Chapter 58
Fifty-Eight
LULU
Iwake up disoriented with pain singing through every vein and muscle in my body. God, why does everything hurt so bad? Was I hit by a freaking bus?
“There she is.” A woman is crooning at me. I don’t know if anyone has ever crooned at me before. “Welcome back, Lulu. Do you remember me?”
“Dr. Asgood?” I frown up at her, and then it all comes back to me.
Again.
Tears form in my eyes, and suddenly, Rome’s there, my hand in his and pressed to his mouth as the tears flow down my cheeks.
“We got your shoulder reset,” the doctor says as she frowns. “That shoulder’s been through a lot.”
“Yeah.” Rome wipes my tears away. I can’t look away from him. His blue eyes look … scared.
“You may need surgery at some point. At the very least, you’ll need physical therapy in about a month once you’ve had time to heal.”
I nod, and my head spins. “That drug still isn’t gone.”
“What drug?” Rome growls.
“They drugged me. Loveland did. That’s how she got me to leave the shopping center with her. Oh God. Scarlett! Where’s Scarlett? Did they hurt her?”
“She’s safe and with Luke,” Rome assures me, brushing his hand through my hair. “She’ll want to see you as soon as you’re ready, but she’s fine.”
I relax in relief and sniff. “I don’t usually cry this much.”
“You’ve had a lot of trauma along with the drugs,” Dr. Asgood reminds me. “Tears seem pretty normal to me. Are you dizzy?”
“Yeah, a little.”
“Headache?”
“Not really. I’m thirsty.”
“We’ll get you some water. I’m happy to report that none of the blood on the clothes we cut off you is yours.”
“No, it isn’t.” Cheryl passes me a bottle of water, and I nod in thanks before drinking some of it down. It soothes my dry throat. “I’m so sorry.”
I turn to Rome, and he cradles me against his chest, kissing the top of my head.
“Hey, no, baby. You don’t have anything to be sorry for.”
“She came up to me, startled me, and I didn’t trust her.”
“Loveland?”
I nod and press into him harder. “I knew something was off. One of my guards was gone, and the other one wouldn’t look at me.”
“Matthews,” he says, and I jerk back to stare up at him. His voice is hard and angry.
“Yes.”
“He’s being dealt with.”
That makes me shiver, and I cuddle back into him.
“She pricked me when I wouldn’t go with her, and I fucking knew she’d drugged me. Took me out of that shopping center, and someone threw me in the back of a car.”
He growls against my hair but gently rubs his hands up and down my back.
“I don’t know how she came to work for my father, or why, or anything. But she was so mad at me. She kept hitting me, over and over again, even after my father yelled at her to stop. But she wouldn’t, so he shot her. And she fell on me and bled all over me. God.”
I can’t stop sobbing. God, I’m such a mess.
“Hey, you’re safe. You’re safe, firefly. We’ll get answers,” he assures me. “Right now, I don’t want you to worry about any of that. I want you to rest and recover.”
“That’s exactly what you need,” Dr. Asgood agrees.
“I don’t need to keep you for observation, but I’m only a call away if you need anything.
Thanks to that drug, it might be hard to eat for the rest of the day but try to at least get some broth in you.
You need calories. Just eat what your stomach will tolerate. ”
“Okay.” I turn my face to offer her a small smile but don’t let go of Rome. “Thank you.”
“Of course. Let’s not do this again.”
With a wink, Asgood leaves, and Rome lifts me into his arms. My left arm is in a sling, and I must be on some good pain medication because it doesn’t even bother me right now.
It just feels good to be in Rome’s arms. To feel his warmth against me.
I might never let go of him ever again. He’ll have to carry me behind the bar so I can do my job.
I smirk at that, and he looks down at me in surprise as we ride up the elevator.
“What’s funny?”
“I don’t want you to ever put me down. You’ll have to carry me like this when I go to work.”
His lips twitch, and he leans in to gently kiss my lips. “Deal. I have no problem with that. I may never let you out of my sight again.”
When we get to the penthouse, he carries me upstairs and through the bedroom to the bathroom. I’m still in the little gown that someone put on me because my clothes were cut off, so when he sets me on the counter, I yelp from the cold marble hitting my bare ass.
