Chapter 280: I’m Bleeding

Alexander spun around in the front seat, his eyes wide with sudden alarm. "Jude, step on it!"

"Wait, no!" April squeaked out frantically, her fingers digging even deeper into Nat’s forearm, locking him rigidly in place. "Don’t step on it! Don’t make any sudden turns! Keep the car completely, absolutely still!"

Jude’s hands visibly tensed on the steering wheel, his eyes darting to the mirror in total confusion as he tried to figure out how to drive both fast and ’completely still’ at the same time.

Xavier leaned in closer, his dark eyes filled with sharp concern as he carefully placed a hand near her shoulder. "April, look at me. Are you feeling nauseous? Is the movement making it worse?"

"No," April groaned, pressing her knees together so tightly they trembled. Her face was flushed a terrifying, burning shade of scarlet, cold sweat prickling at her hairline. "It’s... The physical logistics of the situation have changed."

Nat blinked down at her, his brows drawing tight together as he tried to translate her speech. "The logistics...? Sweetheart, speak plain English. What changed?"

April swallowed hard, her mind spiraling out of control.

A volatile cocktail of surging hormones, sheer exhaustion, and raw panic was suddenly tearing through her usual ice-cold rationality. She had spent her entire life forcing herself to stand straight, work, and bleed in absolute secrecy.

She could only remember vague memories from before she entered the Morgans, but her memory of then did not cover what she did during her periods. It was the mechanism she built in the Morgans that stayed with her.

She had never, ever let another human soul see her bleed.

And now, she was trapped in an enclosed space, surrounded by three towering, dangerously attentive men, currently leaking onto the luxury interior.

The sheer, suffocating humiliation of it hit her like a physical blow.

Her throat tightened, her vision blurring with a hot, furious wave of embarrassing tears that she tried frantically to blink away.

"I’m... I’m bleeding," she choked out, her voice dropping into a small, panicked tremor. "Right now. On the seat. Don’t... don’t look at me. Just don’t look at me!"

She tried to shrink into herself, hiding her face entirely in her hands as a desperate, mortified shudder wracked her shoulders.

The three men froze, a heavy, stunned silence falling over the SUV.

Nat’s eyes softened instantly, the teasing smirk completely wiped from his face. Without a single second of hesitation, he unbuttoned his custom-tailored suit jacket and stripped it off in one smooth, fluid motion.

"Hey," Nat rumbled, his voice low and steady as he reached down, carefully lifting her hips just enough to slide his heavy jacket directly beneath her. "Look at me. I see blood all the time. There’s nothing your blood can do to affect me or gross me out. It’s just my coat now. It’s fine."

"It’s not fine!" April squeaked into her hands, her face burning like an open furnace. "It’s embarrassing, and I’m ruining—"

"April, stop," Xavier interrupted, his voice surprisingly awkward, though he reached out to firmly, gently pull her hands away from her face.

A faint, flustered dust of pink still hovered on his own cheekbones as he met her tearful eyes ad he let his lips curve into a reassuring smile. "Look... this is entirely new to us. I don’t know the first thing about managing this, and I am probably going to handle it clumsily."

He squeezed her hand, his dark eyes earnest.

"But we will adapt," Xavier said softly. "We will learn to get used to it. Don’t run, and don’t hide from us, April. Just let us walk through it one step at a time."

Alexander cleared his throat, looking back from the front seat with a faint, embarrassed rub to the back of his neck, though his blue eyes were warm. "He’s right. Honestly, I’m a little out of my depth here, but... that’s just what comes with the perks of liking someone. You don’t just get the sharp, brilliant strategist—we take all of you. Even the parts you think are messy."

He reached into the pharmacy bag, popped the cap off the water bottle, and shook out two pain relief tablets, passing them back toward her with a gentle, reassuring smile. "Here. Take the medicine and drink some water."

Nat took the pills and the bottle, placing them carefully into her hands before shifting his palm back over the thermal patch beneath his coat, keeping his soothing heat pinned right against her abdomen.

April swallowed the pills and took a slow sip of water, nestled tightly inside Nat’s heavy suit jacket.

Anchored between Xavier gently stroking her knuckles and Alexander watching over her from the front seat, her chest heaved as she finally swallowed down the lingering lump in her throat. Her face was still burning, but the cold, humiliating terror in her mind had settled.

She stared blankly down at the half-empty water bottle in her hands, her thoughts spinning silently as the luxury SUV smoothly carved through the estate’s outer gates.

So... it really isn’t bad?

She couldn’t quite wrap her head around it.

In her mind, showing this kind of messy stuff was something to be covered up at all costs.

Was it simply because these three men were so hopelessly, irrationally in love with her that they could swallow their pride and tolerate something like this without a second thought?

The realization made a fresh, flustered wave of shyness prickle across her skin, warming her ears even as the pain relief began to soothe the dull ache in her stomach.

By the time the vehicle finally ground to a gentle halt outside the main entrance of the mansion, the night was long past late.

Before April could even gather Nat’s heavy coat around herself to stand, the car door clicked open. Nat stepped out into the cool night air and leaned back inside, sliding his broad arms effortlessly beneath her knees and back.

"Wait—Nat, I can walk," April muttered softly, her face flushing anew as he lifted her out of the vehicle like she weighed nothing at all. "I’m fine, really."

"Shut up, sweetheart," Nat rumbled gently, pulling her flush against his chest so his suit jacket stayed securely wrapped around her lower half. "You’re getting carried. Princess style."

Despite her muttered protest, April didn’t actually resist. She let her head rest against his shoulder, her hand instinctively clutching his shirt for balance. But as Nat turned to head up the entrance steps, her anxiety flared back up for a fleeting second.

She twisted her neck, trying to peer past his broad shoulder toward the open door of the SUV. "Did I... did I stain the seat?"

Before her eyes could search the interior, Alexander stepped smoothly into her line of sight, blocking the view of the car entirely. He offered her a warm, easy smile, his blue eyes soft under the amber driveway lights.

"Don’t worry about it," Alexander said gently, reaching out to give her shoulder a light, reassuring pat. "There’s nothing for you to worry about tonight, April. We’ve got it covered."

Xavier walked up beside them, taking her hand once more as they entered the grand foyer. "Straight to your room. Take a hot bath, and go to sleep."

"And about that bath... I could certainly join you if you’d like," Nat tittered, a wicked, teasing glint flashing in his eyes as he shifted her weight in his arms.