Page 35 of Breaking Conviction
Naomi’s heart ached for her new friend, for Wes and the rest of the BlackStone men, for the women Draco had been trying to save, for Draco himself. “I’m so sorry, Nora.”
She cringed inwardly.If I say that word one more time, I’m gonna lose it.
“Do you think he can feel it? When I do this?” Nora took Draco’s limp hand in her own small one and turned to Naomi, those big green eyes begging her to agree.
Tears pricked in Naomi’s. She’d had hoped the same thing when she was fourteen, sitting next to her father’s hospital bed. He’d never woken up to tell her.
“I-I don’t know,” she answered honestly. “But I’d like to think so. I don’t think it does anyone any good to think he can’t feel it, ya know?”
Nora nodded again and sighed. “Nurses do exercises with him, to try to limit any trouble he may have physically after waking up. I do them too, but I’m afraid that if he does open his eyes, exercises won’t be enough to bring him back to who he was.” She leaned on the hospital bed, still holding Draco’s hand. “I always thought it was a miracle he made it out alive. But ifthisis alive...” She waved her hand, indicating his entire body, before shaking her head. “Sometimes I think I see his eyes move behind his lids when I say something crazy or his hand will respond when I squeeze it. The nurse says it’s all in my head. Just hopeful thinkin’. I feel like I know everything about him, Naomi. But I don’t. I don’t know a godsdamned thing about this man except that he thought I was worth dying for. I just have this gut feeling that being trapped like this is his nightmare.”
Naomi watched as Nora’s thumb traced the top of his hand. “What makes you so sure?”
Nora snorted out a laugh. “Well, first of all, who in their right mind would want this? And second, I mean, look at him. He’s huge. I just imagine him enjoying life outside in a flimsy ass tent like a loon who doesn’t know electricity was invented over a century ago.”
A chuckle escaped from Naomi’s chest and she felt the first true smile, albeit small, that she’d had in weeks. Even when Nora was sad, she had a knack for making others happier. Naomi’s grin waned as she thought about how exhausting and lonely it had to be, to always put up a front for others’ benefit, never quite being able to feel whatsheneeded to feel.
Unsure how to make the woman next to her feel comfortable enough to open up, Naomi moved on, hoping the answers would come to her at some point.
“What’re those?” Naomi asked, pointing to the pile of magazines Nora had placed on the bedside table.
Nora turned to see where Naomi was pointing and laughed. “Oh, those?” It looked like she squeezed Draco’s hand before she let it go to reach the magazine. “These are why I wonder if Drake’s ever gonna wa—” She cleared her throat. She blew out a harsh breath. “Anywho, I read him these every day. Gotta make sure he’s in the know whenever he comes back from his brain vacay.”
Naomi took the magazine being handed to her and flipped through it. “Cosmo, Nora? Really? Isn’t that a little risqué?”
A snort lifted Nora’s shoulders up. “Oh my dear, sweet child. The fact that you think Cosmo is risqué is effin’ adorable.”
It was Naomi’s turn to scoff. “Nora, I’m, what? Two years older than you?”
“Bah” —Nora dismissed her objection with a gesture— “everyone’s littler, sweeter, and younger than me in my world. It’s nicer that way. Otherwise it’s the opposite.”
“Okay, fair, but you seriously read women’s magazines to him?” she teased. “You think this big man’s gonna want to hear about ‘Who Wore It Best?’”
Nora huffed before rolling her eyes dramatically and snatching the magazine back. “We’ll have none of that negative energy in here, rude-y Trudy. ‘Kay? There’s valuable info to be learned. Like...” She flipped through the magazine. “Ah, yes. ‘How to Give a Guy the Blow Job to Die For.’Or how ‘bout this?” She lifted the magazine toward Draco’s comatose body and spoke to him. “This’ll be handy for you someday, big guy, ‘How to Tell Him He Doesn’t Know Where Your G-Spot Is.”
She waited a beat before sighing, as if she really thought antagonizing him would wake him up. “Fine, be that way, ya jerk. Keep your thoughts to yourself.” She turned back to Naomi. “There’re also trusty horoscopes, ‘Who Wore It Best,’ hot celeb goss, and the shmexy story in the back.Thatpart’s my fave.” She flipped the pages all the way to the end before clearing her throat.
“Joanne winked.” Nora’s voice was low and husky, and Naomi hid her silent chuckles behind her hand. The woman was a riot.“‘Wanna take this to the bedroom, Scott?’...Let’s see... there’s some makin’ out, a little foreplay and—oh yes—get ready to cringe. ‘Joanne reached into the bedside table to get a condom.’”
Nora barked out a laugh and tossed the magazine onto Draco’s still legs. “Those safety-first stories kill me every time. Like, safe sex is the sexiest sex, sure, blah, blah, blah, but it’s a godsdamned three page short story for cryin’ out loud. Like,hellooocan’t we just assume that part with an asterisk at the beginning or something? I mean, what could be less sexy than the wordcondom?” She spat the word from her mouth. “Why can’t it be something like ‘shaft sheath’ or ‘cock cloak’ or ‘groin glove?’” She waved her hand with a flourish and a roll of her eyes like when Thea said ‘duh’. “Obvi it would need to be an alliteration.”
Naomi laughed outright even as she felt her face grow hot. She definitely wasn’t used to Nora’s brand of candor, but it was refreshing as all get out to be around someone who said what everyone was thinking.
“Anyway, that’s on me and the big guy. What about you and your fella?”
“Uh, my… oh, my fi-um… Dean’s fine. He’s been workin’ an alternating schedule and is on second shift today—”
“Cool, cool, cool. But what about you and Superman, huh?” She waggled her eyebrows. “I want the tea on Mr. Tall, Pale, and Handsome. He’s been lookin’ at you like you’re birthday cake and he’s on a diet. Spill, girl.” Nora crossed her holey, straight-legged jeans and propped her elbow on her knee. She left her chin on her closed fist and smiled, blinking her eyes in expectation.
Naomi’s already heated cheeks felt like they finally caught fire before she carefully schooled her face.
Fuck, am I that obvious?
She didn’t want to snap at her friend, but she needed to nip this shit in the bud real quick. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Nora. And I’d appreciate it if you didn’t bring this up again, alright?”
Nora’s eyebrows raised before smiling knowingly and relaxing from what was apparently her ‘spill the tea’ pose. “Alright then, Gandolf. Keep your secrets.”
Naomi felt her brows furrow again before she huffed out a laugh when she finally sort of understood what Nora was referencing. “Girl, I swear, a conversation with you is like talkin’ directly to Twitter.”
