Total pages in book: 47
Estimated words: 43536 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 218(@200wpm)___ 174(@250wpm)___ 145(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 43536 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 218(@200wpm)___ 174(@250wpm)___ 145(@300wpm)
I nodded, biting my lips to keep from crying. They both loved me. I didn’t have words to say to that, other than the obvious.
“Thank you,” I said.
“I’ve got to head into the station in about an hour,” Leo said. I nodded.
“So I’ll be here,” Rafe said, sitting beside me and gathering me against him. I let my head loll against his chest. He reached for the remote and switched on some reality show I usually liked, but I was asleep in no time.
It was Leo who took me to the deposition while Rafe was at work. Then Rafe took off early the next day to take me to a doctor’s appointment. It was like having a pair of overprotective nursemaids—really hot ones. One of them was always there, making sure I drank water, took a short walk in the sunshine, got plenty of rest. Rafe brought me a burger from the diner and watched old episodes of The Office with me. Leo and I gave up on the empanadas after producing a greasy, inedible batch and we ordered a pizza to eat while we watched cooking shows.
They made me laugh. They held me when I was too scared to sleep. I could never hope to repay such care and kindness. The week I’d planned to take off work stretched into two and then three. Janet stopped by and insisted I take a formal leave until the legal action was resolved to give myself time to adjust.
I hated the sight of the police station, the small fear that knotted in my belly every time I had to go sign a statement or clarify an answer, or just to answer the same set of questions again. If I hadn’t had Rafe or Leo with me, I probably would’ve hidden in the car and said I was too sick to make it there. I was suddenly afraid of everything.
The first time I ventured out on my own, I went to buy a hot chocolate, the fancy kind that costs five dollars and has whipped cream on top. I paid the clerk and carried it out to my car. Then I sniffed it to see if it smelled contaminated, to see if, despite the fact that Watts was in city lock-up, maybe one of his friends could have gotten the barista to slip me something. I looked at it, told myself I was being silly, and went to take a drink. I couldn’t do it. I turned around and dumped it in the garbage. Sweating, I drove home and took a shower and tried to forget my paranoia.
The guys took me to the gym for sparring. I spent most of my time watching them after I was done on the treadmill. It had been a slow return to my usual level of activity, and I didn’t have all my endurance back yet. So I sat and watched them spar, and felt the flare of desire rekindle in me for the first time in a long time. Just watching the flex of Rafe’s broad shoulders, the way the muscles of Leo’s butt bunched and extended when he kicked made my pulse race. I felt like part of me was waking up after the coma, a part that had still been asleep all that time.
They stopped to take a break and drink some water. Toweling sweat off his face, Rafe asked me if I was okay. “You’re all flushed. Is it too warm in here for you?”
I cleared my throat, “Um, no. I need to talk to both of you later. When you’re done. There’s no hurry,” I said a little bashfully.
They wrapped up their sparring and took showers. I sat outside playing on my phone and trying hard not to think of them in the showers, two gorgeous naked men with water cascading off them, when all I wanted to do was to storm into the locker room and burst into their shower stalls. Probably inappropriate, especially since other people used the locker room and women weren’t allowed in there.
We rode back to the house in awkward silence. They tried to get me to talk about what was bothering me, and I shook my head, stared out the window. I was determined to have a real discussion about this, to let them each have time to think about it and talk about their feelings.
Inside, I grabbed a bottle of wine from the fridge and three glasses and we sat at the table.
“We’ve been through a lot together,” I started.
“You’re not moving out,” Rafe said.
“No,” I said, “I’m not. This morning I had a call that Watts has accepted the plea deal. He’s going to prison for five years. The soonest he can get out is in twenty months, and that’s with good behavior, which I think we all know isn’t going to happen. So, he’s gone for a good long time.”