Page 137 of Hold On

All that time worrying about Kilic and his family and they’d never been the threat. Not that he could ever assume he was safe. If the guy hadn’t thought about it before, maybe he was thinking about it now.

Something touched his forehead and he tried to lift his hand and couldn’t.

“How long are you going to sleep?”

Shut up. I’m tired.

Then the bed dipped on one side. Something tickled his cheek and Dominic was still too weak or maybe lazy to lift his hand to swipe at the irritation.

“Hurry up before my boyfriend arrives,” Dominic muttered.

“I can be quick,” Ren said.

Dominic managed a smile.

“Who brought you chocolates?”

“Merlene and Livingston.”

“They came to see you?”

“Col did. He brought them. They want us to go round for dinner.”

“Us?”

“Me and you.” Dominic opened his eyes.

Ren sighed. “I thought I’d lost you.”

“I’m resilient, persistent and apparently hard to kill.”

“Oh God.” Ren’s cheeks twitched. “So nearly a fucking disaster.”

“Nearly? I have a broken leg, ribs that appear to have been taken out and put back in the wrong order, a bullet hole that I can’t brag about, severe concussion and bruises from head to toe. That sounds pretty disastrous to me.”

“Not as disastrous as burning to death. I…I…”

Dominic fumbled for Ren’s hand and squeezed his fingers. “What you did, running for help and coming back, saved our lives. You know it did.”

“If I’d thought that Levan was going to come after me… I’m so sorry.”

“Is he dead? Under arrest?”

“Under arrest. They all are except the two Levan shot. My boss is delighted. My former boss.”

“You’ve decided to resign?”

“We’re both unemployed now. When we get…”

“Home?”

“Back to Asquith, we can look for jobs together. When we’re both well, I want to go on holiday. Somewhere where we feel safe.”

“I feel safe when I’m with you.”

“I’m glad I knocked you over.” Ren smiled and closed his eyes.

When Ren’s breathing slowed, Dominic knew he’d fallen asleep. When Ren woke up, Dominic would tell him he was glad too.

---