This is it, you guys! I hope you enjoy this. I really wanted to get it out before Drake returns to us tomorrow. Slightly lemony, definitely adult.
***
Blood pooled out of Riley’s stomach. Drake held the wound closed for a second as his heart pounded hard in his ears. No.
Slow footsteps made the floor boards creak behind him. He could see by the reflection on a framed photo that the assailant was pointing the gun towards Riley’s head, shuffling forward. He wanted to finish the job.
Please he thought to himself in silent prayer. Please let this work. With that, Drake turned around and tackled the intruder by the legs.
He yelped in surprise, scrambling as the gun fell with a loud thud on the wooden floor. They battled for a few moments: Drake trying to hold the intruder back, the intruder desperately reaching for the gun.
Finally, Drake managed to kick the gun further away, holding the masked man down by the sheer weight of his large body. “I…won’t…let you get away with this!” his voice strained with exertion.
Drake sat up on the man, punching him solidly in the jaw until he slumped back, unconscious. He pulled off the mask, eyes lingering only for a moment on a face he didn’t recognize.
He shot up, running to Riley. His hands shook as he squeezed her fingertips with one hand and called an ambulance with the other.
***
They carted her into the hospital: she was breathing, but she had lost a lot of blood. That’s what the paramedics kept telling him on the drive, anyway.
Drake cursed. This was the first time he had ever felt bad about how far he lived from town. It had been a long drive from the hospital. He swallowed dryly, hoping the distance wouldn’t make the difference between life and death.
They had asked him to stay in the waiting room. He paced back and forth, one hand on the back of his neck. He had notified Liam, Maxwell and Hana on the drive over but was semi ignoring his phone, reading the texts but not responding. Liam was sending over someone to pick up the assailant on Drake’s living room floor, but it was the furthest thing from his mind.
Riley.
His pacing was getting more and more frantic.
Finally, he couldn’t take anymore. He pushed through the double doors leading to the operating rooms, ignoring the elderly nurse yelling “Sir!” at him repeatedly while running behind him.
“I need to see her,” he admitted out loud to no one in particular. He was trying to sound angry, but his voice wavered, giving him away.
He was practically running past the windows in the hall until something stopped him dead in his tracks. There she was. Through the window on the right.
Her dark hair was fanned around her on the hospital bed. She looked pale; unnaturally, terrifyingly pale.
Drake could feel his heart in his throat. He could see a bloody pan with bullet fragments to her side, and the doctor pulling up fresh bags of blood. It was the same doctor that had treated and discharged Drake just yesterday. It felt like years ago.
The doctor spotted him, signaled to her assistant to continue, and stepped out of the operating room.
Pulling her face mask down, she gave him a sad smile. “Mr. Walker,” she nodded, “we have to stop meeting like this.”
He couldn’t bother with pleasantries anymore. “Is she going to be ok? Give it to me straight.” His eyes flitted between the doctor’s face and Riley’s, not wanting to look away for even a second.
Drake jumped a little when she put a hand on his forearm. “She’s lost a lot of blood.”
He closed his eyes, his head dropping a bit.
“But your wife’s a fighter, Mr. Walker. And we have her blood type available. It’s too early to say for sure, and she’s going to need some time, but she has a good chance.” She patted his arm lightly.
The doctor continued to describe how the bullet managed to miss her vital organs, which was lucky, and how they both should really take better care of themselves, but Drake could hardly hear her. He just knew that whatever he had to do, however many days it would take, he’d be there.
***
Days progressed and Riley’s condition improved. She woke up soon after the bullet removal and transfusion, but was mostly listless on pain medication.
Drake spent days sitting by her side, reading to her from some of the books from Liam’s library. He wasn’t sure she was always listening, but he felt in his core that it helped, somehow. Maybe it helped him more than Riley. When she slept, he alternated between staring at her (to make sure she was breathing) and walking around to the shops in vicinity of the hospital.
He’d linger at the shops, looking at things Riley would like. Some of the things Riley deserved. She deserved everything. He couldn’t give her a kingdom like Liam, no, but he could make her feel an abundance of love for as long as she would let him.
As the days progressed, she was getting more and more lucid. The doctor said she was basically in the clear now, and Drake felt so happy his heart could burst.
He knocked on the door for a second before heading into her room, a small box of lo mein in his hands from the Chinese restaurant half a mile away.
