My hands clenched the metal bed rails, my knuckles turning white.“He can still wake up.”
“I’m afraid not. They expect him to die any…second…now.”
As the final word left her mouth, the machine started beeping frantically. Rob’s alarmed gaze darted around.“No, not yet, Tristan! I’m not ready to let you go yet.”
He fell over Tristan’s body, sobbing as doctors and nurses rushed in. More tears slid down my cheeks, and I tried to steptoward the bed where the doctors were doing God only knew what around Tristan, but my feet wouldn’t move.
The room began to fade away. Panicked, I met Danielle’s gaze as the frantic beeping from the machine turned to one long beep, and Rob’s wails of despair intensified.
“Please, tell me it’s not too late,”I cried, forcing the words out. I didn’t care if I lost the business or lost my house; hell, I would have given away every cent to my name if it meant Tristan didn’t die.“Please, I beg you, I can’t lose him. I love him. I can’t live without him.”
But Danielle didn’t answer.
Ben
“Please!”
I bolted upright, my heart pounding furiously against my rib cage, beads of sweat trickling down my back. I blinked several times against a bright light, the vision lingering in my head as fear crawled through my veins.
Not Tristan. He couldn’t die.
I couldn’t lose him.
The image of him in the hospital bed with the tube down his throat and the machine flatlining floated in front of me, and I jumped to my feet, my knee banging against something. A table. My coffee table in my living room.
Daylight streamed through the new glass doors as I glanced around, making sure I was seeing correctly. The freshly painted wallsthatTristan had taken great care over, the hinges drilled into the wall, ready for the new TV to be hung. The scent of the man I loved hanging in the air.
I was home, not in the God-awful shithole.
When my gaze landed on my phone sitting on the table, I grabbed it, a mix of confusion and relief rushing through me. The display showed it was 10 am on 25th December 2026. Danielle had saidthatthe vision was my future one year from now. Which meant Rob hadn’t lost his home, his wife or his daughters, and Tristan wasn’t dead.
Before I could comprehend what I was doing, I stormed to the foyer, grabbing my car keys, and sprinting outside. Danielle might have saidthatI’d blown my chance at changing my future, but I wasn’t going to go down without a fight.
I would make sure Rob didn’t lose his home, his wife, and his daughters, and I would make surethatI wasn’t going to lose Tristan.
I probably committed a whole bunch of traffic violations on the way to the Crutchens’ house, but I didn’t care. I needed to see Tristan. I needed to make sure he wasn’t hurt, and I needed to tell him how Ireallyfelt.
I was done being scared. The thought of losing him terrified me more than anything. More than what people I didn’tevenknow thought about me.
The car screeched to a halt, and I leaped out of the car, jogging up the garden path and damn relieved to see there was no‘For Sale’sign outside. Pounding my fists against the door, my heart raced. The door was tugged open by Rob, whose expression changed from confused to surprised, to anger in the space of a few seconds.“Mr. McScroodge-”
“Is Tristan here?”I took a step forward, not waiting to be invited in, my need to see Tristan getting the better of me.
Rob raised a hand, pressing it against my chest as he squared his shoulders. If I wasn’t so damn out of my mind, I would have been proud of him for finally standing up to me, but he was now stopping me from getting to the one person I needed.“I don’t think that’s a good idea. In fact, I think you should leave.”
“Rob, please,”I begged, attempting to rein in my frustration and not allow my hands to ball into fists.“Ireallyneed to talk to him.”
“And I said no.”
He went to close the door, and I acted without thinking, my hand whipping out to stop the door from shutting.“Bug, can you hear me?”I called out, looking over Rob’s shoulder into the small hallway, and hoping Tristan was inside somewhere.“I’m sorry, Bug. I’m so fucking sorry for what I said yesterday. I didn’t mean a word of it, I wasjustso fucking scared.”
My voice broke as tears stabbed my eyes. Rob gaped at me, his eyes filled with sympathy. I took several steps back from the door, looking up at the upstairs window and realizing the commotion had caused several neighbors to open their front doors and peek out.
“Bug, please,”I hollered, raising my voice in hopesthathe was upstairs and could hear me. I had no clue where in the house his bedroom was, but I stared at the only window at the top of the house.“That’s the truth, I was scared of what people thought, but I don’t care. I don’t care if people know I’m gay.”I spread my arms wide, opening my chest.“I’m gay!”I laughed, feeling like a weight hadjustbeen lifted from my shoulders.“And I want the world to knowthatI’m so fucking in love with Tristan CrutchensthatI can’t breathe without him!”
“You love me, huh?”
I spun around, my heart soaring. Tristan stood at the end of the garden path, wrapped up in a scarf and thick winter jacket, Holly and Ivy flanking him. Both girls were on shiny scooters, and the two of them wore identical grins as they stared at me.
