Page 27 of Point Proven
Securing his hold, he carried me upstairs. Slowly lowering me to the bed, his pointer and middle fingers slipped beneath my chin. His lips met mine with a slow, passionate kiss, one that spoke words he’d uttered to me a handful of times, carrying vows of our life together and promises we’d shared. Holding theconnection for a handful of seconds, he hesitantly pulled back, his irises transitioning back to their caramel hue.
“Do you trust me?”
“A-Always.”
“Then pack a bag. There is someone I think you need to meet.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
SIMON
“Idon’t fucking need this.” Swatting at Oren’s hand, I ripped the bandage from my head, eyes sunken and void of life. They’d arrived minutes after I’d woken up, Liam’s presence completely gone.
“Likehellyou don’t. And if you’re going to be pissed at me, that’s fine, I understand, but stop fucking moving,” Oren spat, unraveling more gauze.
“You do realize,” Thorne commented from where he stood propped against the door frame, “that whining won’t get him back, right?”
“Whining? You think I’mfuckingwhining?” Pushing Oren away with a shove that sent his back cracking into the chair opposite mine, I snarled. “Liam isgone, and we’re sitting here!”
His eyes swept down my frame. “You want to charge into battle with a concussionandno leg? I mean, hell, by all means, go for it, O’Neill.”
“Yeah, I do, because I would do anything…anything…” My voice cracked as I bit my cheek, iron flooding my mouth.
“If you’re curious, ask Oren what I did to Stefan’s men.” Kicking himself from the wall, Thorne walked toward me. “I am just as determined to get Liam back, Simon. Believe me.”
Wiping away the moisture that seemed to keep falling when I thought of him, I inhaled sharply, but it didn’t fill my lungs. “He’s… He’s being tortured and… and I’m… I couldn’t… I couldn’t?—”
Thorne pulled me from where I sat, wrapping me in a tight embrace. “I’m a stubborn prick, Simon, and when I say wearegetting Liam back, I fucking mean it.”
Clawing at his back, I fell into my friend’s arms, needing something to ground me before I flooded into total despair. I couldn’t get his stare out of my mind. Liam’s fear burned into my irises as he looked at me… looked at me as if I could save him.
“I-I thought… I thought I could protect him.” Another heave, filled with regret and sorrow, billowed from me. “I failed. I failed. God, Ifailed.”
“You did not fail, Simon. You did everything you could.” Rubbing circles on my back, Thorne hugged me tighter. “Stefan is a dangerous man. In fact, calling him as such would be an understatement. The organization he’s set up, the trafficking routes he runs, the corruption he bathes himself in? I’m not even sureIcould oppose him alone.”
“Liam… Helookedat me as… as if I could help. But… But it took everything to justfuckingstand!”
Hands curling around my arms, he forced me away from him, his honeyed gaze meeting mine. “He wasnotlooking at you like that, I can fucking guarantee it, because he has told me time and time again how you’vealreadysavedhim, Simon.”
“How?” I shouted, pointing at my thigh, my prosthetic resting on the chair next to Oren. “If I… If I hadallof me, I could’ve stopped him.”
Loosening his hold on one tricep, he flicked the center of my chest. “All of you? All of you ishere.In your fucking heart, Simon.”
Sucking in a breath, I shook my head. “I couldn’t even get out of bed. And… And it took sogoddamnlong to make it to the hallway?—”
“Wait, you made it to the hallway but couldn’t get out of bed?” Thorne craned his head to the side, his brows raising.
“God, figure of expression?—”
“Speech,” he corrected. “Figure of speech.”
“You… You are?—”
“Irritating at times? Yes. Butalsocorrect? Yes,” Oren chimed in, smiling slightly as he shifted my prosthetic leg onto his lap. “I don’t know about you, but if you made it all the way to the hallway for Liam, heknew, Simon.”
“See, even my fiancé understands.”
Rolling my eyes, the corner of my lip lifted. “That’s because he’s ingrained in your blood. Probably from all the fucking.”
