Total pages in book: 187
Estimated words: 184867 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 924(@200wpm)___ 739(@250wpm)___ 616(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 184867 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 924(@200wpm)___ 739(@250wpm)___ 616(@300wpm)
“How’s Ares?” Blaine asks.
“Don’t know. He’s still in recovery,” Caleb answers.
“But he’s alive?” Blaine chucks the book aside and sits up straight even though it hurts to watch him struggle.
“Wait a second, what are you doing?” I ask.
“I want to go see him.”
“Fuck no, not in your condition,” Caleb growls.
Blaine pauses and looks up at him. “Since when do you care about my well-being?”
Caleb just stares him down for a moment, but slowly a clear blush begins to appear on his cheeks, and it makes me giggle. “I don’t.”
Blaine seems stupefied. “You care about me?”
“No!” Caleb frowns.
“You’re blushing,” I say.
“No, I’m not.” Caleb rubs his cheeks. “It’s just fucking hot in here.”
I laugh, and Blaine grabs Caleb’s cheek. “Cute.”
Caleb swats him away. “Stop. You’re embarrassing me.”
“Good,” Blaine retorts. “But now you look like a real piglet.”
Caleb’s face tightens, and his eyes begin to twitch. “I’m going to kill you after you’re out of this bed.”
I burst out into laughter, and so does Blaine, who immediately regrets it of course.
A knock on the door makes us all pause as a nurse clears her throat. “Mr. Torres is awake now. You can go visit him.”
“I’m coming too,” Blaine says.
“The fuck you are,” Caleb grits.
“Help me, darling.” Blaine beckons me and points at the wheelchair in the corner. “Just put me in there.”
Caleb folds his arms. “I’m not pushing you.”
Blaine scoots off the bed with difficulty. “I didn’t ask you to.”
“Are you sure about this?” I ask.
“Please …” he begs. “I want to see him too.”
It’s too hard to say no, so I grab the wheelchair in the corner of the room and bring it to his bed, then assist him in getting off. It’s like trying to lift some lumber, and I can barely take his weight.
“Jesus, a little help here,” I ask, and Caleb eventually reluctantly agrees.
“Thanks,” Blaine says when he’s finally seated. “Hope I didn’t rupture any sutures.”
“If they didn’t, I’ll rip them open when you get home just for trying this shit,” Caleb growls.
“Oh … kinky.” Blaine winks, getting Caleb all hot and bothered.
“Save the hot talk for later,” I say, pushing his wheelchair toward the door.
We head up via the elevator and go down another hallway until we find the room Ares is in. But I can barely push Blaine’s wheelchair forward as I see all the dressings around his body and the beeping of the machines monitoring him.
“Ares …” I murmur.
His eyes and mouth are closed, but the beeping puts me at ease as I approach. I sit on his bed and place my hand on his, softly caressing it. “I hope you can hear me. But I’m so glad you’re still alive.”
His lips slowly tip up into a smile, and his raspy voice makes my heart throb in my throat. “Are you now, little rose?”
Ares
My skin feels like it’s been set on fire, like I’ve walked through hell on bare feet, trying to find my way back to them … back to her.
She smiles as tears form in her eyes, and she leans in to wrap her arms around my neck, letting go of all the pent-up fear she was holding back. “I’m so glad you’re alive.”
The one girl who wanted me dead is happy I’m alive?
What a strange thing to hear, yet … it warms my heart.
My hand softly curls through her hair, petting her. “I’m sorry you had to witness me in that position.”
“No, don’t say sorry!” She lifts her pretty little face to look at me. “It’s not your fault, it’s—”
I place a finger on her lips, silencing her. “It was my choice. Mine. And even if I knew then what kind of pain I would have to go through, I would still make the same choice if it meant I could make you mine.”
My spine tingles from the way she looks at me, and I lean in to press a kiss to her lips. She doesn’t push me away, doesn’t fight me, doesn’t fear me anymore, and the smile that appears on her face only makes me greedy for more.
But the pain prevents me from claiming her.
I groan in frustration and lean against the pillow, my back feeling like it had aged twenty years.
When her head softly rests on my chest, I still smile through the pain, knowing she’s here with me, even after everything I did, and it eases the aching a little.
My hand slides across her back, and I can feel the wounds through her shirt, making me stop.
I’d recognize this pattern anywhere.
The bullwhip’s lash.
And my heart skips a beat.
“You took a lashing for me,” I mutter.
“I couldn’t watch him hurt you any longer,” she replies. “You were bleeding all over. It looked so bad, I thought you were going to die. I’ve never felt so afraid,” she murmurs.
Smugness tugs at my lips. “Finally … I made the innocent girl fear me.”