“Shit, are you okay?” he asks, clearly panicking, but I laugh.
“It’s just cold.” I shake my head, then regret that when the room spins. “Whoa. It’s okay.”
“I just have to start the shower. Can you sit here without me for a second?”
I smile up at him. He’s so focused on me. His whole body is tight, his face hard, and his jaw tense.
My poor man. He’s fighting fear and anger, yet he’s still so calm and sweet to me.
“Yes. I can sit here.”
But he doesn’t turn away. He rests his forehead to mine and exhales, then kisses me so softly it makes my heart melt.
“I’m so sorry, Eloise.”
“Nothing is your fault.”
“Everything is my fault, but I’m going to do everything in my power for the rest of my life to make it up to you.”
His voice is so rough with emotion, I need to comfort him. So I rest my hand against his cheek and nuzzle his nose.
“I’m fine, Rome. I’m fine.”
He kisses me once more, then makes sure I’m steady on the vanity before he turns to start the water in the shower. He sheds his clothes as the water heats.
“I will say, seeing you march right into that room in your Kevlar vest, gun drawn, so fucking fierce, that in hindsight, it was sexy as hell. I finally got to see you in gangster mode, and it did not disappoint.”
“There was absolutely nothing sexy about what went on today.”
“No, in the moment, I was so scared, I’m shocked I didn’t shit myself. But now that everything’s okay, and I look back on it, you were hot. If you were after me, I’d be terrified. Good job.”
He smirks and shoves his boxers down his legs, then returns to me and cages me in, his hands leaning on the countertop at my hips.
“Did you just give me a glowing review on my nefarious job, firefly?”
“I did. Do you want me to leave you a Yelp or Google review?”
“Fuck, firefly. How can you joke right now after what you went through?”
“Rome, if I don’t, I’ll start crying again. My father tried to kill me today. I don’t know if I’ve even digested that yet. It’s going to take a while. So for now, I’m just going to focus on how hot my man is and the fact that you saved me. I love you.”
“Fuck, I love you too.”
He pulls the ugly gown off me, helps me out of the sling, and lifts me to take me to the shower, stepping under the hot spray. He’s careful with my left shoulder, and when his eyes skim down my torso, they harden, and his jaw clenches again.
I follow his gaze and wince.
Shit, I’m covered in bruises.
“I’ll be okay.” My voice is soft now as the realization of everything that went down today washes over me again. My eyes fill with tears. “My emotions are all over the place.”
“Of course, they are. For the first time since my mom died, mine are too.” He shakes his head and squeezes my body wash into my loofah, then starts cleaning me up. “I hate that you saw any of that. That Loveland had her hands on you.”
“Why was she so mad at me? Because you hired me when she didn’t want to? That seems stupid. You own the business.”
“Her name was Sarah Lowman,” he says, and my eyes find his. He pauses in cleaning me for a heartbeat before resuming. “Way back in the day, she and I were, well …”
And there goes my heart again. But not in a good way this time.
Ugh. I don’t want to think about my Rome with her.
“You loved her.” I feel sick to my stomach.
But Rome drops the loofah and immediately tugs me into his arms, holding me close.
“I thought I did a long, long time ago. But now that I have you, and I know what it feels like to be so fucking in love that the thought of not having you with me paralyzes me and makes me want to rage all at the same time, I’d say that she was just someone who used to be important to me.”
He kisses my forehead. My cheek. My lips.
“Seriously, don’t be jealous of her.”
“Okay, keep talking.” I offer him a small smile, and he picks up the loofah and continues washing me.
“She’d been employed here from the day I opened. Shortly after, I found her fucking someone else. I shot him in the head, and I never touched her again.”
I blink up at him in surprise. “But you let her stay.”
“She was good at her job. And I found that I didn’t really care what she did. You need to understand, you bring out feelings and emotions in me that I thought were long dead. You have since the second I saw you.”
He brushes his thumb over my lower lip and then gets to work gently washing my hair. He takes the handheld showerhead off the wall to do it since it’s not comfortable for me to lean my head back too far.
“Loveland found that being a Domme was what she wanted. She adopted the name Loveland, and that’s who she was after that. She managed the playroom, and until recently, I didn’t have any complaints with her.”
