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My stomach sinks and twists, but there’s nothing in it, so nothing else happens. Keeping my head down, I follow behind Nash and head straight toward a rusted, old, beat-up pickup truck. I climb up into the passenger seat, and he does the same in the driver’s seat and looks at me before he starts the engine.
“He’s going to be okay,” he says, although I’m not sure if he’s trying to convince me or himself. And no matter who it is he’s trying to convince, it doesn’t work.
KING
That fucking beeping.
That fucking smell.
Both consume me.
Opening my eyes, I turn my head to the couch. I don’t expect to see anyone there except maybe Atomic, but I’m met with my father’s gaze. He dips his chin, and his lips curve up into a grin before he tilts his head to the side.
Following his tilt, that’s when I see her. I want to cry out her name, but I can’t because it would hurt way too fucking badly, and she’s asleep. She’s curled up in the corner of the couch with a hospital blanket wrapped around her.
My father stands and closes the distance between us. I watch as he stops beside my bed and shoves his hands into his pockets as he looks down at me. Pressing my lips together, I wait for him to say something to me. I know he likely has plenty to say.
“I like her,” he starts, his voice barely above a whisper.
“I’m glad,” I rasp.
He grins. “Yeah, I think you made the right choice with that one. But what the fuck are you going to do with the sister and the mother and brother?” he asks.
“Mother and brother aren’t an issue. The sister, though, she needs to be taken care of.”
My father rocks back on his heels with a grunt, then I hear a heavy sigh and shift my gaze past him to the woman on the couch. I watch as she slowly opens her eyes and comes to life. She pushes herself up to a seated position, then yawns before her gaze meets mine.
An expression of shock crosses her face, then panic, then fear, followed by anger. She stands and hurries over to me. I brace myself for a hug, but nothing happens. Instead, she reaches out and wraps her fingers around mine, holding my hand.
“Are you okay?” she asks on a whisper.
My father takes this opportunity to slip out of the room. If Shawn realizes he’s gone, she doesn’t comment on it. She sinks down on the edge of the hospital bed, her hand still wrapped around mine as she leans forward.
I close my eyes when her forehead touches mine, and swear to fuck, I can finally breathe again. Lifting my hand, I weakly wrap my fingers around the back of her neck, giving her a gentle squeeze before she lifts her head to look into my eyes.
“I’m okay,” I say, answering her question.
She shakes her head. She doesn’t believe me, and she probably shouldn’t. “You aren’t,” she whispers with a smile playing on her lips. “A transfusion, restitching. Why did you do it?”
“Do it?” I ask.
Shaking her head, she murmurs the word no. “It’s not what you think. Not the club, not what happened there. But why did you go out when the doctor suggested that you stay here?”
I cup her cheek, taking a moment to slide my thumb across her bottom lip. She watches me. This moment is so fucking tender, so goddamn vulnerable for me, physically and whatever the fuck else I’m feeling inside.
“You, sweetness.”
“Elvis,” she exhales.
Clearing my throat, I keep my hand where it is, my eyes focused on hers. “I couldn’t stay in this fucking bed knowing you weren’t safe. I had to get to you.”
Tears fall from her eyes, rolling down her cheeks before she leans forward and rests her forehead against mine again. She inhales a deep breath, then exhales it out of her mouth slowly before she speaks.
“You would be no good to me dead,” she states.
“You either.”
She shifts her face slightly, touching her mouth to mine, and we kiss. It’s not as deep as I would like it to be, but since I’m in a goddamn hospital bed, it’s not like I can do anything about it anyway. When she breaks the kiss, she sits up straight and wipes the tears from her eyes as my hand falls from her cheek.
