Fighting Shadows (On the Ropes #2)(3)

The older I became, the more I found myself consumed by guilt and anger. Guilt because no two people had ever deserved each other more. And anger because, despite knowing that, I wanted to shove my brother out of the picture completely. I wanted to own Eliza Reynolds Page in every possible way, but especially in the way where she never left me and loved me forever.

I wanted the comfort and security only she could offer me.

“Eliza?” I called as I went back to battle against my eyelids and was finally victorious. I was greeted by the sight of Till holding her tight, his arms folded around her swollen stomach.

“Hey, bud,” he cooed, visible relief washing over his face.

But I didn’t have eyes for him. Eliza stood in his arms with tears flowing in a steady stream down her cheeks.

My lips twitched in the most unlikely of smiles.

She always cries.

“You ’kay?” I mumbled.

“I am. Thanks to you.” She took a step forward, joining our hands.

I laughed, using our linked knuckles to rub her belly. “How’s ma baby?”

“What’d he say?” Till asked.

Eliza removed her hands from mine long enough to translate for him through sign language.

I attempted to roll over so I could have the use of my hands to communicate with him, but I was stilled by the sudden shouts.

“No!” they yelled as I tried to push up on the bed.

“You can’t move . . . I, um, I mean you shouldn’t move.” Eliza squatted down in front of me.

I lifted a hand to wipe her tears away. Her eyes were red and puffy, but as she brushed my short hair off my forehead, she’d never looked more beautiful. Her fingertips trailed over my skin, soothing my aches from the outside in.

“Let’s get you some more pain medicine.” She grabbed a red button off the corner of my bed and pressed it repeatedly.

I wasn’t in any real pain, but within seconds, my entire body relaxed even further.

She remained squatting in front of me, and her tears began to dry while she whispered soothing words I couldn’t quite make out among the myriad of beeping monitors. It didn’t matter what she was saying though.

She was there.

With me.

For me.

My vision was blurry, but time stood still as I stared into her eyes and slurred the words I had absolutely no business saying.

I had been harboring them for years. But no matter how I tried, no amount of time made them right.

“I love you, Eliza. Soooooo. Fuuucking. Mush.”

Even drugged out of my mind, I knew that my admission was going to do more harm than good, but that didn’t slow the words—or the pain.

Maybe, if I just told her how I felt, I could let it go. Move on to a day when I wasn’t teased by the unattainable. It was a grand idea, but fruition was a different story.

She replied, “I love you too,” but I knew she didn’t understand.

In that second though, I needed her to understand. It wasn’t a choice.

For her.

Or me.

“No. I loooove you.” I exaggerated the word but not the truth.

“Shh,” she whispered, resting her hand on my cheek. “I love you too, Flint. We all do. Just go to sleep.”

We all do.

They wouldn’t after I was done. I was sober enough to realize that.

“No. Lizen to me. I . . . love you. Like Till loves you. Like . . . I-want-to-have-sex-with-you love you. Really. Gud. Sex.” I laughed.

“Oh f*ck,” Quarry groaned.

“And marry you, and . . .” I stopped to lick my dry lips before spewing the ultimate slap to my brother’s deaf ears. “That should be my baby, not his.”

“Oh f*ck,” Quarry repeated.

“Uhh . . . um . . .” Eliza stuttered, looking up at Till, who was standing only a few feet away.

“What? What’d he say?” Till asked, stepping forward.

“I said I’m in love with your wife!” I yelled for some unexplainable reason.

Well, maybe only unexplainable to them; I understood my frustrations completely.

Till needed the chance to hate me. He had given me everything in life and provided for me even when he’d had to sacrifice himself. I owed him the truth about the way I felt about his wife. Regardless that it proved what a dirt bag I truly was.

I lifted my one free hand in the air and began to sign out the letters, but Quarry stepped between Eliza and me and forced my hand against the bed.

“Yep. That’s enough. Go to sleep, *.”

“He needs ta know. Tell him fur me.”

Quarry lifted his hands and signed to Till without words. He said he loves us all, and then he got all weepy and called Eliza mommy. I’m just trying to keep him from embarrassing himself. That’s all.

“Dat’s bullshit,” I replied when he finished.

“We love you too, Flint. Get some rest,” Till said, folding his arms across his chest, not buying into Quarry’s explanation.

“No! I said, ‘I love her.’ Eliza.” I began to point in her direction, but Quarry once again slapped my hand down.

Turning his back on Till, he leaned into my face. “Shut your goddamn mouth. I’m trying to help you here.”

“I love her,” I repeated for the umpteenth time.