“Until me.”
He doesn’t look me in the eyes, but he does sigh.
“She was jealous, plain and simple. I don’t do relationships. I don’t fuck around with staff or members. That’s not to say I was a monk, but Rapture wasn’t my playground. It was a safe place for people who wanted to explore sex and a great way to launder a fuck ton of money.”
I grin at him, and now he grins back at me.
“But then I saw you, and I was so fucking mad at how she spoke to you that first night. I made her chase you down and bring you back.”
How have we never talked about this before?
“And whenever she had something shitty to say, I put her in her place. She started dropping the ball as well, and I don’t tolerate that. I fired her, kicked her out of her apartment, and washed my hands of her.”
“But she was bitter, felt scorned, and pissy. I wonder how she knew to go to work for my father? How did she connect those dots?”
“That’s something I don’t know.” He finishes with my hair and grabs me two towels.
After wrapping my wet hair in one, he pats me dry with the other before quickly brushing it over himself.
Then he helps me dress in some comfortable clothes, putting my sling back on.
It’s amazing how much that helps with the pressure on the joint.
But I’m so freaking tired.
“We’ll get the rest of those answers.” He helps me with the sling, then pulls me into him, gently holding me in the best hug ever. “Now, how will you be the most comfortable, baby? In the bed? On the couch?”
“Nothing’s going to be great for a little while,” I admit, wincing as I think about how crappy finding a comfortable position will be. “Maybe the couch?”
“Can I please carry you?”
I smile and kiss his chest. “Of course, you can.”
He lifts me carefully and takes me downstairs straight to the couch, where he sits with me like we did that day when I was so sick with my period.
“Come here, my love.”
He cradles me against him and peppers kisses on my head, my face.
“How is this?”
Perfect.
Especially because I wasn’t sure if I’d ever get this again.
“Good.” Perhaps an understatement, but I’m just too exhausted for anything else. “You know, with him dead, it’s over.”
“It’s over.” His hand drifts up and down my right arm, soothing me. “You’re a wealthy woman, Eloise.”
I frown up at him, surprised. “What do you mean?”
“You’ll inherit everything your father had. It’s substantial.”
“I don’t want it.” I shrug a shoulder and lean into him. “Donate it.”
He chuckles and kisses me again. “If you want, I’ll arrange for a trust for you until you have some time to sort your feelings out. You’ll just have to sign some paperwork.”
“Okay.” I really don’t want anything from my father. I don’t need it. But maybe I can put his money to good use somewhere. “I’m so tired.”
“You should be. Jesus, what a day.”
“Rome?”
“Yes, firefly.”
I yawn and then rub my nose against his firm chest. “Are you really going to marry me, or were you trying to piss my father off?”
He doesn’t answer for a long moment, so I glance up at him again.
He’s grinning from ear to ear.
“Oh, I’m marrying you, Eloise. The first chance I get. Hopefully tomorrow.”
I blink at him. “Tomorrow?”
“That’s right. You have to get some rest today.”
“You didn’t even ask me.”
I bite my lip and try not to smile. I don’t need him to ask me.
I’ll marry him right now if he wants to, pain medicine or not.
“Eloise.” His deep voice does things to me.
“Yes?”
“Look at me.”
“Now I’m nervous.”
With a chuckle, he tips my chin up, and he’s still smiling down at me.
“Will you please marry me, Eloise? I can’t live this life without you by my side.
I need you every day. I’ll never get enough of you.
You’re the light that finally broke through the darkness of my black heart.
You shine so bright, you made me feel human again.
That’s why I call you my firefly. Because you flew right into my life and lit it up. Stay with me forever. Be my wife.”
Well, damn.
I nod. “Yes. I’ll marry you.”
“Tomorrow?”
I yawn once more, and he cradles me close.
I’m marrying Rome Alexander.
While that is utterly surreal, and we’ve only known each other such a short time, it feels right.
Nothing has ever felt so right.
Despite all the dark in his world, that existed in my world before I met him, somehow our paths crossed and we found our own rapture.
I doubt life will ever be easy. He is a King of Vegas, after all, but I know that this man will do everything in his power to make sure I’m happy. So, yes, I’ll marry him.
“Tomorrow. First, I just need a little nap.”