Fighting With Light (The Coldwell Brothers #2)

44. Aelia

44

Aelia

“I don’t know how you can be making sex jokes at a time like this,” I grumble at him.

Tossing his jacket to the floor, I lift his shirt sleeve to get a good look at his wound. It’s still bleeding pretty good, but there’s no bullet in his arm.

“It’s just a graze. I told you, not a big deal.”

“The hell it’s not, Liam, this could’ve been a bullet,” I mumble and reach for the hem of his shirt.

“It’s not, princess, it just stings, that’s all,” he says and helps me pull his sweaty t-shirt off.

“You don’t seem to understand this could have been significantly worse,” I say, my voice cracking in the process.

I bite my tongue, trying to swallow the feelings of possibly losing Liam in the Andes mountains as we were trying to get away from a drug cartel. It’s hard to describe the feelings associated with the thought. I know I shouldn’t feel any of them, but I do, and they are almost too much to handle. I love him so much.

Ignoring that thought, I inspect his wound, trying to gauge how bad it is. Of all the things I’ve learned growing up, I also learned how to do stitches. My brothers got hurt a lot during mafia business, and they came to me because my hand was steadier than theirs. It got to the point I kept a large first aid kit in my bathroom because they would show up at all hours of the night to have me patch them up.

Weakness is not something any of us could show our father, so asking him for help if they got grazed, stabbed, or needed a finger reset was not an option. We had to figure it out on our own .

“I can stitch myself up, princess,” Liam says.

I shake my head, coming back to the present moment. “No, no, it’s fine. I can do it. I used to do it for my brothers all the time.”

“Oh, okay.”

I open the cabinet, looking for their first aid kit under the sink. This one is pretty extensive and includes blood clotting pads and other things I would have never thought to get. “Stay here,” I tell him.

He nods, and I go back to where they were keeping water bottles and grab one, taking it back to the bathroom with me.

I grab a needle and poke it in the bottle a few times. He leans over the sink, and I squeeze the water bottle, spraying the water into his wound. His jaw ticks a couple of times, but he remains still, swallowing the pain. After I’m satisfied with how clean the bullet graze is, I pour peroxide over it and dab it dry. Then I clean my needle, thread it, and start stitching him up.

Liam grits his teeth and stays quiet while I work. “You are very good at this,” he says, wincing.

I pause, looking up. “Thanks, I guess.”

He grunts, and I’m almost done when he lifts his other hand and pushes my hair back behind my ear.

“I’m glad you’re okay,” he rasps.

“I just hope it was all worth it,” I mutter.

“It is. We got exactly what we needed and helped some women and kids escape slavery. I’d say it’s all in a day’s work.”

I smile, knot the end of the stitch, and cut it off. I clean it again, put some gauze over it, and tape it up. “Alright, it’s all better.”

“You forgot to kiss it,” he says.

I throw him a look and kiss the gauze. “There.”

“Thank you,” he says.

I nod and wash my hands. Liam’s arms slide around me, and his palms splay across my stomach. I reach for the towel and dry my hands, meeting Liam’s eyes in the small mirror above the sink .

My nose burns, and I can’t keep it in anymore. I’ve been crying in the shower for weeks. After everything that happened tonight, I just can’t keep it buried.

A sob bursts from my lips, and Liam spins me around, pulling me into his bare chest. My heart feels like it’s breaking, for me, for Liam, for those women we rescued and the pain of healing they will have to do.

None of this is fair. Liam’s family and mine were dealt a bad hand, and our whole lives we have tried to work with what we have. Liam and his brothers are trying to take back control when I’ve spent my time running. Until I met him…

Liam gave me a reason to start fighting for something better. I’ve been fighting with myself and the guilt of my father’s sins for so long that I forgot that fighting with light is better than running from it because fighting for it is worth the risk. He is worth the risk.

I pull back from Liam’s chest and stand on my tiptoes, pressing my lips to his. It sends an electric zing through me every time. It’s like the charge right after lightning strikes. You can feel it in the air, and it makes you feel alive . From the moment I met him in Bali, I felt that spark. It doesn’t matter how we got here, I hold nothing against him. But what matters to me now is what we do today because tomorrow is not guaranteed.

“I love you,” I whisper against his lips.

He pulls back to look me in the eye, and he grabs my face between his palms. I don’t expect him to say it back. I understand why he wouldn’t. It’s not in the cards, but… what if? What if we ignore all the reasons why we can’t be together and just choose each other? For once, we can choose ourselves, we can choose to fight for each other.

“You broke me, you know that?” he says.

I frown and start to pull away. I should have known .

“No, no, let me finish. You’ve left me a little speechless,” he says, with his hand at the small of my back, pressing me against him.

I wait for him to tell me thank you, but no thank you or for him to crack a joke.

Then he says, “You have changed everything for me, princess. You have helped me see the world differently. You have brought me to the end of myself. You have ruined me, Aelia Costa, for any other woman in this world. I don’t think I know how to breathe without you anymore. I love you, too.”

