Craving Cecilia (The Aces' Sons 6)

“How you feelin’?” Mark asked as we moved further into the room.

“High as a kite,” Leo said with a small smile. “Ready to go home.”

“You’re not ready to go home,” Lily countered.

“I’m ready,” he said again.

They bickered like an old married couple. The sight soothed me somehow.

“Hospitals aren’t my favorite place to be, either,” Mark said in commiseration. “I like to hold my own dick when I piss.”

“Amen,” Leo said with a laugh. “They’re at least letting me do that now.” He looked at me. “How you doin’?”

“Me?” I asked in confusion. “I’m fine.”

“Heard you were shot,” Leo said, watching me. I looked at Lily. “She wasn’t the one who told me,” Leo said in amusement.

“I’m fine,” I said again. “I was wearing a vest.”

“She’s still black and blue,” Mark said, countering my words.

“It’s a bruise,” I muttered. “A freaking bruise.”

Leo laughed. “Still can’t handle people worryin’ about you, huh?”

“There’s nothing to worry about,” I replied. “I’m fine. Everything is fine.”

“I’m glad,” he said.

“Me, too.”

“I won’t thank you for what you did,” he said, his tone practically daring me to interrupt. “And I won’t tell you that I remember when I felt you lay on top of me and cover my head with your arms.”

I stopped breathing.

“I won’t tell you that I was so out of it that, at first, I didn’t realize what was happening, but I was scared as fuck once I figured it out, and the only thing that gave me any comfort was knowin’ you were right there with me.”

My nose stung.

“I also won’t tell you that you didn’t have to do that. That I would’ve gladly taken a bullet if it meant you got to go home to that sweet baby of yours.”

I refused to blink as my eyes filled with tears.

“I won’t tell you any of that because I know that you’ll find some way to dismiss it, and I’m not in the mood,” he said. He cleared his throat. “I will say that I’m glad your sister’s got you back now and I hope you guys are stayin’ local so I don’t have to pay for tickets to San Diego every coupla months.”

“We’re stayin’,” Mark said when I couldn’t reply. “Cec has been eyeballin’ that property down the road from Casper and Farrah’s.”

“I love that place,” Lily said excitedly. “We used to sneak over to their pond to swim in the summer.”

“Don’t tell Mom I used to take you with me,” I replied, finally able to speak past the tightness in my throat.

“I can hear you, dumbass,” my mom said from the hallway.

“You have any idea what you wanna do with that massive shop?” Leo asked Mark.

“I’ve only seen pictures,” Mark said, stepping over to a chair and pulling me onto his lap as he sat down. “Is it as big as it looks?”

“The thing is massive,” Leo replied. “Used to keep horses, I think.”

“Ooh, horses,” I said dreamily.

“You gonna shovel shit?” Mark asked me. I wrinkled my nose. “That’s what I thought.”

“You could get goats,” Lily said leaning forward a little. “Goats are so cute, and it’s good for kids to have an animal.” She looked sideways at Leo.

“I said we could discuss a dog once we move into a bigger place,” he replied dryly.

“You can get a dog,” Mark said to me.

“Thanks for the permission,” I replied sarcastically.

Lily laughed at us.

The conversation went on like that for a while. Easy and simple as we talked about the house we were interested in. Leo and Lily were also looking for a place, but not seriously, not yet. Their ideas were mostly daydreams, but I liked listening to them explain what they wanted. The things that were important to them when it came to their home said a lot about them as a couple, and it was a little like a peek into their lives. It was comfortable in a way that I hadn’t felt around my sister in a very long time.

By the time we left, I felt centered in a way that I also hadn’t felt in a very long time.

“Glad you came?” my mom asked as we walked toward the exit of the hospital.

Mark coughed like he was choking and I stared at him in bewilderment.

“Jesus Christ,” my mom complained, handing Mark the car seat. “Boys never grow up. They just get bigger.”

Mark snickered.

“Are you serious right now?” I asked him, stopping in the middle of the walkway.

“I’m just happy,” he said defensively, grinning at me. “Are you glad you came?”

“To the hospital?” I shot back in exasperation. “Yes. Last night? Not as much if you’re going to act like a teenage boy the next day.”

My mom cackled as I hurried toward her.

“You fell in love with me when I was a teenage boy,” Mark reminded me as he slung his free arm over my shoulder. “Can’t complain now.”