My Heart Can't Be Broken If It's Not Beating

"Oh my God Pete, put a shirt on" I rolled my eyes as I walked into the kitchen and saw Pete shirtless at the counter. In the light I could see the well-defined muscles that were usually hidden by a shirt. He looked up and smirked while I approached the sink and began washing out the cup in my hands.

"But you like me better without one" he teased and I sensed him approach me from behind.

"Yeah like I want to see your naked body" I scoffed but suddenly his hands snaked around my waist and he twisted me to face him. I looked up, noticing my heart beat had increased as I stared into his dark eyes and his cool fingers danced delicately over my hipbones…

*******

"What the hell is going on here?" Joe's voice rang through my head as I drifted back into consciousness and opened my eyes. Whilst I still felt slightly hot, my back was against something cool and when I looked down there were arms around my waist, resting on and cooling my stomach. In my legs I felt a combination of hot and cold as they tangled with someone else's. Oh shit.

Hesitantly turning around I came face to face with Pete who was tiredly opening his eyes and looking at Joe and then at me. After a moment his eyes went wide and he immediately released me and jumped out of the bed.

"Patrick made us do it!" I quickly defended, noticing the look of confusion and anger on Joe's face.

"Patrick made you two have sex?" he asked as disgust joined the emotions he was clearly feeling.

"No!" We both shouted.

"It was to get her temperature down" Pete clarified. Joe seemed slightly relieved after hearing this and I shyly reached for a blanket to cover my scantily clad body. Awkward silence filled the room and all I could think about was how odd this must look. It was like we'd just been caught cheating and there was an obvious tension in the air.

To make it even better, Andy decided to walk in and looked straight at me, then Pete, and then at Joe, obviously piecing something together in his mind.

"You two finally had sex?" he exclaimed, almost excitedly.

"No!" We once again shouted at the same time, this time Joe's voice accompanying ours.

"Geez why does everyone think I want to sleep with her?" Pete asked angrily.

"Because you do" Andy said simply before walking out like nothing had happened. Pete and Joe both appeared angrier and for two different reasons as I violently pushed back the covers and stepped out of the bed, reaching for my clothes and beginning to get dressed, not even caring anymore that there were still two males in the room.

"What is wrong with this place?" I muttered to myself as I pulled a shirt over my head. Just as I reached down to grab my pants I felt a bit light-headed and when I looked up the room was spinning. My body began to heat up again and I could no longer stand.

"Riley are you-" Joe started until I felt myself falling, but my body came in contact something familiar and cold before I could hit the ground.

"Thanks Pete" I sighed as he placed me back on the bed.

"I'll go get Patrick" Joe said hurriedly as he raced out of the room.

"You ok?" Pete asked as he stood over me, cool fingertips brushing the hair out of my face

"I'm fine now" I answered truthfully. Because of the close contact with him I no longer felt like someone had set me on fire, the dizziness had receded due to the fact that I was lying down but now there was a dull throbbing in my head and an overall feeling of fatigue.

"Maybe just a little tired"

"But you slept all night" Pete chuckled quietly.

"I what?" I exclaimed, the surprise evident in my voice. How could I have slept? I never sleep and when I do, it usually involves some kind of horrific nightmare. It must be the fever…

Thinking back, I tried to remember what I had dreamt about last night. Flashes of Pete half naked and the urge to throw him on the kitchen table and take advantage of him ran through my head. Yep, definitelythe hottest dream ever a horrific nightmare. I shook my head, trying to get the images out of my heador imprint them there forever when Pete opened his mouth to say something. Unfortunately he was interrupted when Patrick rushed into the room, Joe close behind him.

"Is everything ok?" Patrick asked, looking between the two of us.

"Well, Riley seems incredibly weak and doesn't appear to be able to stand for very long but I think my lack of body heat eases the symptoms a little" Pete explained taking a seat next to me on the bed. Whilst he told Patrick everything about last night and what happened just before I sat up and took my shirt off again, scooting closer to him. Pete seemed totally comfortable with my closeness and casually wrapped an arm around my shoulder as he appeared to accept the fact that I needed him. Joe looked a little uncomfortable and Patrick just blushed as he tried not to look at me too much.

"Wait, you guys were sleeping?" Joe suddenly asked, a little surprised. "I thought you were both insomniacs"

"Yeah I guess so…" Pete scratched his head, seemingly just as confused as Joe.

"You have insomnia as well?" I asked curiously, analysing Pete.

"Oh yeah. Its nothing though"

"But you slept last night?"

"It would appear so" he laughed awkwardly.

"Anyway, I think it's best if Riley stays pretty much permanently with Pete" Patrick was trying to say.

"Isn't that a little extreme?" I asked tiredly, forgetting about the whole insomniac conversation.

"Well from what I've read and what Pete's been saying, the point of this fever is to pretty much incapacitate you and if your temperature gets to high it might kill you"

"Ok so how is this going to work? He's going to be like my giant ice pack?" I tried to figure out whilst looking at Pete.

"Basically, you're going to have to be in contact with him 24/7. That means eating, changing, showering-"

"Whoa," I put my hands up stopping Patrick, "changing? Showering?"

He looked at me apologetically and I noticed Joe and Pete looked as outraged as I was.

"He can't leave you alone Riley. And you don't have to be naked or anything…" Patrick added awkwardly.

"Whatever" I sighed, really not in the mood to be arguing.

"So yeah. I'm still reading up on this but I think you'll be fine" Patrick assured me with a small smile.

"Thanks Pat. Just try and find something that'll fix me soon k? I'm not too fond of the whole 'depending on Pete' thing"

"I don't think anyone is," he chuckled slightly, gesturing to the unhappy looking faces of Pete and Joe. Not to mention my own. "Just try not to kill each other. Especially you Pete"

I hadn't thought about it until now how difficult this situation must be for Pete. I mean, I was like the forbidden fruit right? Imagine having to be this involved with the food you've denied yourself all these years, the food that your programmed to hunt, kill and feed on. Maybe I should cut him a bit of slack. Besides, it not like he'sbad to look at any danger to me. I hope.

"I'll check on you guys later. Tell me if anything changes" Patrick was saying before he left the room, leaving Pete and I sitting awkwardly on the bed and Joe leaning against the wall near the door with his arms crossed and an uncomfortable glare on his face.

"I swear this is like karma for you and I hating each other" I complained to Pete. He just laughed and looked awkwardly at Joe.

"Just take care of her Pete. I don't want you to be the reason we lose her" Joe warned before sliding out the door.

"He seems angry"

Pete scoffed and turned to look at me properly. "He's jealous!"

"Of what?"

"Oh I don't know, maybe it’s the fact that one of his best friends has to spend all of his time attached to his half naked girlfriend?"

"Oh"

"Yeah, like this wasn't already awkward enough…"

"Well can we at least try not to fight as much? I'd hate to have to be this close if we were meant to be mad at each other" I suggested, trying to get used to Pete's arm around me.

"As long as you don't piss me off" he smirked. I just rolled my eyes. I don't know how we're going to do this.