AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Shh. I’ve got you.”
His deep voice, along with the strong arms wrapped securely around me, gave me the courage I needed to pull myself together. I heard, more than felt, on the monitor as my heart rate began to slow down. The tightness in my belly eased and my head slumped against Luc’s hard chest. I drifted back to sleep listening to the steady rhythm of his heart.
The next time I woke, the nausea was still there, only not quite so overwhelming. Several voices spoke in hushed tones around me and I had to strain to pick up what they were saying.
“Duncan called.” That was Gabe. “They arrested the senator.”
“Serves him right. The arrogant blowhard.”
“Gigi?” I rasped.
Her worried face was hovering over mine a moment later. “Bear. It’s so good to see you awake.”
“What are you doing here?”
“Pft.” She sounded affronted. “Where else would I be?”
Looking around the room, the walls were lined with del Toros standing sentry against a nonexistent threat. The most prominent of all was Luc; his loving gaze burning a hole through my soul. Continuing my exploration, I couldn’t help but smile when I saw Quin and River huddled together next to my bed.
“You scared the shit out of us,” Quin scolded. “Don’t do it again.”
They lunged forward, practically shoving each other out of the way to get to me first. I hugged each of them in turn, tearing up when I remembered how close I came to never seeing them again. My throat was a little sore and I’d probably have a black eye…but I survived.
We all chatted casually, ignoring the elephant in the room, until Caleb came through the door. It was inevitable. I knew he’d have to get my statement at some point, but I’d been hoping for a bit more of a reprieve. For the next fifteen minutes, I explained in great detail, everything which transpired between the time I got in my car at the school and firing the gun.
“Did Joel make it?”
My lip quivered as I waited for a response which never came. It didn’t need to. Their silence and bowed heads were telling.
“Don’t even think about it.” Gigi prowled toward me, a fierce look in her eye. “That man does not deserve one second of the guilt you’re trying to lay on yourself. That…that…”
“Motherfucker.”
“Yes, thank you, Luc.”
“You’re welcome,” he said.
“That M word tried to kill you,” she continued. “You did what you had to do to stay alive. Nothing more. Nothing less.”
“He killed Maxwell,” I cried.
“Yes, Bear, he did.” She sat on the edge of my bed, wiping a tear from under my eye. “And I’m sorry, but your brother chose to live a life in the wrong and he died because of it.”
“She’s right.” Luc took a seat on my other side, pulling my hand into his lap. “You can mourn his loss, but then we move on. Together.”
I nodded, the movement catching on something shiny and rather large attached to my finger, which I was certain hadn’t been there before.
“Uh, Luc?”
“Yeah, Babe.”
“What the hell is that?”
“This?” He raised my left hand, planting a kiss on the emerald cut, diamond ring. “It’s the whole together thing I was just talking about.”
“Were you planning on asking?”
“No.”
