. His eyes, however, scanned over me with a look of distaste.

  “Excuse me, gentlemen, but I think there might be an issue we need to discuss,” my uncle began.

  Huck’s eyes lifted from his phone, and then he glanced back at the other man in the room before giving Uncle Neil his attention. I was thankful he kept his glacial-blue eyes off me. He made me nervous. The man was a brick wall.

  Uncle Neil cleared his throat, then shifted his gaze to me. “Uh, I believe—or I am concerned that Gage might have known Shiloh before. I can’t see how they would have crossed paths since she is so much younger than all of you. You wouldn’t have even been in high school at the same time.”

  Huck’s glare was once again trained on me.

  “You ask Shiloh about it?” Huck replied.

  Uncle Neil cleared his voice again. He did that when he was uncomfortable. I had noticed it in the office when he dealt with patients.

  “Yes, well, you see”—he looked at me again—“Shiloh had an accident two years ago. Her car hit black ice. She had severe head trauma and was in a coma for a few days. When she did wake up, she didn’t know who she was. Shiloh has focal retrograde amnesia, which means she has the ability to form new memories and her intelligence and the ability to learn new skills are intact. She, however, remembers nothing about her life before the accident,” Uncle Neil explained.

  This had once bothered me. Not knowing myself or anyone in my life. I’d gone through a series of emotions, but in the end, I had come to accept that I’d been given another chance. I chose to make the best of it and build a new life. One that made me happy.

  I finally met Huck’s steady glare. He was studying me as if he wasn’t sure he believed this or not. I’d gotten that a lot too. Especially from Isaac. It seemed hard for people to accept that I truly had no memory of them at all. Isaac had kept trying to make me that girl again by forcing things I had once enjoyed on me. When I was honest and told him that those things didn’t appeal to me, he would get angry. Since leaving him and Boston, I had less migraines, dizzy spells, and seizures. The pressure he had put on me hadn’t been good for me or my well-being. Something my mother refused to accept.

  “Hmm,” Huck replied, then took another pull from his cigarette.

  “If there is an issue with her being here, I can find someone else. It might take a few days. I need to make some calls. It’s the trust factor, of course. I trust Shiloh completely. Finding someone else that I trust with this situation will be a little harder.”

  Huck looked back at the other man for a moment. It was as if they were having a silent conversation. Finally, he turned back to Uncle Neil.

  “She can stay until you find someone else,” he replied.

  My stomach sank. I wanted this job. The urge to argue my case was strong, but Uncle Neil would be angry if I said anything.

  “Very well. I will start working on a replacement right away,” he replied. Then turned to me. “I’ll be back at six to check on the patient and take you home.”

  I felt a lump in my throat but refused to let any of them see that this affected me. “Okay.”

  The sympathy in his gaze didn’t help the disappointment. He looked like he wanted to hug me, but he didn’t. I watched him give the men a nod before he turned to leave. I started to follow him. I needed to go check on the patient, and I also wanted to get away from the other two men. At least the one upstairs, although he didn’t like me either, was injured and needed my help.

  “Stay.” Huck’s command startled me.

  Slowly, I turned back around to face him.

  “I need to go see if he’s awake now and talk to him before you go back up there,” he told me.

  What I should do was say okay or just nod. Instead, “He knew me?” came out of my mouth.

  Huck’s cold glare returned. “Unfortunately,” he replied, then walked away, leaving me alone with the other man.

  My eyes met the man sitting at the table as he studied me. He didn’t appear as angry, but he wasn’t giving me a welcoming feeling either.

  “Since you don’t remember, I’m Levi,” he said, “and shit around here is about to get real fucking interesting,”

  Four

  Gage

  My eyes opened just as Huck walked in the room.

  He closed the door, then turned to me. “You still fucking high?” he asked.

  How the hell was I supposed to know? He wasn’t Shiloh Ellis, so that was a good sign that I wasn’t tripping anymore.

