122. Implodes
IMPLODES
LAYTON
Brighton walks out the door and cranks the Gator without another word.
“What’s she talking about, Pix? And why is she taking our only mode of transportation?” I grab an ice pack from the freezer and help Livy to the sofa. We’re two kids in a mud puddle again. Or still.
My bad left side. Her disabled right side. Neither of us can stand well. Between the two of us and Kyle, we’re zero for three.
“She’s saying I need more rest, and Kyle does too.”
I sit on the edge of the sofa at her feet and place the wrapped pack on her leg.
She winces and retracts her leg.
“Why is she saying that?” I stare at the pocket-sized woman in front of me.
“Because we left yesterday.”
“Florida. I know.”
“The hospital. Well, and the clinic.”
The fuck?
“You checked out of the hospital, retrieved Kyle, and got on a plane?” I can feel my temper wanting to flare.
“Uh-huh.”
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“Don’t play coy with me. In the bedroom, I’m all for it. With your health, that’s a no-go. Why didn’t you wait a day or two?”
She shakes her head.
“Livy.” My voice is as serious as my temper right now.
Her head snaps up. “Because I was afraid, okay? Tustin knows where I live. The paparazzi have been to my house. And forty-eight hours ago, someone was in my home and wielding a knife against me and against Kyle. I’m not stupid, Layton.
And I’m not a risk-taker. I was scared and didn’t want to be there alone.
So yesterday morning was the agreed-upon flight, and I caught it.
” Her chin lifts as her stubbornness comes to the forefront.
“I’m sorry, baby. I didn’t want any of this for you. I’m so sorry.”
“You didn’t break into my house.”
“No, but I wasn’t there to protect you either.”
“Layton, we were doomed from the start. If you had been there, I would’ve lost my job.”
“Instead, you have a stab wound, Kyle has an incision the size of my hand, and none of the three of us can walk well. Fuck your job. They can’t say anything now. I resigned. And you had every right to do with your body what you wanted. Then. And now.”
“I need my job, Layton.”
I lean forward and challenge the woman who challenges me more than anyone I know. “Then why are you here?”
Livy
“I’m on a medical leave of absence.”
“That started yesterday. After you agreed to come here and booked a flight to do so.”
“So?”
“So… Are you running from something or to something?”
“Does it matter?”
“To me, it does.”
“If you don’t want me here, Layton, just say so, and I’ll go home.”
“Dammit, woman, you like me. I like you. I want you, and you want me, and you’re too stubborn to admit it.”
“No, I’m not.”
“Say it then.”
“Of course, I like you, you ass. You’re easy to like and more than I could dream of.
And it wasn’t the NFL jersey or the money.
It’s your easy charm and the raw honesty in who you are.
It’s owning your faults and quirks as well as your strengths.
It’s the smile that I’d swear too few have seen.
You’re playful and protective. And that’s not counting your prowess in bed…
owning my body, playing me like an instrument for my pleasure and for yours. ”
His face goes serious.
“And that’s not your family who loves you more than most experience in a lifetime.
Knowing your brother begged for help for you.
That your sister is going to fetch prescriptions for me and my dog.
Not for me, mind you, but because she loves you, and you would do it if you could.
It’s buying me tea just because I like it.
It’s your dad knowing that and reminding you because he wants your friend to have what she wants. ”
“You are not my friend.”
“Sorry. Your PT, then.”
“You’re not that either.”
“Then what am I to you, Layton? Your former coworker? Tell me so I don’t piss you off when I speak.” My voice is rising. I’m over this.
He slides closer, moving from my ankle to my waist, running his palm up the outside of my leg until it sits just below my breast.
“You are the woman who, after one dance, I wanted more than I’ve ever wanted anyone.
You are the woman who challenges me mentally and physically and goes toe-to-toe with me, completely unafraid.
You stand more than a foot shorter, yet you loom large in my eyes.
You’re the woman I want to protect and cherish and fuck and lick and touch.
You’re the only woman in my life I’ve ever wondered about what you’d look like full with my babies. ”
My heart plummets.
“You are the woman who, after one night, I knew I’d chase to get to a second.
After the second, I knew I’d chase for a fiftieth and who, showing up here yesterday, risked it all.
For me. For me, you did that. No one does that for me.
You don’t want my money or prestige or the fame that goes with being by my side.
You want to be there because that’s where you belong, Livy. ”
“I can’t have babies, Layton.”
And like a record screeching as the needle scrapes across the vinyl, the world implodes.
Layton
“Why?”
She hesitates. As if, all of a sudden, she needs to be cautious.
“It’s out there now, baby. You might as well go for the gold and give me the good, the bad, and the ugly.”
“I have endometriosis. It’s bad. I have a specialist in Atlanta I work with. She and I do what we can to manage the pain. But the statistical chance of me carrying babies is closer to impossible than improbable.”
I slide my hand to her stomach. It spans the whole width of her flat belly. “Okay, then. Will you tell me more sometime?”
She nods.
“Tell me a secret, Pix.”
She looks away before returning her eyes to mine. “The last time I told a man that, he broke off our engagement.”
My nostrils flare.
“There’s a downside to not being in the Mafia. I swear, if this were a movie, I’d have him whacked. But slowly and painfully. The slow part for what he did to you. The painful part for what he’s doing to me right now.”
“That may be the most romantic thing anyone has ever said to anyone in the history of the world, Layton Ranger.”
I drop my lips to hers and seal this moment. “I don’t know how to do this, Pix. Never had someone who was mine. Never wanted anyone to be mine. I’m pretty sure I’m going to fuck up. I’m counting on you to call me on it so I don’t lose you by being me.”
She lifts a crooked pinky to me. I loop mine with hers. “I made you say ‘ass.’ That’s twice I’ve made you swear.”
“You were being an ass.” The coy smile on her face warms my insides.
“That’s the truth. But what did he do this time?” a voice from behind us says.
I lean back slowly, keeping my back to Exton who entered the house without me noticing. Livy’s bug eyes are the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.
“Exton, come meet Livy.”
My brother slides around the sofa until he can see the woman below me. “Hi.” He extends a hand. “I’m Exton. It’s nice to meet you, Livy. I see you call a spade a spade. I like that in a woman.” His cautious smile spreads as she extends a hand.
“I’m Livy Morgan and I’ve officially humiliated myself in front of almost every Ranger so far. How many more are there so I can work up the nerve for more mortification?”
Exton’s rich laughter fills the room. “Who have you had the pleasure of embarrassing yourself to?”
“Well, your dad walked in on us kissing.” Her face flames. “Brighton sort of put me in my place this morning on something else. I guess I still could do something disgraceful in front of Braxton and Emberleigh. But I should get an honorable mention for showing up with a black eye. Right?”
Exton tilts his head left, then right. “Maybe. But those are rookie numbers, really. You have lots of room to grow as far as shameful things. Save something, if you don’t mind. My wife should be by soon enough.”
“For you, Exton, I’ll consider it.”
My brother’s smile could light up the room.
If I were a betting man, I’d say it mirrors mine.