“Together,” Axel whispers on a breathy exhale. I hold Garrett’s stare, a matching smile creeping across our faces. We lean in together, pressing a kiss to each of Axel’s temples.
“Welcome back,” I smile. Waiting for Axel to rouse in his own time, I reach over to the table for his water. He shuffles against me to lift his head and sip through the straw. Just that small movement is enough for him to sink back down, exhausted once more. I chew on the inside of my cheek, worrying in silence again about the unknown length of his recovery. We could be here for months at this rate.
Searching for a distraction, I let my gaze wander to the posters lining the walls. Planets, galaxies, and spacecraft frozen in mid-flight. “I didn’t know you were so into space, Axe.”
His voice is hoarse, barely above a whisper, but there’s a flicker of warmth in it. “My dad was low-key obsessed. He found the concept of space fascinating. We used to take trips together to watch the rockets launch at NASA. It’s some of my favorite memories.”
On his other side, Garrett shifts down beneath the covers to settle on Axel’s chest again. “You’ve never told me that.” There’s genuine curiosity in his tone, and I reckon there are a lot of things Axel hasn’t opened up about, too focused on the trauma he suffered to remember anything else.
“Did your… um, did Sharon go too?” I ask hesitantly. Axel shakes his head, his expression tightening ever so slightly.
“If it’s not fashion or money, she’s not interested.” My nostrils flare in irritation, but this isn’t news to me. I can see it in the way she carries herself and the way she speaks of Axel like an inconvenience. Axel finally blinks his hazel eyes wide open, awake at long last.
“Sharon never wanted kids, but my dad was twenty years her senior, and he told me he always wanted just one, perfect child.” There’s abittersweet tilt to his lips that shows he was exactly that to his father. “When she refused to ruin her body for his selfish desires, they agreed to use a surrogate. Maybe that’s why the maternal instinct never kicked in. All she cared about was the money.”
I swallow hard, unsure how to respond. The image of his mother, distant and indifferent, doesn’t fit with the man lying in front of me. The man who exudes quiet strength and has somehow kept his kindness intact despite it all.
“What did your father even see in her?” I ask, my voice tinged with frustration. “Surely he could have found someone else.” Axel lets out a soft, humorless laugh.
“He wasn’t a saint. I reckon he used her too. In our world, it’s all about public image.” I nod, knowing that all too well. It’s exactly why Cathy went to such lengths to hide her affair with Fredrick. Why she used Wyatt as the scapegoat for her reputation. The weight of these revelations sits heavily between us, the unspoken complexities of Axel’s upbringing clear in the dark lines of his face.
Reaching out, he takes my hand in his. Axel’s eyes meet mine for a brief moment, steady and unwavering. Even now, horizontal and bandaged, he doesn’t want to show weakness.
“I’m sure it hasn’t been easy staying with me while Meg is out there somewhere. But it means the world that you did. I promise I will get better as quickly as I can. I’ll do whatever it takes to get us back out there, searching for her.”
“Meg’s a tough bitch,” I reply, echoing back what Wyatt told me. Who’d have thought Wyatt would become my voice of reason? “She will be giving one hell of a fight, and when we finally do find her, she’ll beat my ass for putting myself in danger.” I snort out a laugh. “Just focus on getting better. Now that you’re awake, we can start looking for leads. That’s what matters.”
Chapter Twenty Two
“Garrett?” My name is called distantly. I mumble something incoherent and shift in my sleep. Axel’s voice comes again, bleeding through the haze.
I jerk upright on my front, looking around the room wildly in panic. The dying sun is fading into hues of red and orange beyond the window, and as I adjust, my eyes settle on Axel. There’s an amused hook to one of his eyebrows, those dazzling hazel eyes filled with mirth, and his lips slanted up into a smile. For a split second, I forget where we are. Who we are even. I’m just a guy being woken by a cute guy that causes my heart to flutter. Then, with the beeping of monitors increasing, reality hits.
“What’s wrong? Do you need something?” My fingers impulsively twitch, drawing my attention to beneath the covers where my hand is wrapped around Axel’s balls. He chuckles and nudges my shoulder.
“As much as I appreciate the massage, I really don’t want to know what it feels like to have an erection with a catheter inserted.” I shudder at just the thought, slowly retracting my hand.
“Sorry,” I roll onto my back to stare at the ceiling. “I must have gotten carried away. It’s been a long,longfew weeks.” Huffing, I force my eyes shut.Great job, Garrett; he’s barely lucid, and you’re throwing your sex drive in his face.
“I didn’t mean like that, I just… there’s been a lot of emotions to wade through and you know it’s not my strongest trait—” Axel winces as he reaches over and pulls on my far shoulder, rolling me onto my side to face him. That same understanding smile is waiting to greet me, his handsome face far too accepting.
“You don’t have to wait for me, you know. If you want to go and let Avery relieve you, it’s okay. I totally get that you have needs.” I’m already shaking my head.
“I will wait for you,” I mutter stubbornly. I must fail at hiding the rare glimpse of vulnerability I can sense rising to the surface. Axel’s brow furrows, his hand reaching up to cup my cheek.
“Gare. Everything is going to be fine now. I won’t leave you again,” he promises, but it’s impossible to believe him. He doesn’t know what’s going to happen; none of us do. Doctor Marcus is due to give Axel a full checkover, but even then, what if he misses something? The smallest complication might send Axel straight back to the hospital. Clearing my throat, I nudge his hand from my face, quickly shutting down my stupid fucking emotions.
“You mind if I call on Avery to sit with you for a while?” Axel nods, sorrow dawning in his eyes as I shoot upright to leave the bed. Shoving my legs into a pair of blue tracksuit pants, I grab the matching hoodie from the arm of a nearby chair and leave the room, blood rushing through my ears too fast to hear Axel’s protests.
The irony isn’t lost on me. I’ve sat by his side day and night, refusing to let anyone else near him, praying for him to wake and listen to all of the ways I care about him. Now he’s back, and I can’t get away quick enough. Because now it’s time to show up, to be the person I’ve been promising myself I can be for him. And what if I fall at the first hurdle? What if I just keep fucking up until there’s no part of Axel left to save?
Rapping my knuckles hard on the next bedroom door along the hall, Avery answers, a stoic Wyatt at her back. His green eyes cut through me, assessing and judging like he always does. In direct contrast, Avery smiles and reaches for my head.
“You okay, Gare? Do you need something?” I shake my hand loose, taking a step back from the pity that pinches at her face. Yeah, I need everyone to stop being so fucking nice.
“Can you sit with Axel for me? I’m going to get the Doc.”
“Is there something wrong with him?” Avery’s large eyes widen evenmore, her feet already shuffling into the hallway. I give her a wide berth, pressing myself against the opposite wall.