  “Not sure,” I muttered.

  “Do you remember Shiloh Ellis coming in here with the doc?”

  Fuck.

  “Yeah, I’m still high,” I confirmed. “Because you wouldn’t be talking about fucking Shiloh.”

  Huck muttered a string of curse words. “You’re not fucking high. Shiloh is in the damn kitchen. But I told Carmichael to get someone else. He said to give him a couple days. He needs to find someone he trusts and who’s willing to come into this house and work.”

  I groaned. “Sure. Whatever,” I mumbled and closed my eyes. Once the fucking morphine wore off, I wasn’t taking any more of that shit. Hallucinating was supposed to be fun.

  “Fuck, Gage. Will you listen to me? She’s going to bring her ass up here to check on you in a few minutes. She was in a car accident two years ago and now has fucking amnesia and doesn’t remember shit. At least nothing before the accident. Carmichael called it retro … fuck, I can’t remember.”

  I opened my eyes and turned my head to look at him. “What the fuck are you talking about? My fucking subconscious is not this creative.”

  He scowled. “Carmichael explained it in more detail. He picked up that we fucking hate her and of course had no idea we knew her. She didn’t say anything because she doesn’t remember shit.”

  Amnesia? I had to process this. That girl had fucked with my head. No, she’d fucking ripped out my heart. After her, I’d never given anyone else the chance to get close enough to matter. My life was good. I’d gotten what I’d wanted. The Hugheses trusted me and let me in the family. This was what I was meant to do, and for a moment, I had almost let that bitch take it away from me. I didn’t love her—that emotion was bullshit. She had been an obsession I couldn’t shake, even when she fucked me over. It had taken me too long to get her out of my head.

  “Question is, can you handle her staying? You need someone who can take care of you during the day, and for now, she’s all we’ve got.”

  Could I handle seeing her? She didn’t mean shit to me anymore. Whatever I’d felt for her had been dead for years. If she didn’t remember anything, then what the fuck did it matter if she was here?

  “I don’t give a fuck. I just need to get this shit healed so I can get out of this fucking bed and go kill the fuckers who put me here.”

  “She doesn’t act like the same person,” Huck pointed out. “Just want to make sure where your head is. Where Shiloh Ellis is concerned … well, she was your crazy trigger.”

  He paused, and I knew what he was fucking thinking. That was no longer the case. She didn’t hold that power over me anymore.

  “Not anymore. That shit is dead.”

  Huck nodded. “All right. Then, until we get a replacement, she stays.”

  He turned and walked out of the room, and I stared at the ceiling. She might not remember, but I did. I wasn’t that stupid pussy-whipped kid anymore. Life had changed.

  Eight Years Ago

  “Who the fuck is she?” The beer in my hand paused as I stared at the hottest piece of ass I’d ever laid eyes on.

  “Jailbait,” Huck replied.

  “There’s no way. The one with black hair, fucking killer tits, and legs I want wrapped around my waist.”

  “I know who you’re talking about. Jackson’s girlfriend. Why the fuck he has a girlfriend, I don’t know. He could have different pussy every day. He’s leaving for Georgia in a week, and when he’s the quarterback for an SEC team next year, he’s gonna have pussy thrown at him.”

  I smirked. He might be a football star, but he was still a kid. The only reason he got invited to the parties we had was because of his football status and his father’s connection with the Hugheses.

  “Get that fucking grin off your face. She’s sixteen years old. Stay the fuck away from her,” Huck said before standing up.

  Sixteen? Shit. Remembering Jackson had just graduated high school was hard. He was six foot four and had fucking facial hair.

  I started to look away from her and go find some other bitch to suck my dick when blue eyes locked with mine. Fuck me. It felt like I’d been kicked in the chest. That was just fucking cruel. Sixteen? Fuck! I needed to look elsewhere, but damn if I could bring myself to.

