Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 95906 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 480(@200wpm)___ 384(@250wpm)___ 320(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95906 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 480(@200wpm)___ 384(@250wpm)___ 320(@300wpm)
He was also shaking.
The fact that I could notice that even with the distance between us was proof that his latest attack on my character hadn’t changed my need to keep my promise. I turned and put my glass down on the bar and then went to the opposite side of the sectional to grab my blanket off the floor, the one I’d hastily thrown off me when I’d heard Micah’s cries from my bedroom. I approached Micah cautiously, fully expecting him to move away from me or tell me to stay away from him.
He said nothing, though, so once I got to him, I carefully draped the blanket over his back and shoulders. To my surprise, Micah caught the edges of the blanket between his fingers and then proceeded to pull the material around his body. Since I didn’t want to scare him off, I returned to the other side of the sectional and sat down.
“Why were you outside my house tonight?” Micah asked. “Is it even still tonight?”
I understood what he was asking. He’d lost all sense of time. The reminder of how muddled his mind was helped ease my nerves a bit. If I could get him to see reason…
Then what, Con?
I actually began to shake my head as if the voice in my mind had been a real one and needed a response. God, Micah wasn’t the only one whose mind was bogged down in the muck that was our current reality.
“Yes,” I began. “The hospital discharged you a few hours ago. You were only in there for about four hours. They gave you some pretty heavy-duty painkillers.”
“I remember flashing lights, loud voices,” Micah murmured.
I sighed. “Yeah, sorry. Word got out that I was there. The paparazzi managed to get some pictures.”
Micah lifted his eyes at that. I felt like a bug beneath a microscope as he looked at me. I knew he was only seeing Zeus and that just fucking killed me. Never in my life had I wanted someone to actually see the real me more than I did in that moment.
The young man who was still barely recognizable with his bruised-up face dropped his eyes again, leaving me feeling strangely adrift.
“What were you doing outside my house?”
“I think you already know the answer to that,” I said carefully.
Micah didn’t respond for several long seconds, and I knew why. He was debating whether he should ask me the next logical question.
Just like I was debating whether I should answer him.
We both already knew the truth but neither of us wanted to face it, give voice to it.
I wasn’t sure if I was grateful or disappointed when he sidestepped the “why” question and instead asked, “So after the hospital, you brought me here. This is your place?”
“Yes. We’re in the city. Upper West Side. Central Park West and Eighty-sixth.” It was likely a lot more detail than he wanted but it was an easy question. I liked the easy questions.
“Why was I in your bed? Naked?”
Micah didn’t look up when he asked the point-blank question. If anything, he stared at the floor even harder. He also started rocking back and forth. It made me ill to think that part of him still believed I’d somehow taken advantage of him.
Here and now, Con.
“They had to cut your clothes off you in the ER. When you were discharged, they gave you some scrubs to wear. By the time we got back here, you were asleep. I didn’t want to wake you up so I left the scrubs on when I put you in bed.”
“If I was asleep, how did you get me up here?” the younger man asked. He’d finally raised his eyes which made me feel somewhat better. Before I could respond, Micah’s gaze dropped to my arms. “Oh,” he murmured.
“No one saw me carrying you in here,” I said. “There’s an underground garage and I have a private elevator. It’s why I picked this building.”
“So you could sneak guys in?”
“What? No!” I responded, barely remembering to keep my voice low so I wouldn’t wake the kids. I looked at Micah in horror until I saw him quickly drop his head. I swore I saw his mouth tug into a small smile right as he did it.
I was so stunned that I couldn’t find my voice long enough to say anything at all.
“If you put me in bed with the scrubs on, then where are they?”
The smile was gone and the suspicion was back in his tone.
“Rory was asleep by the time we got here but Christopher wasn’t. He insisted on sleeping in the room with you. He tried to wake Rory up so he could move her into the room too, but Her Majesty wasn’t interested.”
Micah chuckled.
Actually chuckled.
It rolled over me like the softest of silks.