Page 128 of Ruthless with a Rogue
“Well, with integration, youareoften…raising things…” She wiggled against him.“Which, in this context, feels very fitting.”
He chuckled and pulled back.“I love you.So fucking much.”
“I love you, too.”
And she would always love him.Through anything life dealt them.She could only pray that fortune was finally smiling upon them.
64
Derek
Two days later.
Derek closed the door quietly behind him.Blowing out a breath, he leaned heavily against the cold hard slab of oak and stared at his friend, illuminated by the morning light.His motionless friend.
Rafe had awoken multiple times since the accident, for increasingly longer periods.He wasgetting better.But it wasn’t fucking enough.Derek glared at the monstrous four-poster practically swallowing the frail man lying in it.The last visit from the doctor had been grim.He wasn’t optimistic.He didn’t think Rafe had much time left.Derek pounded his fist against his chest, choking on the thick emotion lodged in his throat.At some point, Rafe’s body would give out on him.He would lie here in this bed until he eventually withered away and died.
Derek strode forward, anger quickening his pace, raging through him like a river after a storm.Uncontrolled.Unstoppable.Rafe wasn’t allowed to leave him.Derek wouldn’t fucking allow it.He halted at the bedside, inches from Rafe’s side, and scowled down at his friend’s relaxed countenance.How dare he be so relaxed?How dare herestwhile he was tearing those in this house apart with worry?
“Howdareyou!”Derek exploded.
He clenched his fists, chest surging as air heaved from his lungs.“How fuckingdareyou do this to us, Rafe.You promised me—” His words died as a wave of emotion crashed over him, dragged him under.“You promised me,” he whispered brokenly.“I would always have you.”
He stared blindly at the ceiling, blinking as his eyes burned.Defeat sank over him, washing away his energy.“I swear to God, when you wake up, I’m going to kill your bloody arse.”He looked back at Rafe, face covered in a couple weeks’ worth of beard.A tear slipped down his cheek, and he angrily swiped it away.“Look at you; you’re a bloody mess.In desperate need of a fucking shave.”
Derek glanced away, clenching his jaw, his eyes landing on the wooden cushioned chair kept close by for those visiting the Duke.He hastily dragged it over to the bed and collapsed on it.He dropped his head into his hands, fisting his hair.“What am I to do without you, Rafe?Tell me that one thing.”
A bone-chilling cold blew over him, and gooseflesh dotted his skin.“You have been by my side since Harrow,” he said on a broken whisper.“Living with me as my brother since we were barely young men of fifteen and seventeen.How do I—”
He brought a fist to his mouth, bit down until pain lanced through him, desperate to hold back the sob he refused to let out.He shook his head violently, his breaths sporadic and uneven.
“It’s not a secret we both have our issues,” he managed in a rasp.“But, Rafe, I’ve been working on mine.God, Livy has made me see that I can let people in; Ishouldlet people in.Don’t do this to me.Don’t set me back.If you don’t wake—”
Reaching out, he gripped his friend’s hand.He hung his head as he whispered against Rafe’s skin, “I am going to marry her, Rafe.”Choking on a sob, his fingers tightened around Rafe’s hand as if he held on tight enough, he could drag his best mate back from whatever darkness he had disappeared into.“You need to stand up there with me.I need you by my side.”Come back to me.
“Why is it that you are always blabbering on about emotions in my presence lately?”A low, raspy voice spread through the room.
Shooting to his feet, Derek stared wide-eyed at his friend.Hisawakefriend.
“Rafe?”he croaked.His eyes burned all over again, the tears instantly toppling over.This was the first time Rafe had spoken.The first time he’d been lucid when he’d awoken.This had to mean he was back for good.Ithadto.
Rafe’s lips tilted up weakly.“One and the same.”His words were barely audible, like they were dragged over gravel.
Spinning around, Derek scanned the room for a pitcher of water, not finding one.“Why isn’t there a bloody pitcher of water in here?”
Rafe’s gaze locked on something.Derek followed his stare…to a pitcher of water.Oh.Right there on the nightstand.Of course.
He hastily poured a glass, and turned, hand outstretched, offering Rafe the glass, only to catch Rafe staring at him, an eyebrow weakly arched.Right, Rafe couldn’t move.He knew that.Where in the bloody hell had his wits gone?
He placed the drink down and assisted Rafe into a slightly upright position.“Is that all right?”Derek surveyed Rafe with concern.
Rafe’s eyes were closed, his chest rising and falling with the labored breaths.Rafe dipped his chin weakly, and Derek quickly retrieved the glass of water and brought it to his friend’s lips.Derek’s gaze flicked down to the twitch of Rafe’s arms.His friend tried and failed multiple times to lift his arms.Derek’s heart clenched.Rafe was just weak.He was going to be fine.He was awake.Derek gritted his teeth, his nostrils flaring.Rafe was.Going.To.Be.Fine.
He tilted the glass as Rafe drank greedily.“Easy.The last thing I want is you tossing up your accounts on me.”He pulled the glass away.Some water dribbled down Rafe’s chin, and Derek quickly wiped it away with the cuff of his sleeve.“Not that you have anything to toss up,” he murmured.
Derek placed the glass down and looked back at his friend.His face was so gaunt, so pale.The man had cheekbones now.Who would have known in that harsh square face there were cheekbones?He looked like fucking shite.But he was alive and awake andspeaking.
“I cannot believe it—” Derek's voice broke again, and he cleared his throat roughly.
