Page 41 of Rescuing Sadie

“I love you,” Chase gasped. It was the only thing he could think to say. He hadn’t told her earlier, but at that moment, lying on the ground, he knew.

“Oh my God, Chase!” Sadie repeated. Her hand came to rest on his cheek, and Chase tried to smile at her. He loved her touch. His eyes closed.

“No, Chase! Don’t close your eyes!” Sadie said desperately.

He opened his eyes and looked up into the panicked ones of the woman he loved. “Say it back,” he demanded.

She shook her head. “No. Not now. When you’re better. You have to hang on if you want to hear me say it.”

Chase’s brows furrowed. He needed to hear the words from her mouth. He knew he was dying. He couldn’t breathe and something was seriously wrong with his side. He hadn’t gotten a good look at it, but it was bad. He knew. “Please,” he begged, breathlessly.

Tears coursed down Sadie’s face, but she stubbornly shook her head. “No. You fight to stay with me and I’ll say the words every day for the rest of our lives!”

Chase heard a commotion off to his side but didn’t take his eyes off of Sadie’s. Everything was fading away, but still he couldn’t tear his gaze from hers. Her eyes looked even more beautiful highlighted by her tears. “Jonathan won’t hurt you again.”

“I know, you saved me,” Sadie said.

She moved from his side to the top of his head, and he arched his neck to keep his eyes on hers. He vaguely heard people talking above him but didn’t understand what they were saying. Someone was pulling at his shirt, but again, all his focus was on Sadie.

“I love you,” he repeated in a croak. “I’d do anything to keep you safe.”

“Then fight for me,” was her response. “Don’t give up!”

Chase opened his mouth to answer, but the darkness creeping in from the sides of his eyes was too much to fight. The last thing he remembered as the blackness overcame him was the sound of sirens in the distance.

He relaxed. The cavalry was coming. Sadie would finally be safe.

* * * *

Later—he had no idea how much time had passed—Chase’s eyes opened into slits. Everything hurt, he couldn’t move, and he was confused as hell. But the second his eyes opened, Sadie’s face came into view.

“Chase?”

He opened his lips but nothing came out. They were too dry and he didn’t have an ounce of spit in his mouth.

“I love you.”

Sadie’s words settled into his soul.

“You hear me, Chase? I love you. You kept your end of the bargain. Your heart stopped twice in surgery, but you didn’t give up. I love you. I think I have since the second I crashed into you at Bexar.”

Chase stared up into the hazel eyes he loved more than anything on this earth. He opened his mouth once more, to try to tell Sadie that she was his reason for living. That he’d fight the devil himself if it meant he got to come back to her, but before he could do more than croak, her lips were on his.

It was a short kiss. Dry. Merely a touch of her lips to his. But it was the best kiss he’d had in his life.

She pulled back and rested her palm on his chest. “Sleep, Chase. I’ll be here when you wake up. I love you.”

His eyelids shut, and with her words echoing in his brain, he did as she ordered and slept.

Epilogue

Chase leaned heavily against the wall and simply watched Sadie. She was in his kitchen putting dishes away. She’d taken over as if she’d always lived there. She’d been a godsend, not only helping to take care of him after he’d gotten out of the hospital, but taking care of the everyday things that he couldn’t because of his injury.

He’d missed everything that happened after he’d passed out on the ground outside Fletch’s house.

The cops, firefighters, and EMTs had shown up en masse. They’d put the fire out fairly quickly, and surprisingly, the house wasn’t a complete loss. It would take a lot of work to make it livable again, but much of it could be salvaged.

Annie and Emily had run almost a mile to the neighbor’s house, Annie carrying her Army man the entire way, then insisted the neighbors bring them right back after they’d called for help.