[Author's Note: I'll try to keep this short. This chapter is dedicated to Awesome Writer Paige. Liam would never put up a restraining order against you. . . YOU BETTER POST AGAIN SOON DAMMIT!]
Chapter Forty-Eight
There's no such thing as 'The End'
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"I don't see why I have to sit through this," Liam growled grumpily. "Quit flirting with my girl!"
Luke, perched on the side of my gurney, grinned happily. "You owe me."
"Like hell I do!"
"I stopped your power from scaring the entire hospital and you caused me to lose consciousness."
"Weak," muttered Liam, pushing himself up onto his elbows so that he could fully glare at Luke. "And it's not like I had any control. I wasn't conscious myself."
"Blah blah blah, it's not like you can stop me anyway" Luke said dismissively. He leant back and smiled mischievously at me. "So, you're not really attached to this brute, are you? My cook would be better off for you, not to mention me. I mean, you've seen my house, you'd be comfortable." He moved his hands to either side of my stomach and leaned over me. I could see in his eyes that he was enjoying himself, and it wasn't because he was flirting with me. "I'd definitely keep you entertained..."
I drew my legs up and then shoved my feet into Luke's side, shoving him off the edge of my bed.
"Ah! Goddammit! Kayli, you got me right in the kidney!" he sputtered and pushed himself up angrily.
I stuck my tongue out at him and Liam chuckled softly. Luke glared at us both and stalked out the room. I glanced sidelong at Liam and he smirked back. I was glad he wasn't in a horrible mood. He was constantly irritable, he didn't like being bedridden and unmoving. I could see him fidgeting now, wanting to be up and jumping.
I scooted to the side of my bed and got down to sit on the stool beside his gurney. "A few more days and you'll be allowed to move around and we can be discharged."
He clasped his hands behind his hand and stared up at the ceiling. "And then what?"
It was a very serious question but he asked me in an amused tone.
I rested my elbows next to his hips and cupped my chin with my hands, giving him an impatient look. "You seem like you've already got an answer planned. Why don't you just spit it out?"
His lips spread and a smarmy grin formed. "I asked you. I want to hear your answer."
I huffed and rolled my eyes. I didn't want to say it. How embarrassing. 'I want to spend forever with you'. How cliché and soppy. That just wasn't me. I couldn't say it. I stuck out my chin.
"Oldest goes first," I said mulishly.
His eyes crinkled at the sides. "Ah, but it is always ladies first. And I am ever so gallant."
I snorted. "Are not."
"Don't you have an answer? Have you really not thought about what will happen after we're discharged...? As long as that bloody doctor actually sets us free. I mean, if I hadn't threatened him with assaulting an officer, he would've bloody well chained me to the bed by now. But haven't you thought at all about what's next?"
Had I thought about what would happen next? Oh, a thousand times and more. James had school and Donovan had therapy sessions but Paddy, Dan and Luke tried to keep me company most the time, especially when Liam was sleeping. But more often than not I was left with nothing but my own thoughts. And they nearly always turned to what would happen in the future. Or what Liam thought about the future. I was so nervous that I was afraid to speak, knowing my voice would come out shaky. I settled for glancing at him uninterestedly, attempting to look like I wasn't bothered at all. I could only hope.
"Well, I suppose I should be thinking about Lee's sentence and what the panel decide." I knew for certain that this wasn't what he had meant. And by the raised eyebrow he shot in my direction, he knew that I knew it too.
"Where are you going to be when you think about that?" He pushed on infuriatingly.
I blew out noisily. "Are you really going to make me say it?"
"Say what?"
I reached forward and slapped his thigh sharply. He flinched and grabbed it with a gasp, sucking in air through his gritted teeth. I tapped my cheek edgily and waited for him to give up the act. I knew I hadn't hit his hurt leg.
"I'm not fooling you am I?" He released his leg and stretched it out again as I shook my head. "Well you should feel a little guilty. You're making the cripple wait for an answer to an easy question."
I gave him a questioning glance. "You pout when Paddy treats you and tells you that you have to stay in bed but you willingly draw attention to the fact that you're hurt when you want something." I shook my head despondently.
Without warning, his hand reached out and latched around my wrist. He yanked it forward so that my chin dropped and hit the bed. He lifted my hand towards his head.
"Tell me or I'll eat your hand."
"You tell me or I'll bite your leg." I wiggled my chin to move my head closer to his leg.
He laughed loudly and I held back my own giggles. It was only now that I noticed that a huge weight had been lifted from my shoulders and I felt so carefree. I felt like I could do anything. And I had to have him by my side when I did.
"I want to stay with you," I mumbled into the blanket that covered his legs.
His chuckles died down. I could feel his breath on the tips of my fingers. "You're going to have to repeat that. I hear through my ears and not my legs."
He had heard. I could tell by the sudden brightness in his expression. The sudden shimmer in his lime green eyes. The smug smirk that I wanted to rub off his face. I pressed my lips together and stared at his headboard.
I let out the shortest, tiniest yelp when I felt his teeth lightly nibbling my fingers. I glared at him and tugged on my hand. He tugged it back. I turned away to hide my pang of hurt. I had said something serious and personal and he was teasing me. I didn't appreciate it.
"I wouldn't let you go, anyway," he finally relented. "If you had said on the opposite side of the planet, I would've followed you, not two inches behind until you gave up and took a step backwards into my arms."
"Stalker," I muttered. He began to kiss my knuckles.
