Total pages in book: 145
Estimated words: 135792 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 679(@200wpm)___ 543(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 135792 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 679(@200wpm)___ 543(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
This wouldn’t have happened if Knox let life take its course. But no, he chose to be the hero and saved the man who’d proved himself unworthy of him just an hour back. A man who was a thoughtless, terrible person, and who always made those around him miserable.
Liv took a deep breath and stroked Knox’s face, locking his gaze on the blue eyes that always shone so brightly. “You need to. Do it. For me.”
Knox’s shaky sob and the tears spilling down his face sliced Liv’s heart in half. “Don’t make me… Cy’s dealing with it.” But when he searched Cyborg’s eyes for confirmation, he only got a grunt in response.
“You’ll need a doctor,” Cyborg said, lifting Knox’s shoulder to wrap a bandage around it.
Liv wanted to pull Knox into his arms and squeeze him until the pain was forgotten, but he couldn’t do that without hurting him, and panic buzzed all over his body.
“It’ll be okay, Knoxie. I’ll be with you. I’ll take care of everything,” he promised, sliding into the dirt, so he could lie alongside Knox and comfort him with his warmth. Gravel scraped his bare forearm and side, but it didn’t matter. Nothing would matter until Knox was safe in a hospital bed.
When he found Knox’s hand, Knox squeezed it as if he never wanted to let go. Knox depended on him, and that fact hit Liv with full force. The need to respond, to protect and comfort him was so visceral he found himself shaking.
Knox’s breath was ragged, and his face a mess of tears he didn’t try to hide for once. “Okay, b-but please come with me. Don’t leave me there.”
“I won’t. I will never leave you, do you understand?” he insisted, pressing his lips to Knox’s forehead and tasting his sweat as several voices whirred around them. “I’ll always be there.” He didn’t care to look around, because that would mean taking his eyes off Knox.
Knox sniffed and nodded, and to Liv’s relief, even his heartbeat slowed down a little. “You won’t let me d-die there? I know it’s pathetic, but—”
“It’s not. I might have died if it wasn’t for you,” Liv insisted, sliding his arms around Knox’s chest and pressing closer, ready to keep him warm until someone brought a car over.
Cyborg’s voice was like a saw ripping into their little cocoon. “No one’s dying, but you lost a lot of blood, we need to get moving.”
Someone tapped the back of Liv’s shoulder. “Let’s get him in the car,” Frank said. “You two did real well. Shane needs to see a doctor too, but he’s fine enough.”
Knox turned his eyes to Frank. “I don’t… have money.”
“My uncle’s the doctor where we’re going, you’ll be fine,” Cyborg said, but when he tried to help Knox up, Knox clutched at Liv, as if the trust Liv shattered earlier tonight could still be rebuilt.
“See? It’s all gonna be fine. Cy knows people. You don’t have to worry about a thing,” Liv said, dragging himself up to help Cyborg get Knox to his feet.
Chapter 28
Liv
Liv had broken his promise to stay at Knox’s side less than an hour after making it. He insisted. Then begged, but the doctor refused to let him be there for the surgery. In the end, it was Knox who needed to give him permission to exit, but leaving him behind, even in the care of people who knew what they were doing, felt like yet another betrayal.
Seconds felt like minutes as he sat in the waiting area of the local hospital, with Cy’s jacket draped over his bare skin. Not that he needed it with raw emotions warring inside him and producing uncomfortable levels of heat.
He was afraid the surgery might fail.
He was grateful Knox had saved him.
He felt sympathy for Knox’s fear.
But most of all, he was flooded by never-ending guilt over his past actions.
What did someone as pure-hearted as Knox see in a dumb, impulsive dude like him? He couldn’t hold a candle to Knox’s attractiveness, honesty, or loyalty. But Knox always believed in him and even tonight had seen Liv as his rock.
Watching him fall apart and be so very vulnerable had been a shock. Knox was a guy with a strong personality and more pride than people in his position could afford, yet he shook in Liv’s arms, cried, and begged not to be taken to a doctor.
Liv itched to storm the fucking operating room, to make sure they weren’t fucking something up, but that would have achieved nothing, so he stayed put, tormented by the last touch they’d shared.
“How long can it take?” Liv mumbled.
He got up, only to pace the small corridor where he sat with Frank and Cyborg. He’d found out that Dex and Hammer had also taken part in the raid on Shane’s house and were now dealing with the bodies. Cy stayed to talk to his uncle after Knox’s surgery, but Frank… why was he here? As moral support? Maybe he just didn’t want to leave his car to Liv.