Page 133 of Playing Dirty

“Well. If they didn’t know before, they sure do now.”

He lets out a low chuckle that quickly turns into a wince before he grabs his side.

“Ah, fuck. Okay, laughing hurts.”

“Sorry,” I mumble, my arm finding its home around his shoulder again. I turn my face toward his head, whispering in his ear, “I did tell my mom. Well, she kind of already figured it out, but…semantics.”

“What’d she say?”

A smile lifts up the corner of my mouth as I link the fingers on myfree hand with his. “That she knows what it’s like to fall for a Greyson man against her will.”

Another lilt of laughter leaves him, and he winces again. “Shit. Did you not hear me when I said it hurt to laugh?”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” My lips find his again in another soft kiss, not a care in the world about who may see anymore. “I’m still so, so sorry.”

“You’re right. It’s really easy to get sick of hearing those words,” he muses with another little chuckle. But then he arches his neck to look at me and declares, “We’re gonna be okay.”

From the conviction and faith laced in his tone, I don’t think he’s just talking about the accident.

I nod a couple times, my throat tightening again as I press my lips to his temple.

“Yeah, baby. We’re gonna be okay.”

Thirty-Three

Theo

Eventually, the nurses force Madden out of my bed and back to his own room despite both of our protests. The last thing either of us wants is to be out of the other’s sight, but I need the rest, what with my entire body having been literally hit by a truck.

“You can come back in the morning,” I hear the nurse tell him as she wheels him out the door, though he insisted he could walk back to his room instead.

His gaze finds mine over his shoulder before he turns the corner down the hall, and there’s the smallest hint of a smile when he mouths three words that cause my heart to stumble in my chest.

“I love you.”

I barely have time to return the sentiment before he disappears from sight.

Mom and Dad slip into the room only a handful of minutes later, thetwo of them looking a bit worse for wear as they let the door close behind them. Dad specifically looks like he’s aged a decade since I last saw him, and Mom looks ready to collapse where she stands until she drops down on the edge of my bed.

“How are you feeling, love?” she asks, resting her hand on mine.

“Tired,” I murmur, my voice feeling a bit hoarse. “And thirsty.”

She grabs a cup of water for me right away, but my father takes it from her hand and goes to fill it with a pitcher the nurse had brought in earlier this afternoon.

“I’ve got it, Becca.”

It’s weird, seeing them together after everything that’s happened, but especially watching them lean on each other for support. The irony isn’t lost on me, considering they were together the first two decades of my life, but I guess I’ve adapted to this new normal of Dad and Carla being together more than I thought.

I guzzle down the water after Dad hands it to me, and I don’t even have the chance to ask him for a refill before he’s already taking the cup from me and pouring more.

Mom’s fingers wrap around mine in a tight squeeze, drawing my attention to her.

“The doctors said we can stay—”

“You don’t have to. I’m fine,” I insist.

If anything, I wish the nurses would move Madden and me into the same room. Both of us know the answer without even asking, which is why we didn’t bother in the first place, but part of me hopes he might sneak down here at some point during the night, if only for a couple hours until a nurse inevitably finds us.