Page 130 of A Thousand Cuts

“It hasn’t been that long,” Avery mumbled.

“There are protocols in place for a reason. You can’t just—”

“Gwen.” Another voice joined over the sounds of many footsteps, deep and rumbling and warming Liam to the core.

Daddy.

“He’s waking up!” someone whispered, and then light hit Liam’s eyes, making him groan. He felt his face scrunch into a frown as he tried to avoid the glare.

When he blinked them open again, a room came into focus. Bland, nondescript, beige, and empty of everything but a fewpieces of furniture and a barrage of people around the bed he was in.

Midas stood next to a man who looked vaguely familiar, but Liam couldn’t place, and there was a woman there Liam didn’t know—tall, blonde, dressed in a sharp black suit. Black was perched on a wide windowsill swinging his legs back and forth, kicking Ash in the knee and making him swat at his legs.

Hart was sitting in a chair, legs crossed and fingers twined in his lap, regal as ever. Wren was nowhere to be seen, but Liam realized King was lying across his legs, comforting and familiar and seemingly fine.

Liam reached out to feel for himself, unable to trust his own eyes. King pushed his head up into Liam’s hand with a whine of excitement, his ragged ear sliding between his fingers. A sheen of wetness covered his eyes. “My hero,” he whispered. “I’m so happy you’re okay. I don’t know what I would have done.”

A shadow fell over him and he glanced up. Disheveled hair met him, a cut on a cheek, a thick, two-toned beard, and the kindest eyes Liam had seen.

“D-daddy…” he croaked.

“I’m here, honey,” Fix said, voice broken but so, so gentle. “I’m right here.”

He took one of his hands and squeezed it, and Liam realized in that moment that the warmth he’d felt the entire time he’d been under was Fix holding his hand.

“Where am I?” Liam asked, focusing solely on Fix now that he had him in front of him. That was the only thing that kept him from freaking out.

“How much do you remember?”

Liam tried thinking back on the last few days. He remembered the half-assed plan to meet his stalker. He remembered Fix being angry at him for putting himself in danger. He remembered their talk and…

“You told me you loved me.”

Fix smiled that smile Liam loved the best. The gentle one that was just for him. The one that made him feel like he finally had a home.

He heard snickers from the people around them, but he didn’t really pay them much attention. His daddy was a much more important thing to focus on.

“I did,” Fix said, thumb stroking his knuckles tenderly. “And I do.”

Liam’s heart thundered in his chest. “That was real?”

“Yes, honey.”

“I love you too,” Liam said, the achy bits of him aching just a little bit less.

He tipped his head to the side, toward Fix, lashes fluttering when he got what he wanted instantly as Fix cradled his cheek in his warm palm.

“Fuck, I’m so glad you’re okay, honey.” Fix’s blue eyes were filled with so much it was spilling out everywhere.

Liam gasped when he leaned his forehead against Liam’s bed, shoulders shaking.

“I think we should give them some space,” Liam heard someone say, and everyone shuffled out of the room, leaving them alone.

Liam looked down and felt his own tears springing up at the sight of his strong, powerful man breaking down. He reached out and put his hand on Fix’s shoulder, feeling the trembling under his fingers.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered, not knowing what to say. Not knowing how to comfort someone who was larger than life to Liam. Fix was strength. He was the pillar that held Liam’s life together, and seeing him like this broke his heart. He wanted to make it better. He wanted to take it away, but he didn’t know how. “Daddy, I’m sorry.”

Fix lifted his head and shook it, cupping Liam’s face in both hands and looking him in the eyes.