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"It's fine," Drake said, his tone a mix of annoyance and relief. "Thanks for letting me know she was awake, Legend."
Hot Blondie nodded, his eyes flicking between the two of us before he retreated, leaving us alone once more.
"You really scared him, you know," Drake commented, a hint of amusement in his voice.
I smirked. "Good. He needed to know I'm not just some damsel in distress who can be pushed around. Except, apparently, by you."
Drake kissed my forehead, his lips lingering for a moment. "I never thought that for a second."
As we sat there, wrapped up in each other's arms, I couldn't help but feel a small sense of triumph. Sure, I was bruised, battered, and stuck in a medical bay in the middle of a Rogues facility, but he hadn’t left me. We could face whatever fresh hell life decided to throw our way. And if that meant occasionally threatening hot blond guys with scalpels, well, so be it.
40
Drake
I had a feeling that Daphne would want to talk at some point today. Against my wishes, she had been read in on everything that had happened, and she'd met the whole team. She'd even spoken to her sister, and she'd insisted on calling Reginald as well. I was surprised by how she’d taken it all in stride and just nodded solemnly as if all of this was normal.
None of this should be normal to her. If I had just left her alone, none of this would have happened.
But Massimo would have her. And unlike you, he would not have treated her well. He wouldn't have cared about her. He would have taken what he needed and disposed of her.
It was so impossible thinking through all the steps that had led us here. Every mistake I made, every choice. There were a million other ways to go about it, but we would have still ended up here. We had always been inevitable. On this collision course for each other.
She'd been restless last night, tossing and turning. I'd held her tight, trying to calm her, but she could probably sense something was going on.
You know this is a bad idea.
I didn't want to leave her. Walking away from her was going to be the most painful thing I'd ever done. But I knew what happened to people who got close to me, and I'd already brought too much pain into her life. She would be safer without me.
Reginald's words kept trying to filter in. You can choose. You can decide who you want to be. You can choose to have everything. Don't make Daphne’s decisions for her.
The problem was that even though I knew the complications, I had completely fallen in love with the woman. And watching her lay unconscious for a day and a half, knowing that I was the reason behind that, I couldn't do that again.
Still a selfish prick.
Daphne walked in. Saff had given her a few clothes for the interim to wear. Now she wore a fluttery skirt with a tank top. Saff was taller than her, so she had to roll up the waist. The tops fit well, though her breasts were bigger than Saff's, so the T-shirts accentuated that.
Mind out of the gutter. You've got to walk away from her, and you need to rip that Band-Aid off.
But when she walked in, she gave me that sweet smile, the one that made her dimples peek out. The one that made me feel like I was a thousand feet tall because she saw me. Not the monster I could be, but the man.
"Where have you been?" I asked.
She hitched her thumb toward the hallway. "I was hanging out with the girls. Saff is actually lovely. And Jesus Christ, she’s stunning to look at. Not to mention Tabatha’s hair. I could spend thousands of dollars in a salon and still not get that red color."
I shook my head. "Neither one of them holds a candle to you."
She bit her bottom lip. "Do you mean that?"
Immediately, like it was following a freaking siren's call, the blood rushed to my cock. I knew what she could do with that tongue. A shudder ran through me as I thought about it, feeling the need to be buried deep inside her, to grip her arse with my hands, giving her no room for escape or reprieve as I fucked her raw.
I shook my head to alleviate the image. Thinking about how much I craved her was not going to help.
"Daph, I wanted to—"
She held up a hand. "I'm sorry. If you could just—" She paused, and this time her teeth grazed her plump lower lip, and I wanted to be the one biting her. Taking little nips. Making her whimper and moan. "I just, I feel like something's off,” she continued. “Like there's this chasm between us. And—" She took another step toward me. I could feel the gravitational tug to be in her orbit, to let her be my sun. And screw the consequences of what could happen to her.
"Daphne, I'm not—"
