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I hated seeing him like this.
I took the seat at his bedside and refrained from touching him. His gown covered the wound in his stomach. I imagined it stitched up, with a bandage wrapped around his body. He didn’t seem as big as he usually was, like he’d lost too much blood. His face was paler than usual too.
He looked so different.
“I’m here…” My hand slid across the bed until I touched his fingers. “If you can hear me…I’m here.”
21
Calloway
The first thing I heard was the sound of the monitor.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
It sounded like a heart rate monitor.
A second later, I felt the blood pressure cuff tighten on my arm until it was uncomfortable.
That’s when everything came back to me. I had been barely holding on to consciousness when I pulled the trigger and killed Hank. The only thing that kept me moving was the adrenaline that gave my body the final push to finish my mission.
Save my girl.
I knew when I chose to go after her instead of going to the hospital, I was seriously risking my life. There was a good chance I would have bled out and died before I even got there. But if I went to the hospital and survived, and she didn’t…I would have died anyway.
I must be in a hospital.
That must mean Rome got me here. And my gut feeling told me she would be sitting right beside me when I opened my eyes.
I was right. Her face was the very first thing I looked at. With an exhausted expression and the same clothes I’d last seen her in, she was sitting in the chair at my bedside. Her eyes were sunken in, and she looked just as weak as I felt. Her eyes were glued to my hand, where her fingers were interlocked with mine. She didn’t notice my stare.
“Sweetheart…”
Her eyes immediately darted to my face, and right on cue, the tears started. “Calloway…” She rushed to stand up and moved to wrap her arms around me, but she suddenly jerked back, taking her affection away. “I shouldn’t touch you…” She eyed my abdomen.
“No, I need you to touch me.” I wrapped one arm around her waist and brought her against my chest. I didn’t hug her the way I wanted because of the IV in my other arm. But I could still feel her warmth, smell her hair, and savor the feeling of my woman in my arms.
She cried into my shoulder, her tears soaking through the gown and to my bare skin. “Calloway…I was so scared.”
“I’m okay. We’re okay.”
“You could have died, Calloway.”
“So be it.” When I saw Hank on top of her, about to take something that didn’t belong to him, I knew I’d made the right decision. If I’d gotten there just a minute later, he would have raped her.
Raped my woman.
I’d die before I let that happen.
She pulled away, looking at me with reflective tears. “I can’t believe you did that…”
“You’re the most important thing in my life, sweetheart. You know that.”
“I know…you always show it.”
I moved my hand to her cheek and touched her smooth skin. She felt warm to my touch, and I wiped away a fallen tear with the pad of my thumb.
“What happened? I still don’t understand.”
I told her Isabella’s role in the kidnapping.
“I can’t believe her—and she shot you!”
“She said it was an accident.”
“Bullshit,” she hissed. “We’re putting her away for life, Calloway.”
I wasn’t eager to turn her over to the police. “If she hadn’t shot me, she wouldn’t have told me where to find you.”
“How so?”
“She felt so guilty for what she did that she told me everything…it was necessary.”
She ran her hands up my arm, feeling my skin like she hadn’t touched me in years. “I can’t believe all of this happened. I went to work that morning like it was a normal day.”
“I know. But at least it’s over. Hank is dead.”
“Yeah…he’s dead.” She nodded before a small smile stretched on her lips. “He’s gone.”
I loved seeing that relief on her face. Now she could live her life without looking over her shoulder anymore. She deserved that freedom. “I just hope you continue to live with me even though you don’t need my protection anymore.”
“I’ll always need your protection, Calloway. You’re the only man I’ll allow to protect me.”
Those words meant the world to me. She’d submitted to me in more ways than one, and now she was officially mine. I possessed her in every way possible. She’d given herself to me in every capacity. “I’ll protect you with my life—for the rest of my life.”
I was stuck at the hospital for five days before they finally discharged me.
For five days, I couldn’t get naked with my woman. I couldn’t fuck my woman. I had to lie in a bed while she sat in a chair.
