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“I want that too,” she whispers in a pleading cry. I’m holding her so tight to my body, she’s barely standing on her own. And when I finally blink my eyes open, I feel like I’ve woken up from a dream.
Jesus, did I really just say that? Fuck…what am I thinking?
Releasing her, I pull out and turn away, quickly shoving my cock back in my pants and refastening the button. Did I basically just imply that I want to get her pregnant? Am I going fucking crazy?
It’s just sex talk, I tell myself. She knows that. I’m not being serious. I don’treallywant Mia to have my baby… I mean, during sex I do. Naturally. The image of her on the bed like she was a few minutes ago was hot, but add a swollen belly to that image and yeah, any man would have said what I did. It was my cock talking.
We don’t say a word as she puts her clothes back on. In fact, we don’t bring up the whole thing for the rest of the night. Not during the drive to my place and not when she crawls into my bed, cuddling up to my chest.
I have a feeling that what I said after we had sex has completely eclipsed the entire incident anyway.
RULE #29: EVERYTHING WILL BE OKAY.
Garrett
Sweat drips down my spine as I let the events of last night replay in my head. And the last ten nights before that. A dangerous thing to do on a public running trail around the city.
But it wasn’t just about the sex last night. What we did and what we said made it more than that, and how can I really be surprised? In the last two weeks, my stepsister has gone from being the pesky little girl I watched grow up into the only person on the earth that I want to see when I open my eyes in the morning.
But how long can this really go on? How long can I keep up this charade and be two men at once? She loves Drake for entirely different reasons than she loves me. If she even does. If I don’t figure out how to open up as myself the way he does, then I’m going to really lose her forever.
I’m at the start of my third mile when my phone rings. I answer it using the earbuds I’m wearing and assume it’s Emerson or Maggie with work news about the event.
But the moment the call goes through, I hear sobbing. I stop in my tracks on the jogging trail.
“Garrett,” she cries.
“Mia,” I stammer. “What is it? What’s wrong?” Ice floods my veins at the sound of her voice, the pain of her sobs lancing my heart like a knife.
“He collapsed at work,” she bellows through her tears. “He was taken in an ambulance and now he’s in surgery and I don't know what’s going on.”
I know immediately it’s Paul.
“Where are you?”
“At St. Francis. By the harbor,” she wails.
“Listen to me, Mia. He’s going to be okay. Calm down, okay?”
“I’m scared.” And I hear it in her voice, the fear and panic. He better be okay because I can’t bear the thought of what his death would do to her.
The thought has me tensing up like a time bomb ready to explode. I’m frantic as I pull out my phone and check the location. It’s only a couple miles away, just along the oceanfront. And that’s the last thought in my head before I tell her, “I’m on my way. Mia, I’m coming.”
Then, I hit the End button and I fucking run.
* * *
When I reach the hospital, I practically collapse onto the reception desk as I ask for Paul Harris. And the lady typing away at the computer is way too fucking slow as she looks him up.
“It says here he’s still in surgery, but family members are waiting on the third floor, east wing.”
I’m halfway to the elevator by the time she finishes her sentence. An elevator door is opening right on time, and I squeeze in with a group of nurses, punching the third-floor button in a panic. Sweat is pouring down my face and back, but I don’t care. She won’t care.
The elevator chimes as it reaches my floor, and as the doors open, I see her. Standing in the maroon-and-gray waiting room, her face beat red and covered in tears as she chews on her nails. She spins to see me and I’m across the hall and gathering her into my arms before the doors are even fully opened.
And that’s when she really loses it. Clutching onto me like she needs me to stand, I hold her tight in my arms, letting her sob into my shirt. Out of the corner of my eye, I see my mom watching us, and I glance at her with an apology on my face. I should be hugging her too. Her husband’s life is in jeopardy, but right now, there’s only one person on this earth who matters. I don’t make the rules and I certainly didn’t see this coming, but as long as Mia needs my arms to wrap around her and my chest to cry into, that’s exactly what she’s going to fucking get.
* * *
