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“She’s all torn up over how she acted back in Nashville. She needs you both to reassure her that she didn’t ruin anything.”
Harper and I locked gazes for a long moment, sharing a silent conversation. The stress of the day was pressing down on us both. Although some of the things Layla had said weren’t in her true nature, it was hard to stomach that she’d caused Violet pain of any kind. Yet we couldn’t walk away and not support my bandbrother and his wife when they needed us the most.
“Whatever they need,” I assured Nik. “We’re not going anywhere.”
“Shane?”
I turned at Jesse’s voice to find him standing. Crossing the space between us, I threw my arms around him and pounded him on the back. “I’m here, brother.”
I felt the big man tremble before he returned my backslap and stepped back. “Layla wants to speak to you and Harper.”
My wife came up beside me and took my hand before bending beside the bed. With her free hand, she brushed the hair back from Layla’s face. “You should save your energy. You’re going to need it for tomorrow.”
“I’m so sorry,” Layla choked out. “No matter what happens, I need you to tell Vi how much I regret everything I said today. I don’t know what came over me. I don’t…” She closed her eyes. “A part of me was yelling in my head even as I spoke those terrible things to her today. Of course, she should wear whatever dress she wants. I don’t know why I became so fixated on her wearing white. And those horrible things I said about Remington using her…”
“Layla, don’t work yourself up. Once Violet knows everything, she won’t hold today against you.”
“Maybe she won’t, but I have to live with how awful I was to her. And Luca…” She covered her face with her hands, the IV sticking out of the back of the right one, making my stomach queasy with the sight of a little blood that needed to be flushed through the line.
Quickly, I averted my eyes before I ended up making things worse by puking on the floor—or Layla.
“Luca is hardheaded, but he will follow Vi’s lead.” Harper was the voice of reason, distracting me from my rebelling stomach. “Now, stop worrying about the kids, and focus on yourself. The goal is to get you better so you can be at their wedding. February might seem like a while away, but it’s going to go by quickly with all the holidays coming and football season. Vi will need both of us to help her organize everything while Luca is working.”
Slowly, she lowered her hands, and I was able to look at her again. “You think she’ll still let me help?”
“As long as it doesn’t tire you out, she’ll appreciate all the help she can get.” Leaning forward, Harper whispered something to Layla that had her brown eyes widening.
Tears spilled down her cheeks. “I’ll have to get better as quickly as possible, then,” she breathed, making me wonder what my wife had said to put that glitter in the other woman’s eyes.
I kissed the top of Layla’s head. “We love you, Layla. Tomorrow is going to be a busy day, so you need to rest. But we will be here the entire time. Waiting to see you the moment the doctors say you can have visitors.”
Layla caught my hand, and I kept my gaze focused on her face rather than where she was touching me.Don’t look at the blood. Don’t look at the blood. Don’t look at the blood.I couldn’t puke on her. “I love you all so much. Please remember that. I truly am sorry about today.”
“Don’t worry about today. It’s all in the past now,” I rasped, and my gaze flickered to her IV site. Shit. Bile lifted into the back of my throat. Gulping it down, I felt the sweat beading my brow. “Rest now,” I practically begged. “We’ll be close by, I promise.”
“Shane—”
“Layla, he’s trying not to blow chunks all over you,” Lana murmured from the other side of the bed. “The poor guy has been fighting his gag reflex for a few minutes now.”
“What?” She glanced down at her hand and groaned before pulling the cover over it.
The absence of the sight of blood didn’t ease my nausea. I was past the point of no return.
“In here!” Emmie called, opening the door to the connecting private bathroom.
I barely had time to get to the toilet before I was puking, while behind me, everyone burst out laughing. Groaning, I vomited again. At least my inability to see bodily fluids that weren’t either my own, my wife’s, or my children’s had eased some of the tension for a little while.
Chapter 11
Luca
The unrelenting sound of my phone going off pulled me from a deep sleep. Groaning, I lifted my lashes to see what time it was, only to find Violet still on top of me. She’d fallen asleep, completely exhausted. I shifted and felt her walls clench around my cock, realizing that I’d fallen asleep while still inside her.
Fuck, she was going to be sore.
It wasn’t the first time we’d fallen asleep like this, and every time, I regretted it because she was uncomfortable for a day or so afterward. But damn if it wasn’t the best feeling in the world to wake up inside the woman I loved.
The noise of my phone stopped, only for it to start up again. Muttering a curse, I reached out for it, blindly patting the bed and then the side table when I didn’t immediately touch it. As I finally wrapped my fingers around the device, it stopped, but just as quickly, it started ringing again.
