41. Paige

41

PAIGE

"Paige, what the hell?" Gray rushes to my side, but I wave him away.

"I'm fine."

Declan's fuming mad as he glares at Kael. "What the hell are you doing here?"

Holding my hand up, I wait for Kael to take it. Which he does, thankfully.

"Help me up, please, will you?" I want to be able to stand by myself, but everything hurts.

"Paige, don't—" Gray starts.

Kael squeezes my hand and puts his other hand on my shoulder, keeping me down, which is probably for the best since I'm gritting my teeth against the pain as it is. He squeezes my shoulder. A gesture of support, not censorship.

I look at Kael, and he nods once, just for me. He knows I can fight my own battles, he believes in me.

God, I love this man.

For so long, this is what I wanted, what I needed.

My family doesn't understand me. I know they mean well, they are just trying to protect me. But there's a difference between protecting and babying, and I feel like they were doing the latter. Kael is the only one I feel really protects me without making me feel like a burden.

My eyes go to both my brothers. "I need you two to listen. I'm done being the baby, allowing you to treat me like a child, thinking you can boss me around."

Declan frowns at me. "But?—"

"I'm not done. I moved out for that very reason, and this thing with Da made me forget for a second how awful I felt always being treated like less. But as soon as I went back, it was as if nothing had changed." I shake my head. "Damn it! I am not less. I am not a child, a baby that needs everyone to tell her what to do and who to talk to. I'm an adult, just like you. And I'm in love with Kael, and he's in love with me. Now is that clear? Or I swear to god, I'll refuse to step foot in that house if either of you are there."

I'm hurting and panting from the effort of talking so much, but I will not let them see that.

Still frowning, Declan opens his mouth, but Gray clamps a hand over it.

"I think we better listen to her."

He slowly drops his hand, and Declan huffs out a breath.

"You can either accept that we're together... or you can get out of my life."

Declan's eyes widen. "You can't mean that, Paige."

Gray takes a step toward me. "Listen?—"

"No, you listen. I'm twenty-seven years old. I can make my own decisions about my love life, and I choose Kael for my happy ending. Neither of you has a right to take that away from me. Now, if you excuse us…"

I look up behind me, and Kael grins at me, kissing the top of my head before wheeling me out into the hallway .

My heart's pounding and breathing hurts my ribs and back, but I feel a hundred times better.

Kael wheels me to Da's bedside, and I reach out and take his swollen hand.

"I miss you so much, Da. I need you to come back to us, please. There's so much I want to tell you, to talk to you about."

Da's finger twitches, and I gasp.

"Da?"

Da's eyes flutter open, and he starts to choke.

"Nurse! Nurse!" I scream, slamming down on the call button.

A lot of people come rushing in, and Kael and I are put out into the hallway.

"What's happening?" I ask a nearby nurse, and she glances at me before kneeling down to speak to me.

"He's fighting the ventilator. That means he's waking up."

My hand flies to my mouth. "Oh, my god."

"That's a good sign, princess," Kael whispers, and I watch the doctors work through the glass windows.

When they're done, the doctor comes to get me. "He's awake. That's a good sign, but he's got a hard road to walk still."

"Can I please talk to him?"

The doctor nods.

I look up at Kael, but he's already wheeling me back in.

He puts me right next to the bed, and Da squints at me, clearing his throat.

"Paige? Is that you, a'stor ?"

"It's me, Da." Tears stream down my face.

"You're hurt."

"So are you," I tease, and at least his eyes are sparkling .

"What happened?"

"Murphy," Kael speaks up, and Da looks up at him and then back at me.

He raises an eyebrow.

I can't help but chuckle. "We're together, Da. I love him."

He simply hums, raising an eyebrow, and when I pat his hand, he takes mine, wrapping his fingers around mine.

His hand feels warmer, if still a bit swollen.

"You're not mad?"

"Why would I be mad, a'stor? I've always wanted you to find your prince. Might as well be an Irishman."

Kael laughs at that, and I do too, briefly, before gasping as my ribs hurt.

Da frowns. "You need to rest, Paige."

His own eyes are drifting closed, and I smile at him. "I think we both do."

"I just…I'm sorry, for what happened. For you getting shot?—"

"It's not your fault, a'stor ." Da looks at Kael. "None of yours."

Kael's face changes so quickly I can barely see what emotion passes over his face.

In seconds, Da's snoring softly, and I look up at Kael.

Silently, he takes me back to my room where he helps me back into bed, and I lay as comfortably as I can with the IV and my back brace.

I scoot over, motioning for him to sit next to me, and he does, and I realize he's shaking all over.

"Kael, what's wrong?"

"All this time, I thought it was my fault. I thought your da would hate me because I was distracted, because I didn't take the bullet for him. "

"Of course, he doesn't hate you, Kael?—"

"I was distracted, though, Paige. I was distracted by you."

I can't help but smile, but Kael looks on the verge of tears. "It's all right, Kael. Things worked out like they were supposed to."

"No, they didn't." He's still shaking. "Your father got hurt. You got hurt. And it's all because we fell in love."

I frown. "It's not because we fell in love. Shit like this happens all the time, Kael. You might as well blame the sun from shining. The Burkes have always had enemies. They always will. You can protect me as much as you can, but you can't protect me from everything. No one can."

I lean my head against his shoulder and eventually, Kael calms down, his breathing coming more even.

I lean closer to his chest. "You must be exhausted."

He scoffs. "You're the one who needs to rest, not me."

"So, you're still going to fight me every step of the way?"

He grins. "What fun would it be if I didn't?"

I chuckle. "I guess you're right about that. But what now? Where do we go from here?"

"Do we get married?" he asks, and I pale.

"Not yet. We've barely even dated, Kael, please, don't give me a heart attack."

Kael sighs. "Thank god, because I nearly gave myself a heart attack."

I can't help but giggle. "I mean, I'm not opposed to it... in the future."

"Should we talk about the important stuff?"

"Important stuff?"

"Do you like dogs or cats?"

"Cats."

He nods, as if that's the right answer. "Movies? "

"Horror, action."

He grins. "Right again. What about kids?"

"Love them. Want half a dozen."

"Me, too."

"Really? And I want to fix up the brownstone, live there forever. Would that be a problem?"

"Not at all. I love the brownstone. Much better than my apartment."

I look up at him. "Does that mean you're officially moving in?"

He pauses. "Are we moving too fast?"

"We already live together, or we have for the past few weeks."

He nods. "I guess we'll have to learn a bit more about each other."

"We've got time." I smile at him.

Time is the one thing we do have.

"I think so, too. So, we're really doing this? We're really getting together?"

"I think we are." I watch out the door as my brothers head to Da's room. They'll be so excited that he's awake.

I close my eyes, leaning against Kael.

I dream of a white dress, too long, getting mud on the bottom lace.

I huff out a disappointed breath.

"It's raining," I complain. "Why is it raining on my wedding day?"

"They say it's good luck," Lara looks at me in the mirror, fixing my hair and makeup.

"No, they don't," I mutter, but I let her finish curling my hair.

"You're marrying the right guy."

I'm worried that when I look up at the altar, it'll be one of those men who kidnapped me instead of the real groom.

But when I look up, it's Kael.

And when I wake up—He's still there, dozing against me with one arm around me awkwardly given my back brace.

I break out in a big smile.

My happy ending starts today.

Now all we need is time to recover from all this. If Murphy will let us.