Prita shook her head, tried to speak, but couldn’t stop coughing long enough to get the words out.
Worried, Flynn hit the buzzer for the nurse and looked up at Chandra. ‘I’ve called the nurse. You better be gone before she gets here.’
‘But I …’
‘Go. Prita’s not your concern now.’
He hovered for a moment, his mouth working, eyes flashing, but then he nodded. ‘This isn’t finished though, Prita. You know that. I’m going to stay until you’ve come to your senses and come home with me. I won’t even complain if you bring that child—although you should call your father and get him to take on his share of the responsibilities as he should have from the start.’
‘Get out,’ Flynn said, voice shaking with the effort not to yell, to let go of Prita and physically take the arsehole and throw him into the hallway.
Chandra muttered something in a language Flynn didn’t understand, and then almost ran out the door.
The nurse came in a moment later, hurrying over and putting a face mask on Prita to give her more oxygen. ‘Breathe. Slow and steady. That’s right.’
Flynn kept stroking Prita’s back, relieved when she stopped coughing and she began to breathe more easily. ‘Thank you.’
‘What happened?’
Prita went to pull the mask off, but the nurse said, ‘Nuh-uh. You need to breathe properly with no more coughing fits if you want to go home today.’
‘But I—’
‘Uh-uh, no arguing with the nurse or I’ll write this episode up and we’ll see how far that gets you outside that door.’
Prita slipped the mask back into place and waved her hands, indicating she was doing exactly as she was told.
The nurse nodded, a smile flickering on the corners of her mouth. ‘You doctors make the worst patients, I swear.’ She turned with barely taking a breath herself and asked Flynn, ‘Did something upset her?’
‘She had a visitor she didn’t want. I had to ask him to leave.’
‘Good idea. As you know, we need to keep her quiet and relaxed.’
‘Is it okay if I stay with her for a while, though? I don’t think she wants to be alone right now.’
Prita nodded as the nurse looked to her for confirmation.
The nurse smiled and patted his arm. ‘You’re a good boyfriend, Mr Findlay.’
‘I’m not her …’
But he was interrupted by a voice over the intercom calling a code. ‘Crap,’ the nurse said, then made a ‘sorry’ face. ‘I’ve got to go. Buzz again if she has any more difficulties.’ Then she was gone.
Leaving him alone with Prita again. She reached for his hand, squeezed. He understood. She was thanking him. She never needed to do that though. He would do anything for her. She should know that. Although, the way he’d been behaving lately, perhaps she didn’t. Perhaps she shouldn’t. If she had been attacked or molested enough to be turned off men, and yet he’d gone and kissed her anyway, it’s a wonder she wanted him around at all.
Although, the kissing had been mutual. So, whatever had happened to her, it wasn’t something that stopped her from feeling passion. He wanted to ask, needed to ask, or it was going to rob him of the little sleep he already had at this time of year, and yet, how did you ask someone about something like that?
Fuck, why were things so bloody complicated? He longed for the days when he knew what was coming and could face it head on, no complications, no sticky emotions, no bubbling blackness under the surface, threatening to rise and swallow him whole.
And now this. So much about Prita made sense now, and yet, so much was even more complicated.
Instead of saying any of it though, he simply nodded and said, ‘I won’t let him bother you again. You’ll be safe at CoalCliff with me.’
She pushed the mask aside, lips pursed to say something.
‘No,’ he said, trying to take the mask from her and put it back in place. ‘You heard what the nurse said. You shouldn’t talk.’
She shook her head, pushed the mask away again, her lips moving, finger gesturing for him to lean in closer. Giving up arguing the point with her—she could be so bloody stubborn—he leaned down and put his ear near her mouth.
‘You don’t need to. Have me. And Carter. My personal life. Is a disaster zone. Always has been. I don’t want. You to put up. With Chandra too. He won’t stop. Coming around. We’ll find. Something. Else.’
He leaned back and stared into her eyes, his own stubbornness rising to the surface. ‘Like bloody hell you will. You’re coming home with me. No arguments. Now rest, or you won’t be going anywhere else today but this bed.’
She stared at him for a long moment. ‘I’m sorry. For last night.’
His breath left him, like he’d been punched. ‘Me too.’ He knew he should say so much more, but he couldn’t find the words right now, astonished she would apologise to him when he was the one at fault.
Her gaze held his for a moment then she smiled and closed her eyes.
He watched over her as she slipped into sleep, parts of the conversation he’d been witness to sparking and exploding in his mind. But as he sat there, the words that kept coming back again and again were the ones she’d uttered after Chandra had asked her if she loved Flynn. Words that had ached with longing, desperation and pain—‘No. How could I? You know my feelings about that. But I’m entitled to sleep with someone, the same as you.’
Did she mean that? And why was knowing that suddenly the most important question in his mind? And the one that scared him more than the flames?
Chapter 15
‘I’ll get the door for you,’ Flynn said as Reid pulled his 4WD up outside the house Flynn shared with Barb.
‘I’m fine,’ Prita said again for the hundredth time since the doctors had given them
