Page 43 of Rooke
“I’m not. I haven’t taken anything. I told Ali I did just to shut her up.”
Rooke smiles—a full, broad smile that makes me feel strange. “Badass. If I were you, I’d be popping those pills though. You look…” He trails off, his eyes moving over my body.
“Like shit?” I offer.
“Like you need pain meds.” At least he doesn’t tell me I look terrible. He said as much back in the hospital, and I’ll admit that I cared.
“Sasha?” he says quietly.
I close my eyes.
“Sasha, look at me.”
I open my eyes, and he’s still frozen to the spot, still staring at me, still hovering like a ghost at the other end of the table. The snow on his shoulders has melted now, leaving wet streaks down the front of his jacket. “I’ve been worried,” he says. “Really,reallyfucking worried. About you. I haven’t been able to fucking think straight. I’m sorry about the hospital. I should have stayed. I shouldn’t have left like that. I just…I couldn’t fucking handle it.”
“It’s okay. I’m sorry, too.”
He angles his head to one side. “Why are you sorry?”
“Because. This whole thing made you freak out. You shouldn’t have been—”
“Fuck.” He shakes his head, laughing angrily under his breath. “You really don’t understand any of this, do you?” He gestures between us, frowning, his brow creased into deep, unhappy lines. “Icareabout you. I’m intensely attracted to you. I fucking want you. So seeing you whisked off in a motherfucking ambulance, covered in blood, and then not being able to check in with you? That’s done more than disturb my thought patterns, okay?”
I rock back onto my heels. I’m a broken fucking mess. Can’t he tell that just by looking at me? Why does he want me like this?
“Are you all right now?” he asks, grinding his teeth together. “At least tell me that.”
“I’m fine. I’m tired. I’m still in shock, I guess. I hurt all over, but I’ll be okay.”
Rooke takes a step forward. He’s only three feet away from me now, but it feels like he’s standing right in front of me, as if there’s no space between us at all. It’s thrilling and frightening at the same time.
“I know this is the worst time, Sasha, but I need you to do something for me, okay?”
“I don’t know. It depends what it—”
“Send Ali home. Right now. I’m going to take care of you.”
“God, I can’t. She’ll have a fucking fit.”
He takes a step toward me, growling under his breath. “It’s not a request. It’s what’s going to happen. Either you go out there and tell her or I will. And I’ll use much harsher language, I fucking promise you that.”
I feel like I’m drunk. I feel like I’m out of my fucking mind. The prospect of telling Ali to go home is an awful one, but it’s better than what’s going to happen if I unleash Rooke on her. I allow my shoulders to sag, then I open the door.
“Wait here,” I tell him. “Don’t get involved.”
He holds his hands up, an act of surrender.
Ali’s standing in the hallway, trying to look like she wasn’t eavesdropping a second ago. I can see from the look on her face that she heard what he just said, though. I don’t even bother pretending with her. “I’m sorry, love. I know you want to make sure I’m okay, but—”
“Is he good to you?”
“What?”
She rolls her eyes. “Is he good to you? Does he treat you right? Is he careful with you? Do you feel safe with him?”
I’m stunned. “Yes,” I say softly.
Ali just nods, looking down at the floor. “All right then. I mean, he’s six foot five and he’s built like a brick shithouse. If you say he makes you feel safe and he treats you the way he’s meant to, then of course I’m okay with leaving. He’s way more equipped to protect you than I am. Just know the intention was there, though, okay? I get points for that. And if he so much as sneezes in a way you don’t like—”
