Moretti 2 Taming the Playboy

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He wanted to kiss her tears away. She broke his heart. "What happened to us, Lay? What did I do?"
Anger flashed in her eyes. "You don't know what you did? I know we weren't a couple or anything. I
was just a little shocked by your ability to just move on."
"What are you talking about?" Ryan took a few steps into the room but her expression made him stop.
"Layla, I am drawn to you. I cannot stay away. I know it doesn't make any sense but it is like you are
a magnet and I just can't fight it. I thought we were in a relationship. We can talk about the situation
with Caleb in your room. Let's just move past this."
She stood up like a rocket. "Caleb in my room? Is that what you think this is about? My infidelity
with Caleb? If you had kept it in your pants longer than 12 hours, Caleb would have never been in my
room!"
"So it s true? You were unfaithful? Seriously? With Caleb?" Ryan stepped back, his voice a little
louder than he expected.
"You have NO right, Ryan. No right! Don't you dare yell at me while you parade your little
conquests around. You made the choice to throw us away. What I do now is my business."
With that, Ryan stormed out of the room. He would not cry. He would not admit he had been hurt.
****
Ryan nodded at Dr. Turner as he entered Mark's room. The familiar beeping of machines was
somehow soothing. He had been to see Mark a few times each day. The hospital staff had taken great
care in making sure the room was comfortable and that Mark was cared for. The color on Mark's face
was still pale and it made Ryan shiver to think that this could be all they had left.
He lifted Mark's right leg, stretched it to the ceiling, bent it, pushed it back toward Mark and repeated
the process with the other leg. Being a personal trainer, Ryan knew the importance of keeping Mark's
muscles as strong as possible. Mark was religious about his work outs and lying in the hospital bed
was making him weak. He massaged his legs and repeated the stretches.
"Marco, I know you can hear me. I really need you man. Thank you for standing up for me with Layla
and Caleb. I don t know what happened. This woman has gotten me so fucked up in the head. I sure
could use a friend. I need you to wake up."
Ryan shifted his focus to Mark's feet. He bent them up, pointed them down and moved each one side
to side. "I want to kill Caleb. I know how shitty that must have felt for you. I don't know what the
hell is wrong with him. But if I see him, I will kill him. Your life isn't worth this so I need you to
fight. I know you need time. Dr. Turner said even if you wake up, they would put you back in a coma
for pain control. But I know you, man. You are a fighter and I don't want to see you like this."
Ryan repeated the same exercises with the right foot and then sagged into the chair next to the bed.
His eyes filled with tears. "I can't lose you man. It should be me. If anyone should be in the
hospital, it should be me. You stood by me through all of my treatments with cancer." He wiped his
tears away with the back of his hand. "Please don't leave me. I would do anything to take your
place."
Dr. Turner stood in the doorway with her head tilted to the side. Her expression was soft. She
walked into the room and put her hand on Ryan's shoulder. "It's OK, Ryan. I believe he can hear you
too. He knows you are here. Stay as long as you would like. Can I get you anything?"
Embarrassed that he was caught crying, Ryan shook his head no and took Mark's hand. When Dr.
Turner left the room, he bowed his head. "Please God. Mark is the glue that holds us all together.
Please don't take him from us. Don't take him from Sophie when they finally have a chance to be
happy. If you need to take someone, take me instead. You have had so many chances to take me. I am
ready."
He laid his head down on Mark's chest and broke. He shed tears for all the years they had been
family.
Chapter 9
Layla stood at the vending machine buying her hundredth cup of horrible hospital coffee. It had been
three days. Three horrible days of touch and go, code blue, subdural hematoma, multiple surgery
hell. She had slept in a chair, on a couch, on the hard floor, but other than leaving for a shower, Layla
had stayed by Mark s side every minute. She had promised Sophie she would stay. Her sister
needed rest and refused to leave him alone.
Mark was so pale. Cuts and bruises covered his body. Machines breathed for him. Tubes fed him.
His gorgeous green eyes were closed and his smile that lit up a room was gone. He had become her
brother the minute she arrived in LA. Everything about him was home. And no one had ever made
Sophie so happy. Their love was beautiful. She longed to find that same love one day. She had
thought for just a minute that Ryan could be her Mark Moretti. How stupid she had been.
Her mind flashed back to the last minutes she had spent with Mark. The guilt was killing her. If she
hadn t called Ryan, Caleb would not have been comforting her. If Caleb would not have been in her
room, Mark would not have gotten angry. She had tried to make him understand. When he didn t, she
had yelled at him. Her last words to him were hateful. This was her fault.
No. This was Ryan s fault. She had fallen hard for him and he had betrayed her. Now he was
parading his perfect catch in front of all of their friends. He had left for Boston with a promise to
hurry back to her. It had been twelve hours before she was replaced. And the perky, little red head
followed him around like a puppy. She hit the front of the coffee machine.
Is the coffee that bad?
It was her. Go away. Layla grabbed her change and turned to walk down the hall.
Wait, Aria grabbed her arm. Will you sit and talk with me? [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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