“Delivery for Brooks!” he nearly walked into Hana as he made his way to the hospital bed.
“Sorry Drake,” Hana giggled, “I was just heading out. See you soon, Riley!”
Drake and Hana nodded to each other politely, before she clicked the door closed behind her. “Hey beautiful,” he breathed. He meant it: her face was looking more and more like Riley the more she recovered.
“Hey, Walker! What do you have for me today?”
“Your favorite,” he handed her the box of noodles, “I asked them to make it extra spicy this time. But you know, Cordonians aren’t exactly known for their spice tolerance.”
She squealed, grabbing the box and digging in, her mouth practically bulging with lo mein. “Fank yoo!”
He chuckled. Hospital food really did suck. “Listen, Brooks…. There’s something I want to talk to you about.”
Sensing the seriousness in his voice, she put the box of food down and swallowed. “Shoot.”
He walked towards her bed, kissing her tenderly on the forehead, his eyes searching hers.
“I just…. before you got shot, I said something. I need you to know, Brooks….Riley. I need you to know what you mean to me. How much I love you.” Her face was unreadable as he continued, “I don’t expect anything back, and hell, I’m happy with whatever you give me. But I need to know how you feel.”
He paused, trying to maintain eye contact. He wanted badly to look away until she responded, but he held strong. She stared at him, impassive for a few seconds. He finally noticed that her eyes were glistening. “Drake,” she breathed, “you have to know by now how much I love you.”
His heart felt like it was about to explode. “Brooks, I—“
She held her hand up. “Let me finish. While I’d never say that what we’ve been through recently has been….good,” she shuddered, “I think we can at least safely say that we’d both take a bullet for each other. Oh, Drake, how could you not know how much I love you?”
He closed his eyes, feeling more at peace than he ever had. “Well, since…since that’s how you feel…..”
He saw Riley’s eyes widen as he pulled out a box from his pocket. “I’ve been walking around the shops a lot when you’ve been sleeping. And I kept….I kept coming back to this.”
He opened the box slowly, looking away, hoping she’d like it as much as he did. It was a round cut ruby ring with a thin rose gold band.
Her eyes moved back and forth, from the ring to his face, “Drake?”
He squeezed one of her hands, “it reminds me of the first time you dressed up for court. The masquerade?” she nodded, “you wore that red devil dress. I didn’t really know you yet, but that was the first time I knew you’d be trouble.”
He smiled before continuing, “And I know…I know I should get down on one knee. But it doesn’t make sense because your hospital bed is so high, and---“
She cut him off by pulling him into a hard kiss. He held her face with his hands, deepening the kiss, not minding the salty taste of her tears.
“I love it. And….yes,” she breathed, “I mean, mostly just because the hospital staff thinks we’re married anyway.”
He grinned at her, kissing her again. “I know it’s crazy. We’ve only known each other a few months but…. two near death experiences later and-“ he shrugged, “-when you know, you know.”
***
After a few minutes of (somewhat wet) kissing, they were interrupted by a quick knock on the door, “Hello!” Liam’s voice rang through. Drake walked towards Liam and hugged him tightly, picking him up a little.
“Whoa, whoa!” Liam laughed, “what’s going on?”
“She said yes, Liam! You’re officially on best man duty.” He cupped his shoulder hard with his hand.
Liam broke out into a grin, “Did she like the ring?” Riley look puzzled, “he only showed it to me 80 times, planning the proposal over and over.”
Riley smiled at Drake. It seemed like the weirdness with Liam was finally gone.
She loved seeing them together. She loved seeing Drake smile even more. Seeing him the last few days, how horribly he felt with her in the hospital, how sad he was…. she just couldn’t do it again.
“And,” Riley continued, grabbing Drake’s hand, “We’re going to move back to New York together!”
Drake looked shocked for a moment, before a knowing smile broke out on his face. “Yes,” he looked at Riley, his eyes thankful. He squeezed her hand, “yes, we are.”
***
Epilogue: 1 year later
The plane shook mercilessly. Drake squeezed Riley’s hand a little, his breathing a little shaky. She couldn’t help but smile at him.
It was hard to believe that her giant, brave, muscular husband was a little afraid of flying. After a year of moving to New York, going back to Greece for the wedding, and traveling all over Europe for their honeymoon (a gift from Liam, on his private jet), you’d think he’d be used to flying.