  Her full red lips turned up, and a dimple appeared. This might be the first time I’d gotten a hard-on over a fucking dimple. Jesus Christ, she was smoking hot. They had not made sixteen-year-old girls like that when I was in high school.

  She turned her head to look up at Jackson, and I instantly tensed up. Like I had the right to be pissed she was talking to her boyfriend. But damn if my hands didn’t ball up into fists and my heart didn’t start hammering. Yeah, I was gonna need to go fuck someone and forget about that one. She was trouble I didn’t need. My dad was already pissed off about having to get me out of jail last week for public indecency.

  “You look lonely.” Natalia—or was it Talia?—straddled me and sat down in my lap, facing me.

  Distraction. She’d make a good one.

  I put my hands on her waist and grinned at her. “You wanna fix that?”

  She bit her bottom lip and nodded. The girl was a favorite around here. Especially since she could take on me and Levi at the same time.

  I slid my hands up and cupped her tits. “My cock needs sucked,” I told her before pulling down one side of her bikini top and rubbing her nipple.

  She moaned and slid her hips forward until her pussy was over my hard cock.

  “Talia, looks like that pregnancy didn’t slow you down any.”

  My fucking cock jerked from the delicate, sweet sound. The girl in my arms tensed, but my attention wasn’t on her anymore. My eyes locked on the owner of the voice that reminded me of fucking honey or an expensive bourbon. Those damn crystal-clear blue eyes met mine, and I could see the mischievous glint that she wasn’t even trying to hide.

  “What the fuck are you talking about?” Talia snapped at her.

  She lifted her tanned shoulders, which I wanted to lick, and barely gave Talia a glance. “Oh, you know, word gets around almost as fast as you do.”

  Damn, this baby had a bite. One corner of her mouth curled as she held my gaze. I was fascinated, and this was not fucking good. I couldn’t fuck her out of my system—she was too goddamn young.

  “Bitch,” Talia snarled at her and started to get out of my lap, but I put my hands on top of her thighs to hold her there.

  “What’s your name?” I asked.

  “Shiloh,” she replied.

  There was a challenge in those blue eyes. One I wasn’t going to accept.

  “You always this nasty, or was this just an excuse to talk to me?”

  The way her expression changed for just a moment, as if I had struck her, made my chest tighten in an uncomfortable way that I was going to ignore. For both our sakes, she needed to get away from me.

  “Hey, baby,” Jackson’s fucking voice called out.

  She turned to look back at him as he came up to her and slid his hand around her waist. My body went rigid as I glared at his hand on her before jerking my gaze to Jackson and forcing a smile.

  “Need to keep baby on a leash,” I told him, then smirked and turned my attention back to Talia. “Come on, love. You can suck my dick now,” I told her, then pressed a kiss to her mouth.

  Jackson chuckled. “We’ll leave you to that.”

  I didn’t look back at them as they left, but damn if it wasn’t difficult.

  Five

  Shiloh

  Present Day

  Gage had been asleep since I had returned to the room. For that, I was grateful, but I knew it was almost time to clean his knife wound, then change his bandage. Waking him up was not something I wanted to do.

  My gaze kept going from the book on my e-reader to his bare chest. I had reread the same page five times, and I still had no idea what was happening. This was my first time seeing a man shirtless with a body like that. I mean, sure, I’d seen them on television or in ads. It was different, seeing it in real life. The fact that I was going to have to touch his chest to clean his wound and change his bandages should not excite me. He was hurt and sleeping, yet here I sat, ogling him. Shaking my head, I forced my gaze back to the book.

  Focus on the words, Shiloh. That man is your patient. He’s dangerous, and he apparently hates you.

  I shifted in my seat nervously, thinking about that issue. I wasn’t sure I’d ever know what I had done to make these guys dislike me so much. Asking them seemed like a bad idea. I wasn’t allowed to ask questions. Talking to them in general was probably not going to be taken well.

