Page 139 of Devilish Ink

My throat was raw and I winced from the pain of speaking.

Our mother, before she died, was kind, soft spoken, but it wasn’t in the Merrick blood. We were brutal, violent savages. We didn’t know how to settle a fight other than with our fists.

Glancing up at the flashing numbers overhead, Rian smiled a little.

“Eithne may have taught me a thing or two. Like often it’s better to lead with empathy than violence.”

“You love her,” I said simply.

“She is proof we can’t choose who we love,” Rian said, hisvoice distant. “Lord knows if that were true, Eithne would have never chosen to fall in love with me.”

“She sounds like an amazing woman,” I told him as the doors opened on the third floor.

“She is a better woman than I ever fucking deserve,” he admitted, stepping out and pulling me along after. “I’m going to spend the rest of my life trying to deserve her.”

Our solitary footsteps echoed down the quiet hallway of sleeping patients and the machines they were hooked up to.

I understood what he meant: he was changing. Certainly not all at once and certainly not without his fair share of growing pains.

Eithne was making him a better man.

Ry had done the same for me.

We could be better men, despite our family’s blood.

Outside Room 307 I could just make out Ryleigh’s figure in a bed through the slanted blinds over the window. Rian was silent for a moment as he paused for a second.

“I’ll be waiting at Dublin Ink when you’re done here,” Rian said quietly.

“You don’t want to come in?” I offered.

He loved Ryleigh, too, in a different way. He must need the relief of feeling her pulse underneath his fingers for himself.

He shook his head.

I wanted to hug him. But I didn’t know how he’d react, not sure my heart could take it if he rejected me now.

I hesitated and Rian slipped past me without another word. I glanced back at his retreating figure, his shirt sticking to his sweat-damp back. I regretted not reaching for him.

But I had Ry and the baby to worry about for now.

I steadied myself, drawing in a few even breaths. And then entered the room.

Whatever calm I’d managed to achieve got swept away as if in a flood the second I saw Ry in that hospital bed.

The lamp in the corner made her too pale skin look jaundiced, especially compared to the stark white of the bandages that covered large swaths of her body. My blood boiled knowing what was beneath them.

All over again I saw those cuts across her body, congealed with blood the colour of rust. Rage threatened to overtake me again. Her fear, her helplessness. Her pain.

For a moment, all I could think about was chasing after Rian so we could get our revenge.

But then Ry called my name.

It was weak and needy and it was all it took for me to rush to her side.

Drawing her into my arms was like breaking the surface of the water. Like I’d been drowning for every second I’d been without her. I gasped for air.

“Liam,” Ry cried again, burying her face into my chest as her fingers, all caught up in wires and tubes, grasped around my neck.

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