Two Men for Piper [The Men of Space Station One #7] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (14 page)

“I adore you, Piper. You take me like I am and enjoy it.”

“You’re pretty okay yourself.”

He bit her shoulder, and she yelped.

“I take that back.”

Piper woke up feeling like something was wrong. She reached around to find that Keith wasn’t in the bed with them. She crawled out and went looking for him. He wasn’t in the bathroom. She pulled on a T-shirt and tiptoed downstairs to find him asleep in the recliner. She bit her lower lip wondering if he was mad about something. Why else wouldn’t he have come to bed with them?

She stood there thinking for several minutes. Surely he wasn’t mad that she and Tripp had sex without him. They’d each had sex alone before, and it hadn’t seemed to bother him. She hesitated to wake him, but decided she needed to know what was wrong.

“Keith? Wake up.”

He didn’t move and didn’t wake up. She laid a hand on him and nearly jerked it back. He was burning up. She realized then that he was sick. She tried rousing him again.

“Keith, wake up, honey. You’re sick. What’s wrong?” She shook him, and he moaned.

Wringing her hands, Piper realized she needed help. She hurried up the stairs to get Tripp. She didn’t know what to do.

“Tripp, wake up. Something is wrong with Keith. He’s burning up.”

“What?” He opened his eyes then shook his head. “What’s wrong, Piper?”

“Keith is sick. I can’t wake him up.”

Tripp rolled over to check him and realized he wasn’t there.

“Where is he?”

“He never came to bed last night. He’s downstairs in the living room. What could be wrong with him?”

“I don’t know. Hold on, baby. Let me get dressed.” He pulled on his jeans. “Come on, and let’s see what’s going on.”

She followed him down the stairs. When he tried to wake Keith up, all they could get was a moan from him.

“He’s definitely running a fever. We need to get it down. Do you think he’ll swallow if we give him something with some water?”

“I don’t know, but it’s worth a try. I’ll go get it and be right back.” She hurried off to find the medication and pour a glass of water.

She found Tripp sitting Keith up in the chair. She handed him the medicine and held the glass ready. He put the pills in Keith’s mouth and told him to drink some water. Amazingly enough, he swallowed the pills and only spilled a little water. He seemed to follow directions to some extent, but didn’t answer them when they tried to wake him up.

“We need to get his fever down. It’s too high. I’m going to sponge him off. Can we get him upstairs do you think?”

Tripp nodded. “I’ll get him up there.” He gripped Keith under the arms and pulled him up. “Stand up for me, Keith. We need to go upstairs.”

Keith seemed to try to stand. Tripp put Keith’s arm over his shoulder and grabbed him by the jeans to walk him up the stairs. Keith shuffled along until they got to the stairs. Then he stopped. Tripp nodded at her.

“Go on upstairs. If we fall, I don’t want you to be behind us.”

“But I could push you upright so you don’t fall backward.”

“No. Get upstairs, Piper.” He waited until she had made it to the top and was waiting on the landing for them. “Come on, Keith. Let’s go upstairs to bed. You’re sick, man.”

Keith lifted his leg and started climbing the stairs with Tripp guiding him. There were several close calls when they tipped backward, but Tripp managed to hold on to the banister and keep them upright.

Piper held her breath until they were safe on the landing with her. Then they shuffled into the bedroom. Once they had Keith sitting on the bed, she and Tripp stripped him and then had him to lie down.

“Oh, God, thanks, Tripp. I can sponge him off like this. It’s too high to try and sweat it out of him. Why did he get sick? He was fine earlier. Do you think he got too hot working outside?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t think it was that bad out there.” Tripp followed her into the bathroom where she wet several clothes and carried them back into the bed.

She washed him off, bathing his chest and face. “What about that creature? Did he get anything from it on him? What if it’s some sort of reaction to that?”

“Hell, he probably did get some on him. I did, too, but it was only on my clothes. Maybe he got some on his skin and didn’t realize it.”

“Call the doctor, Tripp, and see if he can tell from the symptoms.”