  “Fuck,” Gage groaned, his deep voice husky from sleep.

  I snapped my head up to meet his gaze. He was looking at me through his long, thick eyelashes. His amber-colored eyes were disarming enough. It seemed unfair that he’d gotten those lashes to go with them.

  “You weren’t a drug-induced dream.”

  I winced. Just my luck that the first man I found attractive couldn’t stand me.

  “So, you don’t remember shit?” he asked.

  I shook my head. “Nothing past waking up in the hospital room.”

  “How convenient,” he said, then tried to move but grunted instead.

  “How is your pain?” I put my e-reader down and stood up to go help him.

  “Oh, I don’t know, Shiloh. I was stabbed in the fucking chest, hit with a metal pole a few times. What the fuck do you think?”

  I ignored his snarly voice and tried not to show how the image he’d just put in my head bothered me. “You need to move a little. Even if it is to scoot up some on your pillow,” I told him.

  “I can fucking move myself.”

  No, he couldn’t, but I wasn’t about to force him to let me. I stood there and waited on him to try. The furious expression on his face as he attempted to and failed made my chest ache. He was only causing himself more pain.

  “Whatever I did to you, I am sorry. I won’t be here long. I’m sure my uncle will get a replacement. But please, while I am here, let me help you,” I begged.

  He was going to open his wound back up if he wasn’t careful.

  His hate-filled eyes locked on mine. “I don’t fucking care that you lost your memory. Because I didn’t. And if there is one thing I wish I could do, it would be to wipe you from mine.” He muttered another curse, then nodded his head toward the door. “Go get Huck or Levi if I need moving.”

  I nodded. “Let me clean the wound, then change your bandages. Do you need me to get the urinal? Uncle Neil took the catheter out and said you didn’t want to use it.”

  “You’re not going anywhere near my fucking dick,” he snapped at me.

  I’d expected that. “When I go down to get one of them to move you, can I get you anything to eat? Are you hungry yet?”

  This was my first experience with being spoken to like this. That had to be why I felt sick to my stomach. I was thankful that I’d be leaving soon. I no longer wanted this job. Working in the office was just fine.

  “Trinity will bring me my meals. I don’t want you touching my food,” he replied.

  Of course. He didn’t want me doing anything, it would seem. He also didn’t want to breathe the same air as me.

  I went to get the supplies for his wound and took a moment to regroup. He was screwing with my emotions in a way I wasn’t used to, but maybe that could be a good thing. It was a learning experience for me.

  Look on the bright side, Shiloh.

  Turning back to him, I focused on what had to be done. The least I could do was make sure he was taken care of properly while I was here. If I couldn’t touch him, then it was going to be impossible to give him a sponge bath. I’d let Uncle Neil figure out how to handle that one.

  Gage could despise me all he wanted. I wasn’t here to make friends, and I’d never see him again once I left.

  When I reached up to take the bandage off, his hand wrapped around my wrist so tightly that it was painful. I shot my eyes up to his face, afraid I’d hurt him.

  “If you have to touch me, make it quick,” he said through clenched teeth.

  I nodded, but said nothing. My heart was in my throat, and the grip he had on my wrist was getting painful enough to make my eyes water. I let out a gasp when he let me go. My eyes did a quick glance at my wrist and saw the imprint of his fingers. I was probably going to bruise. My pale skin always bruised easily.

  Staying focused and working as quickly as I could, I didn’t speak or make eye contact with him. I wanted to breathe a sigh of relief when I was finished and could move away.

  “I’ll go get one of the other men to help you move and set out the urinal. Perhaps one of them will help you with using that too,” I said before exiting the room.

  I closed the door behind me and leaned back against it a moment to catch my breath and rub my sore wrist. Any harder, and he’d have broken it. I wasn’t sure I could come back here tomorrow if Uncle Neil didn’t have a replacement yet. The way Gage had looked at me, it’d felt like he could actually kill me and would enjoy it.