Page 194 of Fame & Chaos

“I won’t,” I promise instantly. “I swear.”

Then all we can do is wait.

Four and a half exhausting hours crawl by. Colt, Lia, Annie, Aston, Chad, and Ella eventually arrive after Hux calls them. Everyone’s exhausted, sprawled around the waiting room, half asleep while the sky slowly lightens outside.

Kenzi finally went home after her shift ended. She’d wanted to stay, but once she saw me surrounded by Caleb’s family, she smiled and told me I already had exactly who I needed.

It’s just after eight-thirty in the morning when a gentle hand settles onto my shoulder. “Indi.”

Blinking sleepily, I look up to find Dr. Hamden standing beside me.

“Daniel,” I whisper immediately. “How is he?”

“He’s in recovery now. You can go see him if you’d like.”

Suddenly, nerves slam into me.

What if he doesn’t want me there?

What if he’s angry?

What if I’ve already ruined everything too badly to fix?

But none of that matters.

I need to see him.

Standing carefully, I notice Hux waking nearby.

“He’s in recovery,” I whisper. “I’m just going in.”

“Take your time, sweetheart,” he murmurs sleepily.

I nod before heading down the hallway toward recovery. Every heartbeat feels painfully loud in my chest. Seeing Caleb broken and bleeding earlier shook me in ways I still can’t process. He’s always so perfectly put together. So clean-cut and handsome and polished. Seeing him covered in bruises, cuts, and blood felt deeply wrong somehow.

And now he’ll have a giant scar across his torso from the emergency surgery. Normally, a splenectomy would have been laparoscopic, but they needed to move quickly because of the trauma.

Pushing open the recovery room door, I finally see him lying there quietly asleep. And suddenly, the full reality hits me all over again.

I could have lost him tonight.

Actually lost him forever.

Tears immediately fill my eyes as I walk slowly over to his bedside. Pulling a chair closer, I sit down and carefully take his hand in both of mine. My gaze drifts over the large gauze dressing across his torso, the cuts scattered over his chest and arms, the stitched wound near his forehead, and the tiny nick on his perfect face.

Emotion crashes through me so violently that it steals my breath. Hot tears pour silently down my cheeks while I lower my head carefully onto his chest and cry for the broken man I almost lost.

Chapter Thirty-Four

Caleb

My head feels impossibly heavy, and my body aches with a level of pain I can’t even process. It’s everywhere, but especially on my left side, sharp and brutal enough to make breathing feel like work.

I have no idea what’s wrong with me.

The last thing I remember is being at Aston’s house. Now everything is black, my body won’t cooperate, and all I can hear is loud beeping mixed with dull, muffled noises I can’t quite place. Someone’s holding my hand, I think, but I can’t wake up properly.

Something is badly wrong.