Page 212 of Burning Daylight
“You’re here,” I say to him.
“I’m here,” he repeats, bringing my hand up and pressing tiny kisses to the back of it. “Never leaving you again.”
“How did?—”
“Shh.” He reaches forward with his free hand and brushes it down my hair, petting me like he needs the feel of me under his hands to know that I’m real.
“Miss Calloway,” Felicity interrupts, her fingers gripping my ankle. “As your self-appointed and completely untrained nurse, I’m supposed to get your vitals. But also, your entire house is full of large, angry men who keep pacing, so…”
“Give us a minute,” Roman snaps. “Go tell everyone waiting that she’s awake.”
Felicity cocks a brow. “Did you not hear me scream it at them?”
“So tell them again.”
“Fine, but only because I’m a sucker for a good love story.” She squeezes my ankle again before letting go. “Butnomaking out until we’re sure she’s okay.”
Roman doesn’t even dignify her with a look.
Felicity tosses a wink and then disappears into the hallway, shouting loudly again, “She’s awake, you idiots, did nobody hear me?”
“We heard you. Goddamn, you’re like a gnat,” Paxton replies, his voice distant like he’s yelling back at her from the bottom of the stairs.
I raise a brow. “Snippy.”
Roman smiles, pressing another kiss to my hand.
“I was so worried.” He leans in and brushes his mouth against mine. “You are never allowed to get kidnapped again.”
“What, like I did it on purpose?” I narrow my eyes. “It wasyourmom who took me, in case you forgot.”
“I didn’t forget,” he says, voice quiet. “I willneverforget.”
There’s something haunted in his gaze, and it twists something deep inside me. “It’s okay, you know? And it’s not her, Trouble. Remember? It’s the drugs. Not her.”
He grunts. “Itwas, Juliette.”
I shake my head, then wince at the ache it produces. “No, baby. It wasn’t. Drugs change a person, right?”
His jaw tenses. “You don’t know everything she’s done, you?—”
“Doesn’t matter,” I say. “I mean, it does, but…for your own heart? It doesn’t matter.”
He sniffs but doesn’t give me an answer. And I don’t push because honestly, I’m out of my depth with it, and grief takes time to process.
My chest pulls, and the fog clears just enough for me to remember small pieces. “What happened?”
“The short version? Frederick Lawrence was a piece of shit who has manipulated everyone for years, alongside my mother, and now he’s dead, my father’s also dead, and you’re safe. That’s all I care about.”
“What? Oh my God,Roman,” I blurt out, my heart aching for him.
He shakes his head. “I don’t want to think about it right now. I’m fine. You’re here. Brooklynn’s safe. And I’mfine.”
I swallow. “Okay.”
My stomach drops as more of reality seeps back in through the haze. “Ty,” I choke out. “Is he…?”
Roman’s jaw clenches, something dark passing through his gaze, but he shakes his head. “He’s in the hospital, but for now, at least…he’s alive.”
