Based on the multi-part one-shot series Intimacy in my book Spellbound. With the story kicking up, I felt it needed it's own book. Here is the tale in it's full glory.
She hated hospitals. She hated the smell, the harsh glare of the lights. The clinical atmosphere, but she always knew that sometimes, they were the necessary evil. She lay back against the bed with a huff, fetal monitor strapped to her. As far as the doctors could tell, the baby was perfectly fine. She watched the motion of the growing child on the monitor with both elation and a heavy heart. Not because of her choices, no. But because she felt like she had lost her best friend. Sure they had their ups and downs, but the good times obviously far outweighed the bad. She had never expected someone like Laurent or hell, even Larry to have feelings for her but surprisingly, they both did. It wasn't so very long ago that she was pining over the older Twin, wondering when he would see her for who she was. Wondering when he would give her the time of day she so desperately craved from him. Now that the tables were turned, it was hard to say exactly how she felt. He was a good man who made some seriously dumb mistakes but who in life hadn't made bad choices? That was a part of living, wasn't it? She had forgiven him. Larry had forgiven him and what had turned to be a step in a positive direction, abruptly ended with one piece of good news. She had wanted Lau as the godfather, Larry had even agreed, but what about now?
"Mon frere? Answer the phone, please." It was nearly the millionth time that he had tried calling his Twin, desperately seeking his support and trying to get to the bottom of why his fiance had collapsed. She hadn't been able to tell him yet since the doctors and nurses had fawned over her the instant he had brought her in.
"I doubt he's going to answer, Lar." Amanda admitted, once the last nurse cleared out of the room. "At least not tonight."
"What happened after I left, belle?" He inquired, hanging up his phone and tugging almost anxiously at his afro before sitting down in the chair beside her bed.
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"He was upset, jealous. He admitted that he was in love with me and wished that he was in your place instead of you but that he knew how happy we were together and wasn't willing to break that apart. He told me that he wanted to remain friends but that right now, it hurt him too much to be around me. He left." Her voice broke, tears stinging her eyes. "I lost my best friend, Larry."
"Hey." He stood up from his seat, carefully crawling into the bed beside her. He pulled her into his arms and just held her as she wept, as she sobbed for the man that kept putting her in this emotional position. Only this time, it was a different kind of pain. "Shhh." He coon, pressing his lips against her temple. He held her tightly in his embrace, simply letting her cry. This wasn't the first time he had held her like this as she broke and he knew it wasn't going to be the last. This was what you did when you loved someone. You didn't walk away from them, you embraced them and tried to make things work. Larry felt that; in his eyes, his brother was being a selfish coward. Yes, he was hurting, but didn't he realize he was hurting her too? Again?
His phone rang, breaking up the moment. "I'll be right back, bebe." He slid from the bed and out into the hall. "Oui?"
