I made an annoyed sound in my throat.
“Try again,” I said. “You know me better than that.”
He sat very still for a moment and then he let out a breath. It seemed to deflate him, making his shoulders slump and his head fall forward.
“I think I understand now.”
“Understand what?”
“Why Sonny told me he loved me.”
I nearly snatched my hand away from his shoulder, reeling back. I hadn’t heard him say that, and I’d heard almost everything they’d said. I could hear Sonny muttering, though he hadn’t done that in a few hours (which was a good sign) and Declan talking to him in a low voice. I hadn’t meant to listen in, it’s just my senses were really good and I couldn’t help but overhear.
As it was, I had to force my hand to remain still and not shake.
“Oh?” I said. It was the best I could do under the circumstances. I half wanted to cheer that finally Declan was getting his head out of his arse and getting together with the man he was in love with.
I half wanted to grab his head and kiss him, though, to get just one kiss before he was lost to me forever.
Declan nodded and I realised his head was still bowed, his shoulders still slumped. He didn’t look like a man who’d just been told the love of his life was in love with him.
“So what happened?” I prompted.
I waited while Declan inhaled a shaky breath, and then another.
“It was while I was in hospital. Just after the accident.”
Oh, that would explain why I hadn’t heard it.
Wait…
“But that wasmonthsago,” I said.
“I know.” He slumped lower, and I had to bite my lip not to chide him about his posture. He would be cramped and off-balance when he stood up if he stayed like that for long.
“Correct me if I’m wrong, but you love Sonny back, don’t you?”
Declan nodded miserably. “Yeah. But I thought—”
“What?”
“Nothing.”
I gave his shoulder a little shake. “I told you that you don’t have to cut yourself off with me. Finish your sentence.”
“I thought he would stop.”
“Stop telling you?”
“Stop loving me.”
We stayed silent for a while as I tried to process that information. But no matter which way I looked at it, I couldn’t work out why Declan would think that. So I had to ask.
“Why would he stop loving you?”
“Because I’m disabled. He loved me before, when I was healthy and able-bodied. Then when I was in hospital, he panicked and told me how he felt. But then, he couldn’t keep loving me, could he?”
“Why the hell not?”