She kissed his cheek tenderly, “turbulence is normal, love. Don’t worry.”
He smiled at her weakly, “I’m fine!” the slight waver in his voice giving him away. “I’m just going to head to the restroom for a minute.”
She watched as he carefully stepped down the aisle and shut the airport lavatory door behind him. She chuckled, knowing exactly what he was doing. Whenever he was nervous, he splashed his face with water.
Leaning back in her seat, she sighed. The last year had been a whirlwind. After the two attacks on her life, Riley had turned down the duchy Liam had offered her, opting instead to open up a stable with Drake in upstate New York. They had started out in New York City, but moved to a cabin further north, away from “too many fucking people,” as Drake so eloquently put it.
Today they were finally heading back to Cordonia. It had been a year since they left, and even though they were happy, Riley knew Drake missed the apples, the warm weather, and Liam.
A month ago, the Liam’s guards had finally caught the organization responsible for all of the attacks against Riley. After a lot of reassurance from Liam, Drake was finally ok with going back, just for a visit. After all, Walker Stables had a lot of kids waiting for horse riding lessons when they got back to the states.
She knew Liam would offer them a duchy again, asking them to come back. But she also knew they’d say no. A simple life, horses, the trees, each other – that was all they needed.
Plus, she wasn’t sure she’d want to raise a child at court. Riley felt her stomach tentatively. She had just taken a pregnancy test that morning, and it came back positive. She hadn’t told Drake yet, wanting to wait for the flight to be over so he could hear the news without anxiety.
She smiled to herself. They never did get much better at using birth control.
Turning around, she wondered why Drake still hadn’t come back. Most of the passengers were asleep on the transatlantic portion of their flight, so she tiptoed to the bathroom and knocked on the door.
Drake opened the door with a perplexed look on his face, easing into a smile when he saw it was Riley. “Walker,” he whispered, stroking her face with his hand, “I’ll be out in just a minute, don’t worry.”
She grinned at him, “I just thought you could use some company,” she pushed him in with her, locking the door and winking at him.
“What?” his eyes widened with surprise.
“I just thought you could use something to relax you.” She unceremoniously pulled down his pants and crouched down.
“Come on, this is….” He interrupted himself by groaning loudly.
She held him in her hands before running her tongue over the length of him. Taking his base in her hands, she put him in her mouth completely, running her fingers and mouth from base to tip.
She continued for a few minutes before he pulled her up, hard against his lips. He kissed her deeply before pulling back and smirking, “it’s always kind of weird when you taste like me,” he pulled her up to the sink before yanking down her leggings, “but I can deal.”
He put his hands behind her head, a barrier between her and the bathroom mirror. He pushed into her with a moan, making quick work of moving in and out. His lips stayed on her in a loose kiss to keep them quiet, Riley gasping into his mouth as they finished together.
She kissed him softly as he set her down, off of the sink. “Do you think we’ll ever get tired of that?”
He thought seriously for a moment. “No. I don’t.”
She pulled her leggings up from around her ankles and smacked him on the shoulder. “Even if I’m huge and cranky?” her thoughts returned to the pregnancy test.
He looked at her seriously before laughing, “even then!”
They opened the lavatory door cautiously, making their way back to their seats. If anyone had heard them, they weren’t making it known.
At their seats, Riley leaned her head on Drake’s shoulder, feeling his cheek slump to the top of her head as he fell into a peaceful slumber. She giggled as he started snoring softly.
She looked out of the window, contemplative in the darkness. They were going back to see their friends. But she knew, at the end of the day, it always came down to Drake. Drake and her. A family. A unit. The baby would just add to that, a living manifestation of the love they shared.
She imagined them as parents, feeling her pulse quicken with the thought. She inhaled sharply. Especially without much support around in New York, transitioning to a family of three wouldn’t be easy. Sleeping Drake instinctively wrapped his arms around her, pulling her closer and sighed. She exhaled. No matter what, he would be there for her. And she would be there for him.
He was the gust of fresh air in the stagnant, still life she lived before she moved to Cordonia. Every now and then, when something seemed scary or difficult, she simply needed to feel that air billowing around her and breathe.
Just breathe.
****
Thanks for joining me on this journey! <3
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