Outside the room, someone spoke, “Emily, you should let them have a moment. Remember what Benji said. Maybe this is the guy.”
I cocked an eyebrow at him, and he shrugged.
The petite woman from earlier barged in after that and announced that someone would be in shortly to discharge him, right before she looked at me expectantly.
“Hi. I’m Lucas Gambit.”
She marched up to me and stuck her hand out in front of her. “Emily Dixon. Benji is my idiotic brother. Thank you for helping him yesterday. Lord knows his friends didn’t do shit.”
“Em,” Benji whined, and it made my grin broaden a little more.
“What? Only an idiot would drink tequila and then think fucking a vacuum was the best idea ever. For someone with a genius-level IQ and a photographic memory, sometimes you are the stupidest person I know,” she snapped. I liked her.
“Wow. Really?” I commented.
“Yeah. 197,” he grumbled as if he hated admitting it, and I noticed Emily’s expression softened.
“Benji, I brought you some clothes. You should be able to change. I grabbed you some sweatpants and a tee. We’ll wait out here for you. The nurse should be here any time.” Emily waved everyone out of the room and shut the door. “Sorry about that,” she said, meeting my gaze. “He’s weird about his IQ. Most guys get sick of him being smarter than them, and others tell him that he is boring and emotionless. He isn’t. You just have to get to know him. He shows his feelings more than he says it. He was going to propose to his last boyfriend, but before he could ask, the asshole broke up with him. Turns out, asshole had been sleeping with someone else for a good part of their relationship. Benji was heartbroken and threw himself into his work. My brother is a good man, but if you aren’t actually interested or don’t like quirky, then don’t get involved and don’t hurt him. I will fuck you up.”
“I imagine you could. I am interested, and I can’t even tell you why, but I want to get to know him more,” I told her truthfully.
Epilogue
Benji — One Year Later
I dropped the box I carried into our new house and fell onto the sofa. Boxes and crap littered the open space. I was hot, sweaty, and dirty, and not in a good way, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t for a good cause. Moving day. After a year together, I’d finally agreed to move in with Lucas. He was supposed to be a distraction, someone fun to play with to scratch the itch, and he became so much more. He got me the way no one else did, not even Emily.
I never thought I would find someone who loved me, accepted me, and thought my mind was sexy instead of a burden. Lucas was different, which made me luckier than many. He was everything I looked for and never found before him, and he loved me back.
“Taking a break already?” Lucas asked, spinning around, searching for a place to drop the box he lugged into the house. Eventually, we were going to have to sort through everything, but that could happen later.
“I needed a little break. Why didn’t we hire movers?”
“I suggested that, and you said, ‘Why spend the money when we could do it ourselves?’” Lucas dropped beside me.
“Right, but when I’d said that, I fully expected Emily, Cliff, my parents, a couple of your friends, and Chuck to help me. I wasn’t expecting to go out to dinner with everyone and food poisoning to hit them all. Thank god, we decided to leave before dinner was served.”
“No joke.” He shook his head and cringed. All of them, all eight of them, were sick and currently best friends with the toilet. The whole restaurant got the illness, and it made headlines today. We survived because we decided sex was more important than food. My sister joked that we were young, dumb, and full of cum, which had made my mother turn a bright shade of red.
I leaned against him, uncaring that he was as sweaty as I was. This is where I belonged, where I wanted to be for the rest of my life, here in his arms. The man had saved me in more ways than one the day he rammed his way into my life.
Digging into my pocket, I pulled out a ring and held it up so he could see it. I turned my head so I could look at him. “I don’t know if you realize it or not, but you saved me that day when I decided to experiment with the vacuum. You called the ambulance that got me to the hospital, but you did so much more than that. You showed me that I deserve love, that I could be loved, and that someone does want me. I’ve become more rounded and a better man because of you, and I promise I will be graduating soon. No more school. It’s time to grow up and become an adult. Lucas, will you stand beside me, grow up together with me, and continue saving me for the rest of our lives?”
He took in a shaky breath and released it. “Yes! I love you!” His lips were suddenly on mine.
When we broke apart, our foreheads leaning against each other, I grabbed his left hand and slid the ring on it, kissing him when it settled onto the base of his finger. “I love you too. Any boxes still in the truck?”
Shaking his head, Lucas said, “No.”
“Then I think we need to start christening this place,” I suggested, biting his bottom lip.
“I couldn’t agree more!” He pushed me back and crawled over me. “I think it’s time for some special physical therapy.”
About Maria Vickers
Maria Vickers is a bestselling and award-winning author who currently resides in St. Louis, MO with her pug, Spencer Tracy. She has always had a passion for writing and after she became disabled in 2010, she decided to use writing as her escape. She believes that life is about what you make of it, you have to live it to the fullest no matter the circumstances.
From a young age, she has always loved books and even dreamed of being an author when she was younger. Growing up in the Navy, she used to weave tales for her siblings and her friends about anything and everything. And when she wasn't creating her own stories, she had a book in her hand. They transported her to another world. With her books, he hopes her readers have the same experience, and that they can relate to her characters.
Getting sick changed her life forever, but it also opened doors for her that she thought would always be out of reach.
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Misdirection
Cassia Brightmore
An unprecedented pandemic.
A growing criminal threat.
In the midst of chaos, new love was born. Now, all they have to do is survive.
— Misdirection
Misdirection
Prologue
“Misdirection. What the eyes see and the ears hear, the mind believes.”
~John Travolta
Trust.
The most fragile bond in a relationship. Once earned, it becomes as precious as gold; as dangerous as a bomb.
Once lost, it’s rarely recovered.
To trust is to take a leap of faith.
And sometimes, leaps can be fatal.
Chapter 1
A thin layer of smoke floated through the air in the darkened nightclub, forming a forbidden pair with the steady pump of music resonating around the room. Red and black velvet chairs surrounded a small stage, a few men scattered around the tables awaiting the next talent that would take the stage.