Twenty-Four

Three weeks later…

Happy new month! We at Gracecomics—

She pressed the delete icon and tossed her phone in she couldn't care less in the somewhere hopefully far away region of her sitting room and grabbed her new bestie, the latest bucket of ice cream she'd opened that morning.

Whoever had decided ice cream was comfort food was a freaking genius. So, her problems weren't melted away by the yummy, sinful thing but at least it gave Legend other things apart from the fact that her heart was in tatters to think about.

Like her weight.

She pressed play on the rerun of KUWTK that her phone had interrupted and watched Kim be a bitch to her sisters while wondering why the jerks at Gracecomics were still pestering her. Wasn't it enough that they'd turned down her masterpiece and rendered her jobless? Yup, her story had come in second and if she hadn't been broken before she had gotten the news, that would have fucked up pretty bad.

She was at least thankful that she had more than enough money to live on until she got her shit together—which was going to take a loooong time if Ben and Jerry's had anything to say about it—and enough money to pay Burt for rewiring her house.

Raph had suggested writing her a check, but Legend had flat-out refused. It was one thing to get dumped by the man you loved, but it was another thing to take a check from him like you were some kind of prostitute.

Raph.

She should probably hate him, but she couldn't help but heave a sigh of relief when she had heard that the crazy guy who'd planned the car accident had been arrested. Turns out, the Russian police had been on his ass for years and had gathered enough evidence to put the motherfucker away for years. No Sersha, no danger to Raph and that made her happy. Then sad, because he would probably be celebrating that with Maryanne. Then happy, because he was happy.

She was a hot mess.

Going back to what was happening on TV, she caught Khloe in a passionate lip lock with one of her flames and sighed, pondering what it was like to be Khloe Kardashian. She bet no man had ever dumped her and told her she didn't love them.

She grabbed a Kleenex and casually dabbed at her eyes like this wasn't the fifth time she was crying that day because of him and it was only morning.

Maybe he's right.

There went her head again, trying to support Raph, like it always did. She could write a book about traitorous body parts. She had two—three, if you counted her eyes that just won't stop leaking tears.

You didn't love him.

Of course I did, she thought fiercely. I still do.

Yeah, crying on the floor after he told you to go and parking your bags meekly two hours later shows just that.

So, she was really ashamed of the crying part but didn't see anything wrong with the leaving part. The guy had told her to go because ‘It wasn't working anymore' and ‘you're still in love with my evil brother'. What was she supposed to do, grab his leg and refuse to leave him until he gave her a reason that was sensible to them both?

Her brain rolled its eyes.

Hooooly shit, that was exactly what she should have done.

She felt she'd just been in a math test where the answer was hovering just at the edge of her mind, only for her to hand in her paper right before it came rushing in like someone had finally pushed it into the limelight.

She should've proven to Raph that he was worth fighting for. Because he was and he didn't know that because he'd been hurt by Maryanne—she prayed he hadn't gone back to that witch—and his brother.

She didn't even help matters with all the careless comments she'd made about Logan to get him jealous and the way she'd waited a little too late to tell him that she loved him.

She was miserable, he was miserable, hopefully, and she was done running away from what she felt for him. So she opened her mind to it, and it was so big and so beautiful that it caused her dead heart to swell. It made her realize that they were worth a chance. She didn't care if she was in this alone—though she would be really happy not to be—she just had to tell him, had to risk it, and if he didn't want her, she could at least say she'd tried.

Having made that firm resolution, she decided to go take her first shower in a week and come up with a plan that involved getting eyedrops for her red eyes and getting her man back to prevent more of the red eyes. She was in love love, and it felt good. So good that she smiled. And whooped. And danced around the house.

And called someone to help her pull an intervention.

Because that's what you do when you're crazy about someone: you pull an intervention.

The Get Raph Back plan as formulated by Legend, who didn't even help much, Cherise, the cute genius, and Helene, Raph's birth-giver and evil mastermind:

1. Get closure. Go talk to Logan. See if you still, maybe love him and try to forgive him.

2. Listen to Helene's incredulous story on why Raph ‘dumped' you. Try not to freak out while listening.

3. Get a haircut, treat yourself to a whole week of spa. You need it.

4. Start texting Raph again. Get used to his grumpiness all over again. (Something tells us he won't text you back.)

5. Agree to go to the brunch Helene is hosting next week. (Note: look hot.)

6. Profess your love for him, yada, yada.

7. Be happy. We love you.

One week later…

Raph was crazy.

That was what happened when the love of your life, who BTW, you dumped in an attempt to protect her life starts sending you messages and cat videos after not contacting you for three weeks.

It was what happened when you couldn't get enough sleep because of said love so you become an ogre to everyone in the office.

