Chapter 11
CHAPTER ELEVEN
“This is an amazing apartment,” River admired after Declan had shown him to one of the two remaining guest suites, the one next to Fawn’s, as it happened, before he had left the brother and sister alone together.
“You’re sure Declan is just a bodyguard?
” He sat down on the side of the king-size bed covered in a navy duvet.
She shrugged. “He told me he also has family money.”
River chuckled. “He must have a lot of it.”
“He owns the whole building, so I’m guessing he does, yes.”
“Wow.”
Fawn didn’t think of Declan as just anything, let alone a bodyguard. She never had. She had even less reason to think so after Declan had insisted her brother was coming home with them once River had been discharged from the hospital.
Nikolai Volkov had organized a private consulting room where they could all go and talk privately, including River, who had been helped into a wheelchair and pushed there by Danny Walker.
The Russian had also somehow arranged for River’s hospital nephrologist for the past three years to join them too. He really was a powerful son of a bitch!
The two specialists had consulted quietly together for several minutes before the private consultant had announced, with the other consultant’s full agreement, that he would now be taking over River’s case.
They had also decided, this time with River’s agreement, that for the moment, it would be better for him to go home to rest and recover from his fall so that he was as strong as he could be when a suitable kidney donor had been found.
The joy on River’s face at the thought that his nightmare might soon be over was enough for Fawn to abandon any further attempt at being the rational one and insisting they could manage without anyone else’s help or interference.
Just because they always had didn’t mean they had to continue to do so.
Not when Declan and Nikolai Volkov were so determined to help them.
The consultant had also arranged for a portable dialysis machine to be delivered to Declan’s apartment the following day, along with the nurse who would teach Fawn how to do the procedure correctly.
Which meant River no longer had to drag himself to the hospital three afternoons a week until he, hopefully, received a new kidney.
As Declan had already said, some kidney patients were sometimes too ill by that time to undergo the procedure.
The Irishman had stood silently at Fawn’s side for the whole of that intense consultation. Declan’s quiet but reassuring presence told her that he, Nikolai, and, most especially, Mark Reynolds, under their instruction, really were going to make this happen for River.
“Well, he obviously isn’t just that to you,” River teased, echoing Fawn’s earlier thoughts. “He seems like a really good guy.”
“I don’t want to talk about Declan?—”
“Well, right now, I don’t have any intention of talking about anything else,” River cut in firmly. “Not the reason for my fall or the result of it.” He raised a tentative hand to his very bruised face before letting that hand fall back to his side. “Danny Walker is gorgeous, isn’t he?”
Fawn narrowed her gaze. “I see what you’re trying to do there, River, and it isn’t going to work.”
“No?”
“No.”
River had come out to both her and their parents when he was sixteen. They had all had their suspicions, of course, and as far as any of them were concerned, River was River, the brother and son they all loved. Being gay didn’t change that.
He shrugged. “It was worth a try.” He released a heavy sigh before continuing.
“My disease is at the stage that we both know there are going to be a lot more bad days than good ones. This morning was bad. But I met Danny because of it, and my surroundings now aren’t half bad either.
” He looked at the luxury of the navy-and-lighter-blue-decorated bedroom.
Fawn knew that both subjects were meant as a diversion from what River had actually admitted out loud for the first time. Namely, that he now had more bad days than good ones. Fawn had suspected as much, but River had never acknowledged it before.
And Fawn hated that for him. Hated it! It was just so bloody unfair. River was so young, barely twenty, and he should be out enjoying his life with people his own age, not debilitated by a daily worsening chronic disease.
“I’m still in shock from thinking of Nikolai Volkov having not only contacted Mark Reynolds but actually dragging him along to the hospital with him.” She gave a dazed shake of her head.
“Yeah, about that,” River drawled. “Maybe not now, but at some point, I’m going to want you to explain to me how you’ve come to be acquainted with a high-up member of the Russian bratva.”
Her eyes widened. “You know that about Nikolai?”