"I bought a place."
I sat up abruptly. "What?"
He glanced at me a little contritely. "I bought an apartment in the city. It's big. It's near the headquarters so I won't have to travel far. And it's near UCD, University College of Dublin..." He bit his lip. "You know, if you want to study. Or you can join up for a trial with LASER. Always looking for new recruits."
I smiled softly. What an overload of information. Here I'd been thinking that we would stay with Dan and James but of course we couldn't live there forever. And my thoughts hadn't even roved as far as continuation of my education. Obviously, I couldn't sit around for the rest of my life. "As much as I'd love to work with you, Liam, I couldn't. I don't think I could go to a place where my parents were employed and bear with any expectations or gossip. I'll have to pick a course that I can have fun in."
He held my hand on his chest. "But moving in with me?" His hand tightened even as his face remained blank. I don't even think he was aware of it.
I turned my head, resting it against his leg. "I suppose I don't have anywhere else to go." His nails bit into my palm. I brushed my thumb over his knuckles. "I wouldn't want to go anywhere else anyway, you blind git."
He sent me a pained smile. "It's just hard to believe, you know? I'm still waiting to wake up. What if someone else had been sent on that investigation into the Cornwall Jewel Thief? What if Donovan hadn't come across you? What if you had actually been smart enough to hide the fact that you knew my name?"
I poked him in the stomach. "What if I had hated your stinking guts?" I grumbled.
He patted the bed beside him. "Climb up."
I glanced nervously at the door. "Last time he caught me sleeping next to you Paddy practically tossed me back into my own bed and gave us an hour of scolding. I don't know if I want to go through that again."
His forehead creased into a frown. "I don't give a damn. This is a moment."
I raised my eyebrows. "A moment? Well, it's too late anyway. The moment, if there was one, is gone anyway."
"Since when were you afraid to break the rules?" he goaded, his tongue between his teeth.
I heaved myself up onto my feet and clambered on, carefully avoiding bumping his wound. "I'm not afraid of anything, I've told you a thousand times."
He glanced away. "Except heights. And flying. And opening up your emotions."
I buried my head into his chest, my heart beginning to thump wildly as his arms curled around me.
"And losing me," he said softly, hopefully.
Cheeky bugger. "Especially losing you," I said firmly, moving one arm up to drape around his neck. Comfortable silence surrounded us until he spoke.
"I don't have the safest job." He sounded reluctant to reveal what he'd been thinking.
I chuckled softly, just a hum of laughter. "Then I'll have to study to get into a line of work that is even more dangerous than yours. That way we can worry desperately for each other. None of that one-sided fear."
"I have contacts that can refuse every course that you apply for."
I shifted my head to look up at his face, an appropriate childish smile on my face. "But you won't do that. You want me to be happy."
He sighed in surrender and bent down a little to kiss my nose. "I want you to be happy."
Epilogue:
"So? What do you think? Too small? Too big? The furniture will be arriving tomorrow and I've asked Dan and James to help us move things around. If you want, I could buy a house instead. It would put a huge dent in my savings but if you're going to train to be an acrobat like you say, we could get the money back easily between us."
I laughed and wrapped my arms around him, careful not to unbalance him with his crutch. "I wouldn't care if it was a crusty attic with no windows. As long as it was with you."
He tried to hold back a laugh and nearly choked on it. "Well. That was corny."
"I do have a question though. When did you have the time to buy this place?"
He smiled secretively and looked down to me. "Oh sometime."
I punched him, hard, in the arm and then grabbed him to stop him from teetering over. Though he hardly moved anyway. Note to self; Improve muscle in arm.
"Tell me," I whined, tugging on his coat.
He draped his arm over my shoulder and suddenly looked sinister. His grip firmed around my neck as I tried to work my way back.
"Remember that time you scurried off with Fletcher and Luke?" he asked, his tone low.
I nodded, fighting the urge to gulp.
"Well, during my crazed loneliness, I developed the plan to buy this place and threaten to lock you up to the headboard of our bed as your sentence for assisting a wanted criminal and theft, your only other option being jail."
As he slowly dragged me, limping all the while, through the apartment, he continued lightly, "Then, when I caught you and realised I couldn't blackmail you into it because I wanted you here willingly, I thought I might guilt you into it. Stating that you had stayed with other men and so you could stay with me, or did you like them better?"
I squirmed but persisted stumbling along beside him.
"But then I was afraid that you would admit you liked them better so I didn't bring it up. And that was another version of blackmail anyway."
I thumped my fist into his back.
He carried on without acknowledging the hit. "So I could only hope that you actually loved me." I hit him again. "And if that happened, for my suitable revenge for your running to Luke's house, I decided that I would return to my first plan. Though this time I would cuff you to the headboard and force you to admit you loved me no less, NO LESS, than fifty times."
We drew to a stop in what was obviously the bedroom. The only furniture in the house was a wide king size bed that took up nearly most of the room. One side touched the wall while the other was only a few feet away from the opposite wall. Several boxes were stacked neatly in a corner that wasn't taken up by the bed or in the way of the door.
He pushed me forward and shut the door behind us. I smiled worriedly.
"Your leg..." I trailed off as he shot me a furious glare at the mention of his injury. He dropped the crutch and shuffled over to the boxes.
"You're joking right. Liam?"
He scratched his head.
"Now where did I put those handcuffs...?"
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Thank you for reading.
I hope you'll read the sequel;
The Puppet Assassin.
Sid x