Our lips slam together, my stomach untwists, and my soul brightens.

The kiss turns heated quickly, as it always does, and he wraps his hand around my hair, fisting it and tugging my head back. I gasp as he trails his lips over my neck and jaw.

“Liam,” I whisper. I love saying his name. I love him.

“I love you, princess. I never thought I’d be able to tell you that. I thought that…maybe I didn’t deserve to tell you.”

I rub my hand across his cheekbone, marveling at how beautiful this man is. Granted, his whole family is beautiful, but he’s just…something. All I want to do is stare at him.

“So does this mean that you’re my Tarzan and I’m just Jane?” I ask.

He chuckles dryly. “No, this means that you’re mine, and I’m yours, and I will do whatever it takes to keep it that way.” He pauses and kisses me. “But for the record, you were never just Jane.”

I lean up, capturing his lips again because I want him now. I need him now. Reaching for his button, I slide the zipper, and then there’s a knock at the door.

“Are you guys done making out? Because I have to take a piss,” Emerson grumbles.

Liam chuckles. “Dude, there’s another bathroom.”

“Well, that one is small, and I’m big, can you just—”

I flip the lock, interrupting him, and push past his large figure. Emerson really is a big guy. Liam follows, and I find a shirt for him and a change of clothes for myself.

Once I’m in yoga pants and Liam’s t-shirt, I plop down next to him on the couch and pull the blanket over both of us. He smiles and tucks me into his side. I feel his lips on the top of my head, and I fall asleep like that. The only place I want to be.

** *

We arrive in California and vehicles are waiting for us, along with two women and a child. As we walk closer, Liam’s hand tightens around mine. Cordelia, her son Theo, and the boys’ mom, Esmarie, stand there staring at us, and I’m positive I look awful. The jet sink bath did not do the trick. I stare at Cordelia first, and her eyes are glued to Kai as he approaches them. I want that .

He gathers his family into his arms and kisses Cordelia like the world is burning. Then he pulls away and kisses his son’s forehead. The way he looks into those sweet eyes feels like an arrow to the heart. I’ve never thought about what it would be like to be a mother. It’s not something that I wanted to think about. I was too busy trying to survive and give my father reasons to ignore my mother to keep her safe.

Esmarie is wearing black, silk pants and a tucked-in shirt. Her pearl earrings and matching Chanel necklace reflect in the light. My mother used to look like that, a force to be reckoned with. She hasn’t worn her pearls for a long time now.

Emerson hugs Esmarie, and his large frame swallows her small one whole. She’s a small but powerful woman. I don’t have to know her well to pick up on that. He releases her and Liam lets go of my hand to hug his mom, press a kiss to Cordelia’s cheek, and rubs Theo’s head. I stand to the side, feeling like an island, and then Liam grabs my hand, tugging me closer.

Esmarie stares me down with apprehension. I don’t blame her. I would, too. I hold out my hand to her, and she takes it. “It’s nice to meet you, Ms. Costa.”

“You as well, Mrs. Coldwell.”

She dips her head regally, and Liam’s arm around my shoulder tightens in encouragement.

“The guys will fill you in, Mom. I have to get down to San Clemente for the finals, and I’ll need at least twenty-four hours of sleep for that to happen.”

She stares at her son carefully. “Very well then. I expect you to call me. But answer this one question for me, darling…”

Liam nods and she sets her eyes on me as she says, “Was it all worth it?”

I look up at his profile, wondering what his answer will be. I know what mine is, and he says, “ Yes, yes, it was.”

The corner of my mouth pops up, and I try to hide my grin, but I can’t help it. I know he’s talking about a lot more than the evidence we’ve obtained to put both of our fathers away for the rest of their lives.

We said those three magic words. Words that I never thought I would give a man.

“Good,” she says in a clipped tone. “I brought your Range Rover,” she says and waves her hand to a man in a suit.

He tosses Liam’s keys, and he catches them with one hand. “Thanks, Mom, thanks, Clarence.”

The man dips his head once, and the air feels…awkward yet hopeful. We got what we needed, and we’re safe for now. This is the next step in the right direction.

Liam tugs my hand towards his SUV. We load our things in, and he straps his board down and helps me into the passenger side. “Let me go say bye one more time,” he says and kisses me on the cheek.

I watch him jog back over to his family. He hugs Kai and his wife one more time. He pats Emerson roughly on the back, and it’s hard not to laugh as his thick arms pat him awkwardly in return. Then he stops at his mother and hugs her. Her arms grip him, and it feels like another needle in my heart.

There have been many over the years; my heart is full of them, and every beat is a painful thud of a reminder of losing my mom, even though she is very much alive. But all of this was for her, for me, for my brothers, for those women who were forced into a terrible life.

But now, my goals are still the same, our goal is still the same. Yet it’s different this time because of three little words that have pulled out some of those needles and healed the bleeding. I have hope that we can see this through, that we all can finally be free.