48. Lincoln #2
“Harold Bellingham, you have been arrested under suspicion of participating in an organised crime group, fraud and forgery, money laundering…” a stern-faced police officer was saying, but his voice seemed to be coming from far away. My body was shaking, my legs suddenly too weak to hold me.
“I’ve got you.” A strong arm wrapped around my waist, pulling me into a warm, familiar body. “It’s the adrenaline crash. Here, have a couple of these. The sugar will help.”
“Thanks,” I mumbled as fingers gently pressed a red Haribo bear to my lips. When I’d eaten three of the sweets, I raised my head, meeting Daniel’s concerned gaze. He studied me cautiously.
“You with me again?”
“I think so,” I rasped. “What’s happening?”
He glanced around us and grimaced. “Uh…maybe we should find somewhere else to talk. Somewhere where your parents aren’t getting arrested.”
“Shit.” Rubbing my hand over my mouth, I took in the sight of my mother and father being led towards the door, both now in handcuffs.
Mike passed us, deep in conversation with another officer, but he shot me a look that I read as “we’ll talk later.
” Giving him a brief nod, I turned back to Daniel. “My bedroom.”
“Alright.”
We came to a stop in the corridor with a door on either side of us. The door to the right led to my room. The door to the left led to my brother’s room.
I turned left.
“This is—was my brother’s room.”
Daniel’s eyes widened as he took in the space. “It looks…uh…” He hesitated. “It feels like a museum with all the decor, but it looks like it’s still used?”
I nodded. “My mother likes to keep it that way.” My voice dropped. “Sometimes she pretends he’s still alive.”
His jaw tightened, and he pulled me into him, pressing a kiss to my temple. I froze, but he acted as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. “C’mon. Let’s get out of here.”
When we entered my bedroom, he stopped, staring around us. “This looks exactly the same as the other room.”
“Yeah. I don’t— I hate staying here. I hate this house and everything in it.”
“Okay. We’re not gonna stay long. I just wanna talk to you without anyone else around for a minute.
” He removed his arm from around my waist, moving to stand right in front of me.
“I want you to know something, and it’s something I think you need to hear.
I heard what your dad said about wishing you’d died in your brother’s place. ”
I inhaled a shuddering breath. “That was nothing new. I’ve heard variations of that all my life.”
Daniel’s expression darkened. “I fucking hate having to go through legal channels. I want to make him pay for every single fucking thing he’s done to you.”
“He’s been arrested now—and I still don’t know what’s happening and how Mike was there when he was supposed to be in Wiltshire.”
“We’ll get to that. Back to what he said and what I want to say.” Lifting his hand, he placed it right over my pounding heart. “You, Lincoln Bellingham, are a fucking amazing, incredible man.”
My heart hammered like crazy beneath his palm. “What? What do you mean? I thought—” I swallowed hard. “I thought you didn’t want me anymore.”
“I mean that you’re amazing. You.” He paused, looking at me intently, seriously. “You’re the only one I want, Link.”
“Oh fuck,” I whispered. “What about—”
Daniel’s hand slid up my chest and around to cup my nape.
He pressed his forehead against mine. “I know what happened between us before was messed up. I know we didn’t end well.
I know you have explanations you want to give to me…
explanations you’ve been trying to give to me.
Explanations I wasn’t ready to hear before.
” He sighed. “But I heard what you said to your dad back in there, and I know that I’m fucking miserable without you.
And if you feel even half as miserable as I do… ”
“So fucking miserable.” My voice cracked.
Wrapping my arms around him, I exhaled shakily.
“You mean everything to me, and I didn’t realise how much until I lost you.
I want to explain my decisions to you, to make you understand that I…
Fuck. I never, ever wanted to betray you.
That document you found—I wrote it that night we’d fought in the yard.
The night when we had our first kiss, and my head was so messed up.
I was so confused and angry. I hadn’t even opened it since then, not until the night you found it.
I was planning to print it out along with the file data, as extra proof of what my father had asked me to do and when. ”
“Link…” His fingers raked gently through my hair. “You mean everything to me too. You’re the most important person in the world to me, and I want you to be mine. I’m choosing you. You’re my first and only choice.”
I inhaled shakily, staring into his gorgeous blue eyes as my heart pounded out of my chest. “Do you really mean that?”
“Yeah, I do. Every single word.”
Fuck. “Dan…I was so fucking lost without you. I’d give anything to go back and change the past.”
“Lucky for us both, you don’t have to. Let’s start again but skip through the part where we’re mortal enemies and the part where we pretend to be getting to know each other.
You know me, and I know you, and I think we both agree we’re a perfect match.
Both sexy-as-fuck, amazing hockey players, super intelligent—”
“Do you ever shut up?” A relieved smile curved over my lips as I slid my mouth over his.
“Sometimes.” Pulling back, he grinned, and it struck me all over again. I loved this man beyond words. Beyond anything I could have ever imagined. “Guess what? I really, really missed you.”
“I really, really missed you too,” I said. “Really. Really. Missed you.” I punctuated my words with kisses.
He wrapped his arms around me even more tightly, burying his face in my throat. His voice turned serious again. “Fuck, Link. It’s been the worst few weeks of my life without you.”
“Me too. We have a lot of time to make up for.” Releasing him, I reached for his hand, tugging him towards the door. “Let’s get out of here. I’ve had enough of this place.”