Page 53 of Striking
“I’d love to.” I drop a kiss on the top of her head and guide her through the back door my security just entered. Doing something quietly as crown prince was tricky. As king, it’s going to be close to impossible.
“Your Highness,” nurse Amily Jones curtsies and smiles, her sharp brown eyes quickly tracking Bellamy’s arm in mine, and if I’m not mistaken, the rings on her finger, but she doesn’t say a word. “It’s good to see you again. The kids missed you last week. But those X-Boxes you had delivered were a huge hit.”
“Thank you, Amily. I had hoped to get here at some point, but?—”
“You’re here now.” Amily looks at the tablet in her hands. “And if you don’t mind me suggesting it, I think Linus could really benefit from seeing you.”
“Linus? I thought he was going home.” I know he was supposed to be going home.Fuck.
Amily forces a fake as fuck smile. “He’s hanging in, but I think a pop-in from you could brighten his day.”
“I can wait here...” Bellamy offers as she steps back, but I refuse to let go of her arm.
“No, love. I want you to meet him.” With a quick nod to Amily, Bellamy and I head to the fourth floor where Linus has been in and out of care for two years
“The Gwendoline Windsor Pediatric Cancer Wing,” Bellamy reads aloud as we push through the swinging doors.
I shrug, a move Mum would have hated. “It seemed like the right thing to do. It was the first official act of the foundation.”
“I didn’t know her, but I have a feeling she would have loved knowing the first thing you did was help the kids.” My wife tucks herself into my side, and together, we walk through Linus’s open door.
“Rhys,” Linus laughs as Bellamy and I walk through the door. “I thought maybe now that you’re wearing the crown, your head might be too big to fit through the door.”
“Don’t be a little shit just because I have a pretty girl with me.” I step aside and enjoy the pretty flush on Bellamy’s cheeks as she stands in front of me.
“Hi, Linus.”
Linus sits up straighter, like any fifteen-year-old boy would if he saw someone as beautiful as my wife in his room. He looks at her, then smiles at me. “Did you get a girl, Rhys?”
Very few people in the world feel comfortable enough to call me Rhys, but when this kid does, I fucking love it.
Before I can answer, Bellamy giggles and sits on the edge of Linus’s bed. “He kind of did get a girl...”
“Look, I know he’s a king and all, but his boring ass is just a little too old for you. Now me, on the other hand... I’m young and hot, and one day I’m going to get out of this hospital.”
Little fucker.
But she laughs again, so I’ll let it slide.
And when she slides her hand into mine, I might actually feel like a real king.
“You know...” She smiles sweetly at Linus. “I was stuck in a hospital a lot like this one when I was close to your age.”
Linus’s entire posture changes. As if the oxygen in the room just disappeared. “What were you in for?”
He asks the question like she did time in prison, but Bellamy’s smile never falters. “Acute lymphoblastic leukemia... You?”
“Hodgkin lymphoma. And lucky me, my kidneys haven’t reacted well to any of the treatments, so now I’m on a donor list too.”
“You know.” She leans in and whispers, like the two of them are in cahoots. “You and I... we’re the same.”
Linus chuckles and looks at me. “She knows she’s a girl, right?”
I shrug and move closer to my wife.
“We’re survivors, Linus. I got through this, and you will too. And if you’ll let me, I’d love to be here for you while you’re going through hell.”
All the bravado he’s put on drops in that moment, and Linus’s shoulders slump in front of us. “Were you scared?”
