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A slow thud—his artery—it beats under my fingertips. My tears, they fall from my chin, dripping onto his. “It’s okay. I’m not mad. It’s okay. Come on. Wake up for me.”
There’s nothing he can do. No woman he can fuck or mistake he can make, or years he makes me wait. Pride dies when you hold death in your arms. When you realize love is all we live for, all we’ll die for.
I pull his limp body into my embrace, rubbing his back while he slumps over me. He’s so heavy, the weight of this threat; I’ll fight it for him.
“Please. I’m here. I’m not mad. Wake up for me. I love you. Please.”
He has to hear me. He has to know I’m here. I always will be.
Time, it’s a blur. All I can do is rub his back, willing my breath into his lungs, my life back into his.
Or he can take me with him.
I’ll let him. I want him to…
until…
hands are pulling him from my grasp.
“We got him, ma’am.” It’s an EMT. Two more are standing behind him. “What did he take?”
“This.” I hear Scarlett. “And alcohol.” Eric’s standing beside her while the room descends into every effort to save him.
The sight of his limp body thrown onto the gurney. His hand flopping almost lifeless by his side. The oxygen mask they smother over his face, forcing air into his lungs.
I throw up on the bed.
“Cade.” Scarlett’s there in my storm, holding onto me while I can’t tear my eyes away from my worst nightmare.
My world leaves with his body rushed out of the room. Reality goes too. I’m in a car—Scarlett’s. I’m in an Emergency Room. I know them too well. I’m in a haze, a hell for hours until Eric appears in the waiting room.
“He’s stable.”
The sobs, the relief, I don’t care who witnesses it. Scarlett won’t let me go until I can breathe again. “I have to see him.”
“That’s not his wish.” Eric stands there, drained but determined.
“What?”
“He left instructions, Cade. If this ever happened again. No visitors. He’s going straight to rehab.”
I jump to my feet. “But it’s me.”
“Especially you,” Eric says. “He never wanted you to see him like this.”
“But I’m in charge of his estate, you said.”
“That’s if he doesn’t make it. Until then, his orders are in writing. He doesn’t want to see you.”
My shoulders draw up. “Good fucking luck getting me to go.” My fists clench. “I’ll never leave him.”
Everything urges me toward him. Scarlett stands up beside me.
“Don’t make me do it.” Eric’s face, it’s full of remorse. “Please leave with dignity, or I’ll have to call security.”
My gun’s still on my belt. My logic can’t accept this. My heart can’t stop bleeding every drop of love, of any pride I have left. I’ll lose it for him.
“Don’t do this.” I’m about to do something crazy through tears, my vision blurring with them. “Please. I have to see him.” I can feel it taking over.
