Liability (Suncoast Society #33)(80)

When they were alone again, Cole studied Mason. Mason unmuted the TV and stared at it, refusing to look Cole’s way.

“Talk to me,” Cole said.

“What’s there to talk about? I’m a liability. You heard him.” He stared at Cole for a moment. “I’m a burden.”

“You’re not a burden.”

Mason seemed to deflate. During all the time Cole had spent with the man since he’d regained consciousness, Mason hadn’t once broken down.

Cole walked over to the room door and closed it before returning to Mason’s bed. Then he dropped the side-rail and did what Kim had done plenty of times lately, climbed in with him.

He wrapped his arms around Mason. “Stop holding it in. Let it out.”

“Dammit,” Mason whispered, finally crying. “Not f*cking bad enough being a nice guy nearly got me killed, it got me f*cking fired, too.”

“It’s okay.”

“It’s not okay. How the hell am I going to find another job that pays that much around here?”

“We’ll figure it out.”

“But I have bills to pay, and—”

Cole kissed him, waiting until he felt he had Mason’s attention again.

“Doesn’t matter,” he said. “You told us you wanted to discuss the future before all this happened.” Mason had only fuzzy, disjointed memories of Saturday before the attack. He’d regained some, but not all of them. “The future is that you’re going to move in with me and Kim. Either we sell or rent your condo. We’ll figure out the job situation when we get to that point. The only damn thing I give a shit about is getting you healed up enough to get you home where you belong.”

Mason stared up at him. “I thought I was the damn Dom?”

Cole smiled. “I keep telling you, you’re not my Dom. Well, You’re my Dom, just not my Dom.”

Mason finally chuckled. “Did I tell you today how much I love the two of you?”

“Not yet.” Cole finally climbed out of the bed, not wanting the nurse to walk in and think they were doing something naughty. “But please keep saying it. I’m just glad you’re around to say it.”





Chapter Thirty


Cole left Mason talking to his parents and intercepted Kim outside in the parking lot when she arrived that afternoon after work. He led her over to a bench in front of the hospital to talk in private.

“We need to talk,” Cole said, clasping her hands in his. “One of us needs to marry Mason. Immediately.”

“What?”

“His boss came in earlier to talk to him. They fired him.”

“What? How can they do that? Is that even legal?”

“Less than six months at his job. The hiring contract specified a probationary period, meaning they can let him go for any reason before the six months is up. At least they gave him six months’ severance pay so they didn’t look like complete *s. But he needs to go on someone’s health insurance because he’s going to need ongoing care. Yours, or mine. I don’t care which, but we—”

She stared at him. “You.”

Cole studied her. “Are you sure?”

She nodded. “I want you to marry him.”

He pulled her hands up to his lips and kissed them. “I always thought I’d be marrying you one day, sweetheart. That I’d eventually be able to overcome what that bastard did to you.”

“I know.” She took a deep breath. “I want it to be this way. I’m not sure if I’d ever be able to get married again. I love you. You don’t know how much I love you. Especially after all of…this. But maybe the Universe had different plans for us than we thought.”

“You have to move in with us. I can’t do this without you. I need you, and I need your help. And so does he.”

“Okay.” No hesitation at all.

He smiled. “Wow. Takes me marrying another guy to finally get you to agree to move in with me, huh?”

Finally, something to laugh about as she let him pull her into his arms. She pressed her face against his chest. “Promise me he’s going to make it.”

He stroked her hair. “He already has, pet. We just have to get him back on his feet now and heal his heart and soul in addition to his body.”

“I love you, but I love him, too.”

He pressed his lips to the top of her head. “I know. I feel the same way. I need both of you in my life. It’d be empty if I lost either of you.”

“When can we do the wedding?”

“As soon as possible.”

“Wait, he doesn’t know you decided to do this yet, does he?”

“Not yet. I wanted to talk to you about this first and give you a chance to do it, if you wanted to, before going in and telling him this is how it will be.”

“You know me better than that. Besides, you’ll be a better husband for him.” She smiled up at him. “You’ll be able to keep him in line and make him follow the doctor’s orders better than I can. I cave too damn easy. All he has to do is use ‘the voice’ on me, or arch a damned eyebrow at me, and I’m melted butter. Hell, all he has to do is give me ‘the look’ and I cave. You know that.”