Page 289 of Vile Boys

“I’m not thirsty.”

“Gotta keep your fluids up. It’s important,” he says, opening it for me. “Now drink.”

I do what he wants just so he’ll stop telling me, but he was right … my throat was dried out. “Thanks.” I take another sip. “How long doyou think it’ll take?”

“I don’t know. Could be minutes. Hours. Days.”

I nearly choke on my Coke. “Days?”

He smirks. “Knowing both of them, probably hours before they start begging for you.”

A blush creeps onto my cheeks.

“How are you feeling?” he asks. “Your back must hurt.”

I gently smile. “It’s fine. I can take it. Besides, Ares and Blaine have got it way worse than I do.”

“True. But … I don’t want you to hurt, so take your medicine.” He places it in front of me.

Suddenly, the doc comes in, and I forgot all about what we were talking about and can only focus on him.

“Mr. Navarro has just come out of surgery.”

My eyes light up. “How is he?”

“Doing good under the circumstances,” the doctor replies, and I breathe a sigh of relief. “We’ve removed one bullet from his body, and cleaned out both wounds and sutured them. He will need plenty of rest and allow for healing, though.”

“Of course,” I say. “Can we see him?”

The doctor nods.

“What about Ares?” Caleb asks.

“He’s still in recovery. I will let the nurses know to call you when he’s awake.”

We nod and quickly walk into the corridor that leads to Blaine’s room. When I see him reading a book, I nearly burst out into both tears and laughter.

“Don’t they have anything better to read here? This is dreadful,” he says, flipping through the pages.

I run up to him and hug him tight, and he groans in pain. “Gently, darling, be gentle with me.”

“Sorry,” I mutter, quickly leaning away, but he cups my face and leans in to kiss me instead, and my heart nearly sings out of joy.

His kisses make me feel light as a feather, like I could float up into the sky, and they take all the destructive emotions swirling inside my mind away until all that’s left is his undying love for me.

He smiles against my lips and murmurs, “Now, this is what’s worth dying for.”

I smile back as he rubs his nose against mine. “I’m glad you’re stillalive, though.”

He snorts. “You’re the only one in this room.”

“Ha ha,” Caleb responds. “Good one.”

“How are you feeling?” I ask.

“Like I got run over by a truck, but I’ll manage,” he says, tucking his own hair behind his ear. “I’m just glad they managed to take out the bullet. But my God, is it painful to take a breath.”

“Glad to see you’re back to your winging self,” Caleb muses, slapping him on the back.

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