Middle of Knight by Jewel E. Ann Read Free Book Online Page A

doctor would.”
    AJ looked up at her. “So that’s a no answer yet again to your past.”
    “We’re not talking about my past, we’re talking about—”
    “Well I think we should. It’s a moot point talking about my future that no longer exists. I’ve told you about my past. I think all that’s left to talk about is yours.”
    Anger gripped every nerve as she fisted her hands at her side. It was a low blow. He didn’t need to push her away with her own past.
    “I love you.”
    He shook his head. “You’re reciprocating. I didn’t ask you to say it back. I said it because I needed to make peace between us. You’re saying it because you’re scared and pissed.”
    “I think telling someone you love them after you find out you’re ‘dying’ would be classified as an act of fear or anger, so please don’t feed me this line of bullshit that you had some romantic epiphany about us on a whim.”
    “Are you done?” His face turned to stone, eyes cold.
    She stepped closer until they were toe-to-toe. “I’m just getting started.”
    “I don’t want to hear anymore.”
    “Well. I. Don’t. Care.” She poked his chest with each word. “You have two parents and a son that will be devastated. You don’t enlist in the air force and fight to stay alive to make it home to your family just to turn around and give up. You’re not a fucking coward so stop acting like one.”
    “Six months.” He glared at her.
    “What … what are you talking about?”
    “I saw the oncologist. It’s cancer and he gave me six months to live … with treatment.”
    She stared at his chest. How did his heart feel about that? Hers remained hollow. It had been for many months. Those were crushing words. Luckily, she was safe. No heart. Nothing to crush. But for some reason, his words filled that empty space and formed into something living, beating, and aching so damn bad. How could nothing feel so painfully like something?
    “Now that I have your undivided attention let me tell you the rest.”
    Her head inched side to side. Through a haze of shock her eyes remained fixed to his chest. He had something to live for. You don’t stop fighting if there’s something worth fighting for. She had Jackson, they kept each other alive. One … just one person was enough. How could AJ not see that?
    “Sometimes I get blurred vision, but it’s been easy to relate it to my headaches because they’re so frequent. I don’t remember some things, but I’m getting older so I just figured it was age.”
    The day of his accident he’d forgotten their dinner date. The night he took her for a ride on her Harley he acted confused when she reminded him about his parents and Brooke’s family coming for Cage’s game. Fucking twenty-twenty hindsight.
    He continued. “It’s all going to get worse. I’m taking medication for my headaches and seizures, but it’s not a cure. If I do nothing I could go blind in less than two months. If I agree to radiation and try to squeeze out six months, I could experience worse headaches, nausea, vomiting, extreme fatigue, hearing loss, difficulty with speech and memory, and more seizures. If I become the exception and make it past the six months, then they tack on stroke-like symptoms and poor brain function. The fatigue and medications could lead to erectile dysfunction. No sex.”
    He lifted her chin with his finger, but she would not give him her tears.
    “Sound like fun to you?”
    The strong woman who came in the door vanished, leaving a ghost biting her quivering lip, hating herself for being so weak.
    Her pain softened his rigid scowl of determination.
    “I. Love. You.” His words ripped through the imposter of a heart in her chest. “I’ll do this for you, but you have to know it’s going to feel like the most painful kind of love ever. You need to get that. I would never blame you for turning and walking away. It’s your choice. Are you in?”
    AJ didn’t realize Jillian … Jessica …