In Other Worlds (11 page)

Adron lay in bed, listening to the monitors whirring and beeping. It was absolute misery to be stuck in this cold, sterile place.

Alone.

There was nothing he hated more than hospitals. Even worse, Livia had left him a little over an hour ago to run some errand she swore couldn't wait.

Disgusted, he watched his vitals flash on the screen. He'd watch the monitor, but there was nothing on. Gah, time moved so slowly when there was nothing to do. His father was in a meeting. His mother off with his sister.

No one knew where his brothers were, and here he stayed.

That was easier said than done when there was nothing else to do. And for the last eight years, this had made up the majority of his life.

“Damn, what did you do to him?”

Adron scowled as he heard one of the twins' voices. He looked to the door to see both Taryn and Tiernan coming in with Livia. All of them had their arms full with bags and boxes.

“I didn't do anything.” She set her bags down on the floor, then popped Taryn, whose hair was longer, playfully on the back of the head. “And you promised me you'd behave.”

Tiernan laughed as he set his box on the chair next to the bed. “Like that'll happen.”

Adron's frown deepened. “What are you people doing?”

His brothers pointed to Livia. “She did it,” they said in unison.

“Did what?”

She responded by opening up the box in Tiernan's hands. “You two get this set up while I work on the other box.”

Adron huffed as they ignored him, until he realized what they were doing. They were turning his hospital room into something that resembled a hotel.

Tiernan hung dark curtains while Taryn set up a reading light next to the bed. Livia handed him his reader.

Unable to speak past the lump in his throat over her thoughtfulness, he pulled her toward him so that he could kiss her.

“Ah, gah, people, please. We're in here with you. Do you mind? Could you not be so affectionate until we leave?”

“Yeah,” Taryn agreed. “I have a shipment to make tonight and can't afford to be blind from my older brother groping his wife.” He shuddered. “It reminds me of walking in on Jayce when he was a teenager, getting out of the shower. I'm still having violent flashbacks.”

Tiernan snorted. “Please. That I could take. Try walking in on Thia on the can. I swear I tried to get Nero to erase my memories of that.”

Taryn arched a brow. “Why didn't he?”

“He tried. Instead of erasing that, he undid three weeks of chemistry class. I damn near flunked over it.”

Tiernan laughed evilly as he stepped down from the chair. “Knowing Nero, he probably did it on purpose.”

Livia's eyes were bright. “Are they always this entertaining when they're together?”

“Depends.”

“On?”

“Whether or not they're plotting against you. Taryn's like a head injury. It's only funny when it happens to someone else. And Tiernan . . . I think there's now a hurricane on Chrinon VI named after him.”

She burst out laughing.

The twins sobered.

Taryn gave her an incredulous stare. “Thank you, Liv.” “For what?”

Tiernan answered for him. “For making Adron human again. It's been a long time.”

“Screw you, Tier.” But Adron had to give her credit, too. It'd been too long since he'd teased with his family or with anyone else like this.

“Yeah, bro, since when was Adron ever human? More like a festering subspecies of some kind. You know. Like a pimple on the ass of a warthog.”

Adron tossed a pillow at Taryn, who caught it and laughed. “You better be glad I'm strapped down.”

Taryn threw the pillow back at him.

It rebounded off his head. Adron hissed and threw himself back as if in pain.

The three of them ran to his side.

Taryn reached him first. “Do I need to call a nurse?”

Adron laughed at them as they surrounded him with terror in their eyes. “You are all so gullible.”

Tiernan let out a sound of extreme disgust. “You bastard. I thought you were hurt.”

Taryn picked the pillow up and beat Adron with it. “I hate you.”

Adron snatched the pillow out of his hands. “You suck, too.” As he tried to put it back behind him, Livia took it from his hands and placed it where he wanted.

“You're all terrible. I feel sorry for your poor mother having to referee all of you. It's a wonder she has any sanity left.”

Taryn grinned. “Personally, I'm not sure she does.”

Suddenly exhausted from the activity, Adron leaned back and watched as they put his room together. When it was done, his brothers left and Livia pulled the chair closer to his bed.

“You need anything else?”

“Yeah. You not to leave.”

“I'm right here, sweetie, and there's no place else I'd rather be.”

And right there she stayed for the entire week he was sentenced to his hellhole. Even though it was selfish of him, he loved it, and her presence there made time fly in a way it never had before.

Once it was over and they were back in his apartment, he took her to bed and didn't emerge except to attend to basic needs like food and drink.

Livia came awake slowly. She blinked her eyes open to find herself lying in bed, wrapped in her husband's arms.

Adron was still asleep, but even so, he had a tight grip on her as if he were afraid she'd vanish.

Smiling, she picked his hand up and placed a kiss over his scarred knuckles.

Then she heard someone in the outer room. At first, she assumed it was the cleaning lady who came twice a week, until she heard one of the twins call Adron's name.

“Hey, bud.” He threw open the door. “I need . . .” Tiernan took one look at them lying naked in the bed and turned around to give them his back.

“Sorry, Livia. I assumed by three o'clock in the afternoon the two of you would be up and about.”

Adron rubbed his stubbled cheek against her shoulder as he came awake. “I need to learn to lock my bedroom door.”

She laughed.

Tiernan made a sound of agitation. “I'm going to go out there and wait until you two are dressed.”

Adron brushed his hand over her hair, and she felt his erection against her hip. “Why don't you keep walking until you get to the other side of the front door?”