It was what happened when your brother suddenly saw the light and apologized for making the thirty-two years of your life miserable simply because he was jealous of you. This one had him shook to the core. Apparently, his mother had had a long talk with Logan and he'd had a come-to-Jesus moment.

It was what happened when your ex who you caught riding your brother like a wave in your office all those years ago crawls alongside your brother to grovel for forgiveness and also apologize for showing up at your family dinner and making the love of your life uncomfortable. She had wanted to worm her way back into his life.

It was what happened when you feel like you simply don't have the zest to live anymore so you start thinking of selling your billion-dollar tech company to the highest bidder.

It was what happened when your mum invites you to a family brunch with a mischievous look in her eye and you're foolish and miserable enough to let her drag you, only to find the love of your life present at the brunch and pointedly ignoring you, favoring your brother's company to yours.

Raph could go on forever, but he wanted to take a break and try to figure out what she was doing here.

God, she looked good. She'd gotten a new haircut and had taken the color out of her hair, leaving her natural brunette. She was attired in a tank top that hugged all her curves and jeans that clung to her hips the way he wanted to cling to them.

She caught his eye and he sucked in a deep breath as those blues warmed him up. Then she flicked her gaze back to Logan and laughed at something he'd said.

Raph felt himself get hot for a different reason. When did they become BFFs anyway? This was the guy who'd used her and dumped her, for Chrissakes.

That sounds like you, too.

Ouch. At least he'd had a good reason to leave her; he had been protecting her. Logan had left her because, according to him, he had been going through a rough phase and hadn't known what was good for him then.

Fuck this. He stood and moved to where they sat, ignoring his mother's warning eyes.

"May I speak to you for a minute?" He stuffed his hands in his pockets to refrain from grabbing her and kissing those lips she had pursed in disdain.

"No, you may not," she murmured without sparing him a glance as she grabbed a scone off her plate.

Well, too bad.

He lifted her off the chair and over his shoulder, ignoring her gasp of outrage and striding out the room. He caught his mother's smile and his father's wink.

He took the stairs two at a time while he listened to her rant about how she was going to crucify him once she got her hands on him.

He set her carefully on her feet in his childhood bedroom and watched her sputter before he grabbed her and kissed her and poured every ounce of feeling into the kiss.

She tasted just as he remembered, spicy, sweet and everything in between. She moaned when he slipped his tongue into her mouth and her fingers ran through his hair as her tongue dueled with hers, tasting, teasing, slowly thrusting and withdrawing.

Raph broke the kiss.

"Goddamnit." He pressed his forehead against hers, listening to her take shallow breaths.

"Raph, I.."

"Before you say anything," he cut her off. "I'm sorry that I hurt you and I enjoyed your cat videos and your texts, even if they were some sort of revenge.

I thought I was trying to protect you, but the truth was I was scared, too scared, to believe that you could love me, so I decided to push you away. I should've told you about Maryanne, told you about Sersha. We could've faced all of that together."

He took a shaky breath. Legend was watching him with an inscrutable expression on her face but at least, she was quiet which meant he could continue.

"But I'm tired of being scared. I want to be the man you wake up every morning with Frank Sinatra songs and dress up in Shakira skirts—" a little smile at that—"the guy who you read comics with and debate about the superiority of DC with. The guy who'll bring you cool stuff that we'll figure out together over the gunk that I cook up. I'll understand if I'm too late, but I really hope I'm not because I love you, Legend Freeman."

Silence. Lengthy silence that made Raph sweaty then—

"You were right."

"About what? "

"I didn't love you back then."

"Leg—"

"You've said yours, let me say mine." He shut his mouth obediently.

Legend sat on the floor and patted the space next to her. He sat apprehensively.

She played with the rug for a few minutes, heightening the suspense before she faced him.

"If I had loved you, I wouldn't have accepted defeat so easily. Love recognizes itself in another person. If I had loved you, I would've seen what you were trying to do. I would've pushed you when you were hinting at my being in danger. But I didn't because I was blind."

"Raph, I think I fell in love with the guy who saw me in the bathroom brawling my eyes out and consoled me. Who defended me at a coffee shop and insisted we be friends. The same guy who took me in when I had nowhere to go, who made sure I was taken care of.

I'm saying I love you, Raph, because I do."

Raph grinned, then kissed her again and again and again, swallowing up her giggle of euphoria.

"We need to get downstairs."

"Not yet." His hand snaked up her back and carried her off the floor. He deposited her on the bed.

"What would your parents say?" She groaned in a last-ditch effort to persuade him to stop as he stripped her shirt off and exposed her beautiful breasts to his gaze.

"They'd say we're having make up sex and they wouldn't be wrong."

She laughed. He'd missed that sound. He planned to savor it for the days to come.

"God, I love you woman."

"I love you too, weirdo."