Page 106 of Hate Game

“We’ll ask when your nurse stops by.” He takes my hand in his and cocoons it between his large palms. “You’re coming home with me, Rue. You’re not staying at Tessa’s.”

“I can’t. It’s indecent, and soon I won’t be working for your parents anymore. There won’t be a need to go where you go and vice versa.”

“Indecent? We’ve been indecent and more. Or did you forget all the places we’ve blessed with your fine, naked body?” His voice is low and husky.

“Malice.” My cheeks heat. “People will talk.”

“Does it matter?”

“Small town.”

“Ourlife, Rue. Anyways, we’ll be out of here in a few months.”

“You meanyou’llbe out of here, moving on to bigger and better places.” I pick at the thin hospital blanket. “I saw the envelopes from Stanford and Texas A&M in your glove box. Early offers?”

“Yes.”

“Playing for those colleges will get you more exposure, Malice. You should accept.”

“Weshould accept.”

“I plan on applying to DU so I can be closer to my family and friends. I am not moving to another state. I’m not ready.”

“You mean that?”

“Yes,” I say with conviction. I bring his hand to my face and drop a kiss on his scraped-up knuckles. “Isaac is my half-brother, Malice. My father had an affair. Isaac is the same age as Riley.”

Understanding dawns on his face.

“Aw, I’m sorry, Rue.”

“Nothing to be sorry for except for my father cheating on my mother. I’m happy Isaac is my brother. Me and Riley love him, and he loves us back.”

“No wonder you two are close.”

“Is that okay?”

“Hell, yeah.”

Then he tells me why it was important that he KO’d Big J.

The length he went to to protect the ones I care about.

I pull him in for a kiss. Malice is such a good guy. “I don’t hate you, Malice,” I confess. “All those times I said the words, I thought the opposite. When you asked me to hate you, that you could handle my hate, I hoped you meant love because I only love you.”

“I thought the same,” he admits. “What is the antonym of hate, babe?”

“Love,” I say.

“Yes. Love. I go where you go, Rue, and DU it is.”

My heart is somersaulting. “Thank you.”

He slides into bed alongside me. I turn into his warmth and his strength.

“You know, I’ve been meaning to say this to you.” He skims his finger over my eyebrow and then the other. Feather-like caresses. Tender. I love him so much. “Your parents’ absence isn’t a reflection of who you are or aren’t, just like my parents being gone all the time isn’t a reflection of how they feel about me. Whether they’re gone or home, they love and are proud of me. I think your parents are the same way, Rue. Say the word, and I’ll help you find them.”

“You will?”

---