Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 81018 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81018 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
There were bruises, so many bruises on his face, arms, and peeking out the top of his hospital gown. One eye was grossly swollen shut, looking like a black-and-blue bubble on his face. As much as his unconscious state scared me, at least he couldn’t feel pain, because this had to be excruciating. He looked like an extra in a horror movie. What he’d endured must have been beyond terrifying. I tried to put myself in his shoes and envision the attack, but the fear nearly choked me.
A harsh sob beside me made me jump. For a second, I’d forgotten I wasn’t alone with Alex.
“I’m so sorry,” Kenny whispered, staring down at his unmoving brother.
The phone call from Kenny came back to me in a rush as I sucked in a harsh breath. This was his fault. Kenny owed some asshole money, and that guy came to collect, taking payment from the man I love in the form of pain.
In a hot rush, all my shock, fear, and sorrow morphed into a venomous rage, flowing through my veins like lava. A fiery ball burned low in my gut, increasing in size with every mechanical breath Alex took. Within seconds, the molten orb expanded, exploding out of me.
I whipped around, shoving Kenny with both hands.
“What the fuck?” he cried as he staggered back and hit the wall.
I came at him again, ramming him against the wall with my forearm across his chest.
“You did this,” I snarled in his face with ice-cold ferocity. “He’s in here because of you!”
“I’m sorry.” He sobbed with tears and snot running down his hollow cheeks.
“Sorry? You’re sorry? Do you see him?” I screamed, gesturing to the bed. “Do you think those bruises give a shit that you’re sorry? Do you think those machines—”
“Hey! Get off him. I need security!”
Someone rushed in and tried to wrestle between us.
Peg.
She pried me off Kenny with a firm hand on my chest. “Get out of here. I’ve called security.” She stood between us with one arm held out, warding me off. “Go! They’ll drag you out if you don’t leave on your own.”
Her chest heaved, and her eyes were wide with fear. I imagine I looked much the same.
“No.” Kenny stepped forward, shaking his head. “I’ll go. He should stay.”
“But…” Peg looked between us. “But he…”
“It was my fault.” He lifted his hands in surrender. “I’ll go. Let him stay. He’s who Alex will want here with him, anyway.”
Shit. I’d fucked up big time. My shoulders dropped as guilt began to replace the anger. “Ken…” How did I fix this? Where did I even start when I had nothing inside me but thoughts of Alex?
He shook his head. “I’m going.” He stared at Alex for a second with an expression of abject misery, then turned and strode from the room, hunched and dejected.
Peg glared at me with a furious scowl. “This is the only time I will have a problem with you, correct?” she asked, jabbing a finger in my face.
Shame burned my cheeks as I nodded. “Yes. I promise. I’m so sorry.” My gaze drifted to Alex, and tears flooded my eyes. “I’m not like this,” I whispered.
Her sigh barely registered over the loud machine breathing for Alex. “Okay. You can stay. I’ll go deal with security.” She slipped out of the room, leaving me alone with Alex.
I stared at the rhythmic rise and fall of his chest as my chest grew so heavy I could no longer stand. Somehow, I walked the few steps to the chair by his bed, dropping into it like a lead anvil falling from a tall building.
“Alex…” I whispered as the thickness of overwhelming emotion clogged my throat. I pushed the button, lowering the bed railing, which I knew exactly how to do thanks to my dad’s ICU stay, then took his flaccid hand between mine. It had an IV with multiple lines, so I had to be careful with my hold, but I couldn’t not touch him, and I was terrified to touch anywhere else.
“Alex,” I said again in a low, tortured groan. My forehead hit the bed, and everything I’d been holding inside since Kenny’s call came out in a downpour of hot tears soaking into the sheets.
They flowed unchecked, turning into body-wracking sobs that shook the bed and had me worrying I’d dislodge one of Alex’s vital tubes. Still, I couldn’t seem to turn off the weeping. Eventually, the tears slowed to a trickle, and I lifted my head to find Alex in the same position he’d been in since I walked in, bruised, battered, and fighting for his life.
“I love you,” I whispered. “I love you, and I will be right here when you wake up and come back to me.”
CHAPTER TWENTY
RYDER
“If you don’t go home to shower, eat, and take a nap in a horizontal position, I will put hot sauce in every bottle of lube you own.”