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“What do you mean?” Wyatt looked confused, but Travis paid him no mind.
He ran out of the lounge and didn’t stop until he stood in front of the coach’s door. Travis didn’t think. He didn’t hesitate. He knocked, opened the door and walked in.
Chapter 27
“Can I get you anything?”
Ruby glanced up as Regan Thorne walked into the private hospital room. Doctor Regan Thorne. Ryder’s doctor. How ironic.
“I’m fine. Sidney went to let out Tasha and is bringing back coffee.”
Regan stopped at the monitors and checked each and every one of them carefully. All those machines and tubes and wires keeping a body alive that wouldn’t be able to on its own. Ruby hated them. Hated the sounds they made. Hated the neon-colored blips, even though she need to see them.
She inhaled a big gulp of air and shuddered. She was so damn tired. Regan placed a hand on her shoulder, her voice kind and gentle and soft. “I’ll check in later.”
Ruby could only nod. She didn’t trust herself to speak. She looked everywhere but at the body on the bed. At the shell that belonged to her brother. A brother who existed only through the grace of these damn machines.
She got to her feet and crossed to the window. It was dark, but she had no idea what time it was. She was wearing the same clothes she’d put on the day before. Old track pants, a big baggy sweatshirt, and her UGGs. Her hand crept up to the hair piled loosely on top of her head. Had she even brushed it? God, she must look awful.
She giggled at that. A hysterical, harsh sound. Her brother was dying, and she was worried about whether she’d brushed her hair or not.
Ryder.
God. She turned abruptly and walked to the bed. She stared down at him. He was intubated and had lines going in his arms, tubes everywhere, it seemed. It was awful seeing him like this.
Awful and infuriating. She was so damn mad at him, her body shook. This roller coaster she’d been riding with him was almost over, and she didn’t want it to end. How crazy was that? How many times in the past had she prayed for it all to end? Not for her brother’s death. But for the emotional hurt he put her through. And now? Now she’d take it every single day if it meant he would open his eyes and look up at her.
She took his hand and gently clasped her fingers through his. He was cold. Or maybe it was Ruby. She listened to the machine that kept his lungs working. The slow hiss in and out. It was the worst sound in the world. He would hate it as much as she did.
“You have to come back to me, Ry.” Her voice broke. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you. I’m sorry that I was too wrapped up in my own crap to notice you were failing. It won’t happen again. I promise. But you have to fight this. You have to try harder. You’re all I have, and…” She shook her head and watched a tear splash onto his hand. “I can’t do this again, Ry. I can’t. I don’t want to be alone.”
“You’re not.”
Ruby wiped at her face and turned around. “Travis? What are you… How did you…”
He didn’t give her a chance to say another word. He ate up the space between them in two long strides and enveloped her in his warm embrace. Ruby had tried so hard to be strong. For Ryder. For Sidney. For herself. But right now, in this moment, with Travis holding her close, she let everything out.
All the pain and heartache she’d accumulated over the years. Her mother. Her father. Their baby. Ryder. All of it came out, and when she was done, when her body was empty of tears and her throat raw from crying, he carried her to the sofa.
He held her close until her body stopped shuddering. Until the chills and chattering teeth ceased. Until she fell asleep, safe and warm in the arms of the only man she’d ever loved.
“You’re not alone,” he whispered. “I’m here for as long as you need me to be.”
She didn’t hear the words, but it didn’t matter. She felt them. She felt him. Travis had come back to her, and this time, she wasn’t letting go.
Epilogue
Ryder Montgomery was laid to rest a week later. In the end, Ruby didn’t have to make the decision. His heart, weak from years of addiction, gave out. For that, she was grateful. He wasn’t going to suffer anymore. His pain didn’t exist where he was now.
His wake was held at the Coach House, and the many folks who’d come to share stories had warmed her heart. Her brother might have battled addiction most of his adult life, but he’d been kind and funny and talented. And no one was shy to let her know these things. These important things she would hold close.
It had been a difficult few weeks, and he would be missed. Ruby knew the
hole in her heart would never go away. But the pain would lessen, and there would be room for joy and happiness. Until then, she took one day at a time, glad she had someone in her corner.
Travis had come back to her. He’d missed the first few games of the season to be with her, with meant more than she could express. He’d been her rock. Her shoulder to cry on. The one to listen as she raged against her brother’s fate. He held her up when she was in public, and held her close when they were alone at night.
They’d fallen into a routine of sorts. He flew back to Crystal Lake when he could and for now it would be enough. She had things to take care of. Loose ends to tie. And then she could think of the future.
