Elizabeth deletes Patricia’s phone number and then places her phone face down on the bedside table.
“Well, it’s over. Right now I just want you to please use that call button and tell the nurse who no doubt is drooling over you everyday that you need some more pain meds. I can hear the agony in your voice. Then I’ll set up my laptop on this table and we’ll watch a movie until you fall asleep. I don’t know if you realize it or not but it’s date night.”
“No.” I smirk. “I didn’t realize.”
“And when you wake up, Roman, I will be here,” she says glassy-eyed. “I’ll always be here.”
She slides her hand into one of mine and I lightly clasp it. Tears the size of raindrops slide down her cheeks.
“Are you crying again, nerd?”
“This has been the craziest few weeks of my life. I’m emotional, okay?”
“Get in bed with me.” I pat the side of the bed. “I’ll calm your pretty little ass down.”
“Now, you know there’s not enough room for the both of us,” She chuckles as she wipes her tears away. “And there’s nothing you can do for me right now but get better and come home.”
“I love you, Elizabeth.” I kiss the back of her hand. “I love you and Knox so fucking much that it frightens me that I could have lost you both. It hurts like hell that I can’t get out of this bed and show you how much properly.”
She bends down and kisses me gently on the lips.
“You’ve already shown me properly, Masterson” she says into my mouth. “You lived.”
22
ELIZABETH
Iam keenly aware that Roman is nervous about this visit. As we sit in the back seat of a town car that Jade arranged to pick us up from the airport, I feel the frenetic energy of his left knee bouncing. I slip my hand into his massive one as I continue to look out the window of the car. He gives it a light squeeze to acknowledge the gesture and his knee suddenly stops moving.
Vegas looks and feels exactly like what I thought it would. People are ready to gamble, party and drink the moment they set foot in the city’s limits. The airport lobby is filled with colorful slot machines, the streets are packed with casinos with brightly lit neon signs promising visitors the payout of their dreams, and there are tourists from all over the world who bring a certain unique vitality to the town.
“How many times have you been here?” I ask Roman. “I can’t remember if you told me.”
“Just about four or five.”
“To gamble?”
“Yeah, something like that.”
I decide not to ask any more questions about that because his answer leads me to believe that he was here for work or with a woman from his past, and I don’t really need to hear the details about either of those.
“What’s your favorite game?” I ask him.
“I prefer the private poker tables if I’m going to play at all.”
“That’s where the big rollers play, right?”
“Elizabeth, I appreciate the small talk, but it’s unnecessary.”
“What do you mean?”
“I know that you’re trying to keep things light but the reality is that we’re on our way to see a woman who has had very little to do with me for a very long time, and it’s not going to be an easy reunion regardless of what you’re hoping for.”
“I’m not saying it’s going to be all kisses and hugs but it doesn’t have to be difficult either.”
“But it will be.”
“Why do you say that?”