He snorted. “I might be sick, sis, but I’m not deaf, and working part-time behind a bar, I hear things. Which is why I know Nikolai Volkov is totally badass.”
“I had never heard of or met him before today either. Nikolai is a friend of Declan’s and the family who run the security company he works for.
” At least, she presumed that was the association.
The two men certainly knew each other, and quite well from the familiarity of their conversation at the hospital.
River’s grin was a little lopsided as a result of the bruising to his face. “Declan is badass too.”
“Yes, he is,” Fawn acknowledged with real affection.
Declan was also stubborn to the nth degree, forcefully confident, and, for some reason, he had decided he wanted to help her and River through this heartbreaking situation. That he wanted her . An admission on his part that had totally rocked her world earlier today.
River eyed her speculatively. “Do I detect a romance?”
“A romance!” She gave a splutter of laughter at the description. “Does Declan look like the sort of man who does romance?”
River continued to grin. “He looks like the type of man who says and does exactly whatever the hell he pleases.”
Much as Declan had earlier accused Nikolai Volkov of doing.
Physically, the two men were nothing alike. Declan was all defined muscles and craggy faced, where the Russian was trimmer, if just as muscular, his appearance suave in the three-piece suit he had been wearing today as opposed to Declan’s T-shirt and jeans.
No, the two men were nothing alike in appearance, but they both exuded an arrogance and resolve that warned anyone against even attempting to oppose them.
“From what I’ve observed, Declan is very protective of you, and by default, that protection now seems to include me too.” River smiled. “It’s actually quite nice to have someone caring about us again,” he admitted ruefully.
Fawn felt that too.
Because of her worry about River, she hadn’t had time to think too deeply about several of the statements Declan had made to her earlier today.
But she’d thought enough to now realize Declan had been deliberately holding back these past three days on taking their attraction to each other any further.
Revealing that the desire and intent of their first evening together was still there, simmering just below the surface of their every encounter since then.
Did that include Declan knowing of Fawn’s arousal every time she touched him to change his dressings?
Fawn had a feeling those deep-blue Irish eyes missed very little.
Speaking of which…
“Do you have everything you need for the moment?” she prompted, eyeing the bottle of water and snacks Declan had insisted River take to his bedroom with him.
“Because I’m still employed as Declan’s nurse, and I need to go and check on his dressings.
” Just the thought of gazing at and touching that expanse of muscular skin again was enough to cause a quiver of awareness down the length of her spine.
“Oh, I’m more than happy to rest here for a while,” River assured. “Maybe Danny will come by and visit with me later?” he speculated with a grin.
Fawn’s chest tightened as she realized this was the happiest she had seen her brother in a long time. Since he had been dealt the blow of being diagnosed with kidney disease three years ago, in fact.
Oh, River tried to keep up a brave face, but over time, the disease had become intrusive in every aspect of his life. It had become even more of a heavy weight to bear after their parents died two years ago and the two of them were forced to deal with the situation completely alone.
River was right, it did feel nice that Declan now wanted to have their backs.
River’s happiness, now shown by the lack of a frown on his brow and the smile of anticipation still curving his lips, was the primary reason Fawn hadn’t objected too strongly when Declan had announced her brother would be moving into this apartment with them after River’s discharge from the hospital.
Right now, just like River, Fawn felt as if someone else was helping to ease the burden of River’s disease. Or, at least, as if she was sharing that burden with someone she already knew was ultra protective, as well as strong and forceful.
“I also need to thank him for all that he’s already done for us,” she acknowledged.
Nikolai Volkov might be responsible for bringing Mark Reynolds to the hospital to examine River, but Fawn had no doubt that it was the Russian’s friendship with Declan and the Wynter family that had been the impetus behind him doing so.
Finding Declan to tell him how thankful she was proved to be a little more difficult than she had thought. When she couldn’t find him in the kitchen or sitting room, she knocked on his closed bedroom door without even bothering to look in the home gym.
She was sure that even Declan, determined and stubborn as he was, knew he wasn’t yet ready to be lifting weights or using any of the other high-tech equipment in the gym.