Tripp nodded and headed toward the door. Piper continued to bathe him, returning to the bathroom occasionally to rinse out the clothes in cool water. She would run get a pan as soon as Tripp got back. She hoped he was able to raise them on the radio at this hour. She glanced at the clock above the mantel. It was close to three in the morning.

After what seemed like hours, Tripp walked back into the room with a grim expression. She shivered at the thought that something major was wrong.

“What is it?”

“The doctor said it sound like a poisonous plant reaction that one of the women had not too long ago. I told him that we hadn’t touched any of them yet. We were planning to dig them up and destroy them later.”

“What do we do?”

“I brought up the shot for allergic reactions. We’re supposed to give him that and treat the fever the best we can. He said the toxin is deadly and it was a miracle that the woman lived. He didn’t sound too hopeful, baby.”

“No! He’s going to be okay. I won’t let him die.”

She hurried down the stairs and grabbed a pan and filled it full of ice. Then she carried it back up the stairs and added water from the tub. Tripp took it from her and carried it back to the bed, setting it on the floor for her.

She soaked the towels in the icy water and then bathed his body with it. He didn’t react at first, but finally he began to shiver and move around on the bed.

“Did you give him the shot yet?”

“Yeah. He didn’t make a sound when I did. I hope this works. I don’t want to lose him either, baby.”

Piper spent the next thirty minutes washing him down until he began to thrash. Once he started getting out of hand. Tripp covered him with the blankets and kept Piper away from him, so he wouldn’t hit her. She hated not being able to comfort him. He looked so small in the bed like that.

Once he calmed down, she climbed into bed with him and hugged up to him. She kept telling him that she was there. She begged him not to die. Tripp emptied the pan for her. He told her was going to start some coffee. They were going to need it to stay awake with Keith all day.

By noon, Keith seemed to be some improved, but he still didn’t say anything. He followed directions but that was about it. At least his fever hadn’t returned. Piper remained with him while Tripp searched around outside to try and see how he could have gotten into a poisonous plant.

At two, he returned. “How is he doing?”

“There’s not much change. He still follows directions, doesn’t say anything, but his fever hasn’t returned.”

“I think I found out what happened. When we were putting the fence up, he fell once, trying to dig one of the holes. We laughed about it, but where he fell was a plant that I’ve never seen before. It could be poisonous, I don’t know. I took a couple of pictures of it.”

“It wasn’t a thistle plant?”

“Nope, and it wasn’t that yellow plant that they warned us about either.”

“So if we don’t know what it is, how are we going to treat him?”

“Let’s look and see if we see a rash or anything anywhere.” Tripp helped her look.

“Here, Tripp. Look at this. It’s all bubbly.” She pointed out a spot on the back of his calf.

“It looks like it’s turning a green color. What do you think it is?” I remember reading something about one of them men getting scratched by one of the creatures and having a green color on his shoulder. It had a sort of pucker to it.”

“This is bubbly, so it may do the same thing. I’m going to go call the doctor up on the radio again and tell him what we found.”

Tripp left her with Keith. She gave him more water and decided to try some soup once Tripp made it back up. Keith needed to keep up his strength. She continued to talk to him and was telling him that he was going to be fine, to keep fighting, when Tripp walked back in.

“The doctor isn’t sure what is going on. He said he’s reacting like the thistle plant, but the green bubbles sound like he’s been contaminated by one of the creatures. He said either way, the only thing to do was to keep him comfortable and hydrated.”

“Damn it, Tripp. There has to be something more we can do. I can’t stand to see him this way.”

“I know, baby. I wish there was something I could do.” Tripp sighed and ran his hand through his hair. “I’m going to call the ranch and tell them what is going on and see about staying home with you.”

“You can go on to work, Tripp. We’ll be fine. There isn’t anything to do.”

“I don’t like the idea of leaving you alone with him. What if he gets violent again? I don’t want you to get hurt. He’s strong even though he’s sick.”

“I know.” She sighed and nodded. “I guess you’re right. I hope they will understand.”

“I think they will. I’ll be back in a little bit.” He left once again.

She continued to talk to Keith while Tripp was gone. At one point, he turned his head toward her and worked his mouth but didn’t say anything. Then he didn’t even follow her commands for a while. He’d done that before for a little while, and she’d wondered if he’d just gone to sleep. Maybe he was awake in there but couldn’t say anything. She shivered at the thought.

