Page 81 of Ruthless Desires: Vol. Two
“You’re okay?” My fingers feather over her bandage. “I know today has been hard.”
“I’ll be fine,” she says as she nuzzles her face into my chest. “Already doing a lot better.”
I kiss the top of her head. “Okay. I have to get back to work.”
With a sigh, she pulls away. “Can we help you?”
“No.” Today has been hell. I’m not going to make it worse for the others by asking them to work when they need to unwind. “Go find the others and relax.”
She looks like she wants to protest, but all she does is kiss me again. Her hands linger on my body for a moment before she steps away. “You deserve to relax too, you know.”
I nod, not giving her a verbal response. I don’t know how to tell her that what I deserve isn’t important right now. What matters is keeping my brothers safe.
Once she’s gone, I sit at the table and dive back into the audio. Considering the condo was empty for most of today, a lot of the feed is just silence. When Aubrey and Ludo get back in the evening, there’s bickering over wedding details before she storms off.
And then…nothing.
No phone calls. No conversations with his bodyguards. Just the sounds of papers rustling and a keyboard clacking.
Come on. Give me something.
I’m mostly caught up to the present, given how much dead space there was over the course of the day. As I wait, hoping Ludo will say something of use, my thoughts catch up to me.
They’re going to die, just like she did.
What is Ludo going to make us do?
How can I keep everyone safe?
Elliot’s voice barely breaks through my consciousness. “You need to give yourself a break.”
I don’t respond.
“Rhett. You can’t help them if you’re so sleep deprived you can’t think straight.”
“I’m thinking fine.”
“No, you’re not.”
“Well, I’m not going to stop, so—”
Elliot shuts my laptop. “Yeah, you are.”
For the first time in what feels like hours, I look up. It’s dark outside, and the penthouse is oddly quiet. “Where are Oliver and Wren?”
“Outside. Which is whereyou’reabout to be. Put your swim trunks on. We’re helping Wren.”
That’s when I realize that Elliot is shirtless and wearing his own swim trunks. I jump to my feet. “No. She’s not going anywhere near that goddamned pool.”
“We’re gonna be in the hot tub.”
“No.No,she needs to—”
Fuck.
“Needs to what, Rhett?” The way Elliot says it makes me think he knew this is exactly how this conversation would go before it even happened. His tone holds a challenge, but it’s also a loophole out of my stress.
“She needs to take a break,” I mumble.