“Come in,” came the muffled reply.
Fawn opened the door to see Declan sitting on the side of his bed, staring at a framed photograph he was holding in his hands. He slid it back inside the open drawer of his bedside cabinet and closed it before looking across at her inquiringly.
Fawn would take a guess on that photograph being of the son Declan had lost so long ago.
How any parents dealt with the heartache of the disappearance of their child, she had no idea. In Declan, that loss was evident in his prematurely salt-and-pepper hair, the deep lines beside his mouth, and the frown lines between his eyes.
“You told me to come in,” she reminded gently when he still hadn’t spoken several long seconds later.
Declan smiled. “Actually, I said ‘coming,’ not come in. But it doesn’t matter,” he dismissed when Fawn looked uncomfortable at her mistake. “Is River all settled in?” he prompted as he stood up and stepped away from the bed.
He had previously been looking at the photograph that usually sat on top of the bedside table. The one of him and Connall.
Declan would never get over losing his son, never stop looking for him, never forget him, but for the first time in forever, there was now a glimmer of hope inside him that he might have something else in his life. Some one else.
The frown smoothed from Fawn’s brow. “He is, thank you. I also want to thank you for all that you’re doing for him?—”
“I haven’t done anything except invite him to stay here, and that was to put your mind at rest about him as much as it’s for River,” he revealed honestly.
It had felt as if Declan had received a punch to the chest when he witnessed Fawn’s worry this morning over her brother. To a degree Declan would now do whatever was necessary to ensure he didn’t have to ever see her in that level of distress again.
“Nikolai Volkov wouldn’t have interfered—interceded,” she corrected, “if the two of you weren’t friends.”
Declan huffed a laugh. “Nikolai doesn’t have friends. But he does interfere in whatever he decides he wants to interfere in. Most of the time, he’s just an arrogant arsehole, but this time, that interference might actually result in something positive.”
Fawn chuckled. “He’s very intimidating.”
“Remind me to introduce you to his wife and children sometime. He’s a complete pushover where they’re all concerned,” he acknowledged lightly.
She frowned. “I’ve somehow never thought of members of the bratva as also being husbands and fathers.”
“That’s because most of them aren’t. But, much as Nikolai protects and is loyal to his pakhan , who is also married with children by the way, Nikolai’s own immediate family is everything to him.
” In Declan’s eyes, it was this one redeeming factor, in spite of everything else the Russian stood for and did, that made Nikolai’s other actions tolerable.
“It looks as if, in his mind, he’s folded the Wynter family, and now you, because you saved Thea’s life, into his inner circle too,” Fawn observed.
“What can I say? Turns out that underneath the ruthlessness, the bastard has a heart,” Declan acknowledged.
Nikolai had told him his men had now doubled down on the search for Koslov. This included having Linus concentrate all his efforts on finding the vengeful Russian.
Declan didn’t want to think too deeply about what Nikolai would do to Koslov once they located him.
The truth was, Declan would just be relieved not to have Fawn, and now River, in danger because of something Declan had done.
“Danny said he’ll call round later,” he changed the subject. “Something about bringing a game console over so that he and River can play a game together. During their conversation earlier, they apparently discovered they have a liking for the same video game.”
“I’m sure River will be thrilled to have Danny’s company,” she answered affectionately.
“Does that mean he likes Danny as much as Danny likes him, and in the same way?”
She smiled. “I believe it does, yes.”
Declan chuckled. “I find it amazing that they have discovered that attraction in the middle of what is otherwise a damn awful situation.”
“If the end result is that River also gets a new kidney and can live a normal life, then the whole of the last three years of uncertainty will have been worth it,” she assured. “If, somewhere in all that, River and Danny decide they more than like each other too, then so much the better.”
Having seen how close brother and sister were, Declan knew it would break Fawn’s heart if she lost her brother because they were unable to find a compatible kidney donor.
Not happening, if Declan had anything to do with it.
And he did.
He really would give River one of his own kidneys if it managed to take away that hollow desperation from Fawn’s eyes.