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“What’s the prognosis, doc?”
Elias rolls his eyes, but there’s a hint of a smile tugging at the corners of his lips. It’s been too long since I’ve seen my best friend happy, and I wonder if it’s too much wishful thinking that my angel might be the one to give him that moving forward. The way his eyes fall on the woman in my arms is like he’s seeing the sun for the first time.
It’s everything.
CHAPTEREIGHT
ELIAS
Ican’t take my eyes off her.
No matter how much I should, how much I try to convince myself Wyatt was wrong, and I don’t want this, I know I’m only lying to myself.
From the moment I caught sight of her I haven’t been able to drag my eyes from her silky skin and sinful curves. I want to run my tongue over every inch of her body and drag unimaginable amounts of pleasure from her over and over again until she can’t possibly give me more, and then I’ll demand exactly that. I want to see her ass covered in my marks and hear her cries of pleasure and pain as I force her to walk the blurry line between the two. I want it all.
I clear my throat, realizing how long it’s been since my best friend asked me a question, and I tear my eyes from her to meet Wyatt’s amused ones. He sees it. He sees how completely obsessed I am with Leighton despite knowing her for less than an hour, and there’s no sense trying to pretend that isn’t the case with the man who knows me better than I know myself.
“It’s not broken. It is a nasty sprain though. I want to ice it for the next few hours and then wrap it tight to keep the swelling down.”
“Hours?” she squeaks, her body tugging forward from Wyatt’s chest for a moment before he drags her back down against him. He looks so comfortable with her in his lap. More so than I’ve seen in…ever. He’s never looked so settled.
I give her a small nod and carefully lower the ice pack to her heated skin.
She hisses out a breath and tries to pull her foot away from the cold, but I grip her knee, holding her leg where I need it. Being this close to her short skirt is making me heady. Knowing that I could be feasting on her sweet cunt in a matter of seconds makes it hard to focus on anything else, but caring for her is enough. For now.
“I can’t sit here for hours. I have to go home,” she argues, trying and failing to push against Wyatt again. It’s pointless. She’s small and wounded, and my best friend is an ex-Navy SEAL and more than capable of restraining her to stop her from hurting herself more.
I blow out a breath, trying to calm my racing heart. She can’t leave. She can’t ever leave. But I can’t say that to her, because she’ll think I’m a fucking lunatic. Hell, I wouldn’t disagree with her. But all I know is if she walks away from us tonight, Wyatt and I will have a hole in our hearts that only she can fill, and I’m not ready to go back to that emptiness. I’ve lived that life for so long, I don’t want to go back, and I don’t want Wyatt to either.
“Do you live with Jason?” I ask.
Leighton draws in a pained breath and a look of horror crosses her face.
“That’s what I thought.”
“I…I have to go back,” she whispers.
“You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to, angel,” Wyatt says softly.
“I don’t have a choice. We live together. I don’t work. He and my parents made sure of that.” Her voice shakes with each word that falls from her lips, and my chest cracks at the sound. I already hate her being in pain, would already burn the fucking world to the ground to make sure she’s never scared or alone again.
“You have choices, pretty girl. You just have to be brave enough to take them.”
She shakes her head, but doesn’t try to get away again. “My mother won’t allow me to leave him. She’s been planning our wedding since we were in high school. She’ll never let me break up with him.”
Wyatt’s eyes flare with the same anger that rages to life in my chest. What the fuck kind of mother would allow their child to stay with a lying, cheating piece of shit, let alone actively force it upon them? “I’m sure she would understand, angel,” Wyatt says. “I’m sure she wouldn’t want someone who isn’t faithful to marry her daughter.”
“She doesn’t care about my happiness. All she cares about is me marrying a respectable man from a good family, and popping out two point four children to carry on Jason’s family name. She’s lived in a loveless marriage for the last twenty-five years. Why wouldn’t she expect the same of me?”
Wyatt and I stare at her, but there are no words. What kind of mother does she have that she’s been made to believe that her happiness isn’t worth anything? I can’t comprehend that, and by the look on my best friend’s face, it seems he can’t either.
“Listen, I really appreciate you both taking care of me, but I should go.” Leighton pushes against Wyatt’s chest, but he holds her securely in place.
“Stay where you are, angel. You can’t walk on your foot right now, and you’re only going to hurt yourself more if you try.”
“I have to go. Jason is already going to be angry I didn’t leave with him. I just want to get into a taxi and go home to bed so I can pretend tonight never happened.”
I blow out a breath, trying to settle the anger bubbling in my chest. This isn’t her fault, and I don’t want to snap at her when she’s already dealing with all of this, but fuck, every word out of her mouth only makes me want to fucking kill Jason and her parents more.