“Okay, they’re fine with it and wished us luck. Danny said if we needed anything to let them know. He’s the one that had the scratch on his back, but he said he didn’t have much of a problem with it other than the green and the bumpy skin.”

“That’s nice of them. So we know that Keith must have gotten into the blood of that muskie you killed. It’s the only thing that would explain it.”

“I’m beginning to agree with you.” Tripp sat down on the chair she’d been sitting on. Why don’t you go downstairs and get something to eat?”

“I’m going to fix him some broth while I’m down there. I’ll bring you a sandwich up, too.”

“Thanks.” Tripp smiled at her. “He’s going to be okay, Piper. The others made it through their ordeals. We will, too.”

Piper nodded and hurried down the stairs. She didn’t want to leave him any longer than was necessary. She was beginning to realize something. She was falling in love with her men. She should have recognized it earlier, but she had been too sure that it was just that she cared so much about them. She needed to tell them, but she would wait until Keith was better.

She made sandwiches and forced herself to eat one but it was all she could eat. She placed the other ones in a container and carried them upstairs to Tripp. Then she returned with a bowl of broth for Keith. When she talked to him, he seemed to be listening.

“This is broth, Keith. You need to eat some of it. Open your mouth for me.”

He opened his mouth and swallowed when she spooned some in. She continued feeding him until he refused to open his mouth. She figured he’d had enough. She set aside the bowl and sighed.

“We both need some rest. Let’s put him between us. I want to be able to tell if he starts having trouble.” Tripp squeezed her hand.

“You’re probably right. I’m going to go take a shower. Do you mind watching him until I get back? Then you can take one.”

“I’ll watch him, baby. Relax in the tub instead. You’re tense. You won’t sleep like that.”

“Are you sure?”

“Of course. Do you want me to run your water for you?”

“No, thanks, but I can get it.” She headed toward the bathroom.

Ten minutes later, Piper sank into the tub and moaned at the wonderful warm water. It soothed her and helped loosen the tightness in her neck and shoulders. Tripp had been right. She would never have gotten any sleep feeling as she had.

When the water began to cool, she climbed out of the tub and dried off. When she returned to the bedroom, Tripp had positioned Keith in the middle of the bed. He still looked so weak to her. She never would have associated him with being weak.

“Are you going to be okay on the other side?” Tripp asked.

“I’ll be fine. You go and take your shower. I’m going to go on to bed.”

Tripp kissed her then headed for the bathroom. Piper climbed into bed on one side of Keith and snuggled up to him. She thought she would fall asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow, but she couldn’t seem to settle down despite the soothing bath.

When Tripp returned nearly thirty minutes later, she was still awake. He climbed into bed and turned off the light. She was glad that he’d left the bathroom light on and the door cracked. She sometimes had to get up in the night to go to the bathroom.

“You’re still awake over there, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, I can’t seem to settle down. I don’t know why.”

“Might be all the coffee we drank earlier.”

“I don’t know, maybe. I think I’m just worried about Keith. I think he’s awake in there, but he’s paralyzed, and that has to be so frightening.”

“For once, I hope you’re not right.”

“Me, too, Tripp. Me, too.”

Three days later, Piper woke up to Keith draped over her. She felt a thrill at the knowledge that he’d moved in the night.

“Tripp. Are you awake?”

“Hmm, sort of.”

“Keith moved. Look!”

Tripp turned over and laughed. “Thank God he chose you to wrap himself around. I would have freaked out.”

“Help me move him. I have to go pee.”

Tripp pulled Keith back over to the middle of the bed. He actually tried to hold on to Piper’s arm.

“Easy, man. Let her go. She has to go to the bathroom.”

Keith released her arm and opened his eyes. He looked from Piper to Tripp and back again.

“Thirsty.”

“I’ve got some water right over here. Hold on.” Tripp rolled over and grabbed the glass.

“I’ll be right back.” Piper hurried to the bathroom then returned to the bedroom as soon as she’d finished.

“He drank half the glass.” Tripp was pulling on his jeans.