Love Him Desperate (On the Market #5) - E.M. Lindsey Page 0,48

from his thoughts when his phone buzzed, and he didn’t bother looking down, instead reaching for his chair to sit. His bag was attached to the back, and he rolled out the front door, locking up before heading down the path to where Lorenzo was parked.

It was easy to forget sometimes that his friend was absurdly rich, until he rolled up in his sports car with the top down and smiled with his eyes behind his faintly tinted designer glasses. Raphael liked the casual luxury that accompanied Lorenzo everywhere he went. He showed up in Cherry Creek a literal disaster with an invisible barrier between who he was and the man he wanted to be, but Wilder had taken him by the hand and helped him crash through it.

Wilder’s love hadn’t changed the core of who Lorenzo was. It had only helped him discover the person under all the pretending, and Raphael loved them both a little more for it. He smiled at Lorenzo as he stepped into the car, then carefully disassembled his chair and eased it into the back. The door slammed a little too hard, but with Lorenzo’s easy access to cash, he never treated material possessions like they were more precious than the people he loved.

He reserved all of his care for Wilder, and for his few close friends, and Raphael felt treasured in a way he was unaccustomed to. Lorenzo brushed a hand against the back of his neck, then squeezed. “How is it today?”

He was talking about Raphael’s symptoms as a whole. The sleepless nights, the spasms in his legs, the headache, the fatigue. His stomach was already rolling a little, but less than the day before, so he considered it a win.

“We should get lunch after.”

“Hell yeah.” Lorenzo grinned at him and pulled out onto the main road. “What are you hungry for?”

“Anything,” Raphael said, and he felt comfortable being vague knowing Lorenzo wouldn’t choose something he couldn’t eat.

“I’m craving sushi,” Lorenzo said. The wind was high, and the breeze was on the cold side of chilly, so he pushed the button to secure the top, and Raphael breathed a little easier as he felt the blast from the car heater. “Unless something else sounds better.”

“I’m easy,” Raphael said. “I just want to get this appointment over with.”

Lorenzo gave him a look full of pity that Raphael would hate if it had come from anyone else. “How many more after this?”

“Once a month right now, until he’s satisfied it’s a good regiment,” Raphael said, waving his hand. His fingers began to twitch, and he curled them in toward his palm. It had been years since he’d needed surgery to help loosen his tendons, but the other day his foot got stuck in a point and it had taken half an hour of massaging before it relaxed again. It was one of the more recent moments where he knew his grip on this comfortable life was going to change. Recovery and pain were the one thing most people hadn’t seen in Cherry Creek.

And they weren’t permanent. They were just obvious.

“Well, I don’t have shit to do. Simon and Rocco will be here next month, but I think they’re spending most of their time with Levi and James.”

Raphael scoffed. “I’m not going to interrupt family time.”

“I just hope you plan to hang out with us,” Lorenzo said, and Raphael heard the pleading note in his voice. Lorenzo was in love—had found happiness where Rocco had—but he knew Lorenzo always felt small in the shadow of his brother. Even with Wilder’s careful, all-consuming adoration, it wouldn’t erase those self-inflicted scars Lorenzo had dug into himself.

“I have no other plans,” Raphael said, and he meant it.

Lorenzo was quiet after that, and Raphael was grateful he didn’t follow him into the appointment. One of the kinder nurses took his blood, then he got his weight measured and the rest of his vitals done. The appointment was quick and easy—a read of his recent scans said that his brain was responding okay. No change necessary.

No change, except everything else.

No change except the inevitable aging and twisting of his body that would happen no matter who he was or how hard he fought.

He felt old, for the first time in a long time. His face still held a youth that he wore like a mask, but he was in his forties, and he felt aches in his bones that weren’t there before. The sprinkle of grays at his temple were