“Ha-ha.” Tiernan paused in the doorway and turned back toward them. “By the way, your wife has a great body.”

Heat exploded across her face as Tiernan shut the door. Adron gave her a stern frown. “Say the word, and I'll kill him for you.”

She smiled. “It's okay. If you did that, Taryn would miss him.”

“Hardly. He'd probably fall down in gratitude. You know, when they were babies, Tiernan used to shove Taryn down and grab his bottle away, then drink it.”

“No, he didn't. Tiernan's too sweet to do something so mean.”

He scoffed. “Don't let Tiernan's polite, mild-mannered demeanor fool you. He's every bit as lethal as Taryn, and he hits twice as hard. Take it from someone with firsthand experience. The only difference is, unlike Taryn and his pirate garb, Tiernan will be in a suit when he cuts your throat. No one expects an ambassador to go bad, but believe me, Tiernan's not a pacifist. I'd put him up against any assassin the League ever trained . . . including me in my prime.”

She still had a hard time believing that. There was an aura about Taryn that said he could be vicious if provoked. But Tiernan . . . he was like an adorable baby brother who never lost patience with anyone. Not even Zarina.

With a low groan, Adron rolled over slowly and reached for his injector and medicine on the nightstand.

Livia cringed as he gave himself a shot in the stomach. How she wished he didn't have to do that every few hours. But it was either that or his body locked up with so much pain that he couldn't move at all.

Unfortunately, he would have to do it for the rest of his life.

His features strained by the effort, he left the bed and dressed. Every few minutes, he'd have to pause and wait for the pain to subside before he could resume dressing. She wanted to offer to help, but he wouldn't appreciate it.

By the time he finished, his brow was damp with sweat from the strain. He gave her a sheepish look before he grabbed his cane and left the room.

While he went to speak to his brother, she headed into the bathroom for a shower.

She took her time, letting the hot water cascade over her skin, until she felt someone watching her bathe. Turning around, she saw Adron leaning against the wall, staring straight at her.

She dropped the cloth in her hand. “You startled me.”

“Sorry, I didn't mean to. I was just wishing I could join you.”

It amazed her how comfortable she'd become around him when she was naked. Her nudity had long since ceased to bother her. As did his. In fact, she'd learned every dip and curve of his tawny flesh. Every scar.

She glanced over to the tub a few feet away where he took his baths. “Want me to join you?”

He smiled. “Yes, I do.”

Livia turned the shower off and ran them a tub full of water. Adron got in first, then pulled her in on top of him.

“Careful,” she warned as a wave of panic went through her. “I don't want to hurt you.”

“You could never hurt me.” He claimed her lips with his.

Livia moaned. Oh, but she would never get tired of his kisses. His touch.

Adron pulled back to stare at her in awe. Her lips were swollen from his kiss and her cheeks red from his whiskers. He ran his hand over her ravaged skin, hating that he'd chafed it.

“I'm sorry about that.” He reached for his razor in the cubbyhole in the wall above his head.

She sat beside him, watching him shave with a frown on her face. “Wouldn't that be easier with a mirror?”

“Probably.”

“Then why don't you use one?”

He paused and looked away from her as his gut knotted. “I don't like looking in mirrors, and I damn sure don't want to do it first thing every morning.” It was bad enough to catch sight of his mangled face accidentally. The last thing he wanted to do was look at it on purpose.

She took the razor from his hand, and to his shock, she shaved the mutilated side of his face. “You are incredibly handsome.”

Adron stared at her doubtfully. “When I was younger, I was really vain about it. Zarina used to tease me that I looked at my reflection so much that one day the bogeyman was going to come and steal my face.” He dropped his gaze to the floor. “I guess she was right. He did.”

Livia rinsed the soap from his face. “I think you're gorgeous.”

“I think you're insane.”

She shook her head as she started shaving his other cheek. “You know, there is a bright side to all you suffered.”

“And that is?”

She hesitated as if gathering her thoughts. “Tell me truthfully, Adron. If Kyr hadn't scarred you, would you have taken me home that night at the Golden Crona? Would you have even looked twice at me?”

Adron opened his mouth to deny it, but he couldn't. She was right. She was beautiful to him now, a vital part of his life. But she wasn't the kind of woman he'd chased after when he was single. Like Zarina had said, he'd been a vain asshole. Though Livia was pretty and sweet, she wasn't one of the tall, sleek knockouts he'd been with. The kind of women who knew how to tease and torment a guy with their looks and body.

The truth was, as pretty as she was, he would never have looked twice at her before Kyr had crippled him.

That thought cut him all the way to his soul. How could he have been so stupid as to not look any deeper than the surface?

And she deserved someone much better than him.

“I wish I could be whole for you . . . I wish I could hold you and dance with you, take you in my arms and make love to you the way I want to.”

“And I'm just grateful I have you at all. It's not your body or face that I love, Adron. It's your heart, your soul, and your mind.”

He trembled at her words, then pulled her to him and kissed her. She moved carefully into his lap.

Adron nibbled her lips as he felt her sliding her hand over his shoulders, down his arms.

She lifted her hips, then impaled herself on him. They moaned simultaneously.

Bracing her hands on the edge of the tub, she rode him slow and easy, making him blind from the pleasure of her body surrounding his. And for the first time, he was grateful to Kyr. Grateful that the bastard had opened his eyes . . .