Love in Game (De La Fuente Family 6)

“Let me check for you.”

I slip my arm around Felicity’s waist and kiss the top of her head when she settles against me. “I don’t know what I’m supposed to be doing,” she admits.

“You’re here for him, and that’s all you can do right now.” I kiss her again and watch the nurse as she reads something.

“The paramedics arrived five minutes ago.” She smiles softly. “The trauma team is with him now. Once I get some details from you, I’ll let them know that you’re waiting out here. Someone will eventually be out to give you an update once they have something to tell you, okay?” the nurse speaks softly, trying to soothe Felicity.

Felicity nods against my chest before she straightens up. “What do you need to know?”

It takes ten minutes but once the nurse has all the information she needs on Blake and contact details for Felicity, I guide her over to a quiet corner in the busy waiting room.

She sits huddled against me and doesn’t even notice Roger approaching us until he crouches down in front of her. Pushing her hair away from her face and wiping her eyes, she stares at Roger.

“He’s going to be okay, Felicity.” Roger glances from her to me and back to Felicity. “It’s going to be a long ride I think, but he’s strong and he’ll do it.

“What are they saying is wrong?”

“I don’t have the full picture because they ushered me away before I could hear what they were saying. But what I did catch is that his leg is broken in three places, there’s no internal bleeding, but, and this is the bigger thing, there is swelling at the base of his spine, and when he briefly woke up, he couldn’t feel his legs.”

“Oh no.” Felicity covers her mouth with a hand, her eyes round with shock and her tears reappear.

“I told the doctor that I’d be out here with you. The doc thinks that I’m his brother.” Roger watches Felicity. “I hope that’s okay.”

She nods. “Of course it is. You’re his best friend, so of course it’s okay. I just want to see him.”

“I know. He asked for you just before he went out again.” Roger stares at us, but not in anger, more like confusion. “How do you two know each other?”

I squeeze Felicity on the hip and answer, “We met in Vegas, and bumped into each other last night.”

“You’re the guy who rescued her when tha

t bitch, Bev, set her up?”

“Yeah, that’s me.” I lean forward. “Look, I know what it seems like, okay. I’m not stupid. An older man taking advantage of a younger woman—”

“No,” Felicity interrupts.

Kissing her briefly on the lips, I continue, “I connected with Felicity like I haven’t done with anyone before, and she felt it too. It’s difficult to explain, but I want her in my life for more than a day. I want the chance to see where what we have can go.” I smile at the woman in question before sorrow fills her gaze. “It was my fault that Blake was injured. Felicity had just told him about me, apart from my name. He saw me on the sidewalk and figured it out. He was trying to get to me.”

Silence follows and I really do feel sick to my stomach because my involvement with Felicity is what caused this. I just hope I don’t lose her because of it.

“This isn’t anyone’s fault, but Blake’s. Him and his damn temper is what caused this, so don’t beat yourself up about it.” He glances at Felicity. “Don’t you either. You know what your brother is like. He doesn’t think.”

“We had such a good lunch.” She sniffles into a tissue. “I mean it was really, really good. He listened to me for a change without going off on a rant. He listened while I explained about Kasey, and by the time we’d finished eating he’d apologized to me for being an overbearing brother. He explained why and I felt as though a lot of things got said that should have been said a while ago.” She glances at me and caresses the side of my face softly.

I capture her hand and place a kiss to her palm and she continues, “And then he saw the way that I looked at Kasey when I saw him across the street. He knew.”

Roger shakes his head. “I’m glad you got to talk to him, but you still can’t blame yourself. If Blake had thought first instead of reacting then we wouldn’t be here now. You need to forget the guilt and concentrate on being here when he needs you, which he will.”

“He’ll be an asshole when he wakes and needs help,” Felicity says with a smirk on her lips. “That would be good though because it would mean he’s still around.” Her eyes fill again.

“It will be good and he’s going to have to accept me being part of your life because I’m not prepared to lose you again. You’re stuck with me, babe.”

“I don’t want you to go anywhere,” she agrees and snuggles beneath my arm.

My gaze meets Roger’s. “If the topic comes up when you’re with him, then I want you to know that I’m in love with Felicity. I’ll do anything to protect her. I’ll tell him myself, but if you need to, then point that out to him. I won’t let him shame her or treat her badly because she’s with me. I won’t walk away from her either.”

I catch Felicity’s surprise from the corner of my eyes, but keep my gaze on Roger, who studies me carefully. “I understand.” He winces. “Blake’s a stubborn asshole, but he loves Felicity. He’ll come around. It might take a while.”