Page 128 of Trigger Happy Ending

I sit on the side of her bed, waiting for the paramedics to arrive. Any minute now, they’ll be here to take her to the hospital. I take her hand in mind and absentmindedly rub my thumb over the side of her finger.

“You’re a real pain in my ass, you know that?”

Raine lies there, unresponsive, deep in a medically induced coma.

I huff out a breath through my nose. “It’s kinda nice when you don’t talk back.”

Not true. I’d do anything to hear her sweet voice again.

“So many things annoy me about you. That smart-ass mouth of yours, and the way you never say the right thing, ever.” I look at her face, covered in swelling and purple and black bruises.

“It’s annoying how your eyes sparkle in the sunlight. Did you know they do that?"

A few moments pass as I watch her chest rise and fall in a steady rhythm.

"It's annoying the way you wear my shirt. And how it looks so much better on you than it does on me." I smile at the memory of her dancing in the apartment. That night feels like it was an age ago.

“It's annoying how you make every person in your presence fall to their knees. The way you can shoot me, punch me, throw knives at me. The way you could rip my heart out and I’d still fucking crawl on my knees for you. The way I’d go to hell and back for you.”

I lean forward and hold my head in my hands. God, I’m so tired. Bone tired. Emotionally and physically drained.

“It’s so annoying the way I’m so fucking in love with you,” I mumble into my hands, eyes closed. “I was fucked the moment I saw you.”

It’s the first time in my pathetic life I’ve ever uttered those words. Part of me feels like I’ve achieved something I never thought I would. Even if she doesn’t love me back, it doesn’t matter. I am head over heels, completely and utterly deeply in love with her.

I drop my hands from my face and glance towards her. It's a shame she can’t hear me as I rip open my chest and bleed all I am right before her.

“You have to pull through,” I tell her. “Because I don’t want this life if you’re not in it. I love you, Raine. Don’t leave me here. Please. Come back to me.”

Chapter 53

Raine

Ihear every word.

Every beautiful word of his confession.

Every infliction, every pause, each hitch of breath.

I hear it all.

I stop falling into the void and frantically begin crawling my way back to the light.

Chapter 54

Raine

Waking from a coma is weird. I’m adding this to the list of shit I never want to experience again. Imagine the worst hangover you’ve ever had. Got it? Good. Now times it by a million. Everything’s intense and heavy, and my limbs are disobedient. Reality feels slow, like how I imagine floating in zero gravity would feel like. And my brain, ugh, it feels ten times too big for my skull. My lungs forget how to breathe properly, causing me to panic for a few seconds before I calm down. I’m okay.

I suck in a few more deep breaths (once I realize I can) and blink away the heavy lids. I gasp as I realize I’m in a hospital bed. The memories rush back, and boy, do they hit me hard and fast, removing any lingering confusion. Cherry’s death in the alley, storming the MC clubhouse, killing Derek, the Raptors abducting and torturing me … Soren.

Oh my god, Soren.

I claw at the scratchy sheets, heart beating like a war drum, until my gaze lands on something beside the bed. A leather-bound notebook.

I recognize it instantly.

Soren’s.