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“Hot people in leather and eyeliner? Yes, please.”
I pulled my beautiful wife toward me, growling as my lips found hers. “Don’t make me remind you who you belong to, Dr. Lanton.”
“I know, T, but I love to watch the look on your face when I tease you.”
Chapter 36
Ivy
I’dsleptonandoff for a couple of days. Ethan and Grayson woke me to feed me more soup or make me drink water. They’d showered me, helped me change my pajamas, held me, and whispered sweet words that I couldn’t really remember from within my sleep driven haze.
Today was the first day I didn’t feel as exhausted. I’d not been sick. In fact, I didn’t even feel nauseous, which was a pleasant relief. I was desperate to get out of bed and get back to some sort of normality. I tried to push myself up in bed, but my hip screamed and my ribs burned.
Maybe I should have gone to the hospital to get checked out.
I was grunting, wiggling up the bed like a crazy woman when Ethan rushed in, closely followed by Grayson.
“What are you trying to do, princess? Let me help.”
“I’m trying to sit up. My body doesn’t feel like my own,” I huffed out, frustrated.
“Give yourself time, firefly. You’ve been through a lot. It’s going to take time. I wish you’d let us call a doctor to check on you.”
“Maybe. Let’s see how I feel tomorrow.”
Grayson ran his fingers through my tatty curls, which made me laugh. “You’ve done a beautiful job of looking after me, but can I request conditioner next time you wash my hair? I probably look like a have a bird’s nest on my head, don’t I?”
“Ah, conditioner. That’s the secret to your glossy hair. I promise next time. But at least you smell better,” Grayson offered with a small smile. “Are you ready to talk about it? You don’t have to, but you were in such a state. What did that monster do to you?”
I sighed and closed my eyes, knowing I needed to tell them, but not wanting to remember any of it. Warm hands held mine, offering me their strength while I relived the last week. Opening my eyes, I let the words fall.
Ethan and Grayson listened without saying a word, their eyes filling with tears as I spoke.
“But how did you get out of the car?” Ethan asked finally.
"For some reason, the car stopped. There was a lot of shouting, and a policeman popped the trunk. I couldn’t move. It hurt too much, and I didn’t have any energy left, so he picked me up and ran. We’d just made it under the bridge when the car exploded.” Sobs wracked my body as I thought about how close I’d been to dying.
“That could have been me. If that policeman hadn’t pulled me out and moved me so quickly, I don’t know if... He wanted to kill me. He took my wedding ring and my bracelet. He left me in a room with no bathroom, poisoning me with everything I ate or drank. I mean, what did I ever do to him? To Hazel? How could she hate what we have so much that she would do that to me?” I gazed up at my husbands, like they would have the answers I was looking for, but they looked as distraught as I felt. “Hey, don’t do that. I can’t bare you to be sad. Please,” I begged, squeezing their hands tighter.
“But what you went through… it’s all my fault,” Ethan declared, his eyes staring at the bedsheets between us, unable to look at me. I leaned forward and lifted his chin with the tips of my fingers.
“Your fault?”
“You were only out there because of me. I made you feel unimportant, unloved. You believed that I’d made all these life changing decisions without a thought for you, princess. That wasn’t true. I was trying to find a way to keep Gray safe and happy, but I always saw you as a part of that. You’d come and be the band photographer if you wanted to. You’d travel with us. The band would be on tour less because they were more in control of their careers. It was never meant to make you feel on the outside. God, Ivy, can you ever forgive me?”
I leaned forward tentatively, my hip aching, pressing my lips to his. His body relaxed against mine, our kiss deepening as he released all the emotions he’d been holding on to; love, pain, fear, guilt. It all spilled over, and I took it all.
Breaking away, breathlessly, he pressed his head to mine. “Princess, you are everything to me. To us. I will spend my life reminding you how important you are.”
“Eth, you have nothing to apologize for. Well, no, you can apologize for our fight and for hurting my feelings, but I just needed time to think and let it all settle. You’re quitting your business to manage a rock band. It’s a lot. But nothing else that happened was down to you. That was all Hazel and Amos, and I won’t have you feeling guilty about what happened to me.”
“But look at you. Look at what he did to you.”
“Are you saying I don’t look like a goddess right now, Eth? Rude!” I giggled, and it felt good.
“Shit, firefly, I could listen to you giggle for all eternity.” Grayson’s mouth found mine, his tender kiss spreading through me, warming my skin and soothing my soul, surrounding me with love. Next, I moved to Ethan again, wrapping my fingers around the nape of his neck, silently demanding that he kissed me like he did before all this happened. And he listened. His mouth dominated me, stealing the air from my lungs, making me groan. Grayson shifted the curls from my face, ghosting his lips from my ear down my neck, mumbling my name like a prayer. My nipples hardened and a rush of pleasure surged through me, making me desperate for more, but my body had other ideas, suddenly feeling so exhausted I could barely speak.
“I want you both so much, but I’m so tired.”
