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CHAPTERTHIRTY-TWO
IAN
ONE WEEK LATER
Luckily,the day before Kyler and I were supposed to go to the Daphne DeVille concert, she was feeling better enough to go back to school. Or at least shesaidshe was feeling better enough to go back to school. I could tell she was still in a world of pain, though. But either way, that made me reasonably sure that she’d still be up for going to the concert too. I was glad, because she’d earned a break. Listening to one of her favorite artists for a couple of hours was exactly what she needed.
“Oh, my God! Ky!” Hannah exclaimed as she ran up to us and wrapped her arms around Kyler. “You’re okay. I was so worried! I wanted to come by, but I figured you needed to rest.”
Kyler smiled weakly as she turned to me stood up on her toes for a kiss. “I’ll see you in Spanish, babe. I’m going to talk to Hannah for a little bit.”
“Okay,” I told her, kissing her forehead. “Want me to take your backpack there for you so you don’t have to worry about it?”
She sighed and handed her purse to me, then took her arm out of its sling. I grabbed her backpack so I was holding the weight as she gingerly slid her bad arm out of the strap, followed by her good arm. Then she quickly put her arm back in the sling. She was supposed to keep it elevated whenever possible, so she kept it in the sling most of the time, and it seemed not to hurt her as much when it was immobilized like that.
“Text me if you need me, okay?” I stole one more kiss and handed her purse back to her.
She nodded. “I’ll be fine. The bad guys are behind bars, remember?”
“Yeah, but you still look like you’re about to keel over at any second. I worry about you,” I chuckled humorlessly.
“Aww,” Hannah said with a smile. “I’ve got her, Ian. I promise. I’ll walk her to Spanish myself.”
“Thanks, Hannah,” I sighed.
I shouldered Kyler’s backpack and left the girls to talk. As I walked away, my phone buzzed, so I pulled it out and looked at the notification. It was a response to a Twitter message I’d sent on Monday while Kyler was still asleep at the hospital. I fist pumped the air as I read it. What I’d been trying to do had been a long shot at best, and I couldn’t believe it had actually worked.
“Someone’s in a good mood this morning,” Braden chuckled, clapping my shoulder. “Ky doing that much better already?”
“Well, she was better enough to come to school,” I told him. “But that’s not why I’m in such a good mood. I’m about to win the boyfriend of the year award. Take a look.”
I handed my phone to him, and he laughed as he read the message.
“Someone’s getting laid tomorrow night,” he said.
“Someone’sgirlfriend has tendon and nerve damage in her arm and is still on prescription painkillers. So, no, he’s not.”
“Okay, someone’s getting a blow job tomorrow night,” he chuckled.
I rolled my eyes and shook my head. He was hopeless.
No joke, though, I’d only had to go this long without making love to my girl one other time since New Year’s – which was while she was on her period – and I missed it more than I cared to admit. Especially since I’d come so close to losing her permanently. But it wasn’t about me right now. I wasn’t the one who was recovering from a head injury and a gash in their arm. And I wasn’t the one who had almost been killed by the same people who had violated them two and a half years ago.
“No, someone’s trying not to be a horny bastard while his girlfriend recovers. You’re not helping,” I snapped.
“Whoa, dude, chill,” he said, holding his hands up. “I was kidding. I know Ky’s still fragile.”
“Sorry. I’m still processing,” I sighed. “I just…I can’t stop thinking that maybe I could have stopped all of it if I’d just insisted on driving her to her therapy appointment. Then she wouldn’t have been alone, and Max wouldn’t have had a chance to grab her.”
“Or maybe he would have grabbed both of you, and then you wouldn’t have been able to get help,” he told me. “Don’t be so hard on yourself. You’ll drive yourself crazy thinking about all the what ifs. Ky’s alive, and that’s what’s important.”
“You sound like her,” I chuckled weakly.
“Well, she’s pretty smart. Maybe you should listen to her. You were her hero, Ian. You’re the reason she’s still here. And you can damn sure bet that for the rest of her life, she’ll remember that.”
I let out another sigh. I knew he was right. But not blaming myself for putting her in danger was way easier said than done.
* * *
