Stone’s eyes drifted open, but his heart fell when he realized Mae wasn’t in the room. She was there when he’d fallen asleep, wasn’t she? “Mom?”
“Hey, Honey. What do you need? More blankets? Some water?”
Stone moved his head back and forth. “Can you… please go check on Mae.”
His mother’s hand reached out to pat his leg. “She’s filling everyone in on what Dr. Anderson said. They might have a lot of questions.”
“That she won’t have the answer to. And no offense, I’m happy you guys are here, but I just want to hold her. I’m still tired, and I can’t stand the thought of going back into the darkness without her.”
“Come on, Ma. Sara will want to grab dinner anyway. You can tag along with us back to Silver Springs.” Rhett nodded at Stone. Thank God his brother was there to help wrangle his mom. He was grateful for his family, but he just wanted to be with Mae.
His mother crossed her arms and huffed. “Fine. But I’ll be back first thing in the morning.”
“Can’t wait,” Stone mumbled.
“I heard that. You know, you used to want me to kiss your boo-boos.”
“Ma, honestly, the man almost died. Let’s not embarrass him back into a coma.” Rhett chuckled.
Stone’s mother leaned over and kissed his forehead. “I love you.”
“Love you too, Mom.”
“Later, bro.” Rhett’s hand landed on his shoulder and squeezed for a second before he stepped away.
Stone let his head fall back onto the pillow, which was pretty much paper thin and useless. He felt restless, but exhaustion was calling out to him. How fucking pathetic. A few minutes awake and he was already falling asleep.
The door creaked open, and Stone opened one eye. That was all it took for everything to feel right, because in walked Mae.
“Hey, handsome. Heard you woke back up. Thanks for that,” she teased.
“Apparently, being stuck in a coma for two weeks makes you really tired. Come lay with me?”
Her bottom lip pulled in between her teeth. “I don’t know if that’s smart. With everyone here. Hawk does–”
“I don’t give a fuck about Hawk finding out about us. We’ll deal with your brother later. Together. Right now, I need to hold you.” His arm raised, fingers opening, reaching out for her.
She stood still, her eyes growing wide before slamming shut.
“Mae?”
“I don’t want to hurt you,” she whispered.
“It’s more painful to have you standing over there like a stranger. Come over here, please. I need you.”
She didn’t move. Stone rolled onto his side, groaning at the effort. It worked. Mae rushed right over to the bed.
“Alright, alright. Hold on one second so I can make sure we don’t pinch any of the important lines running into your body.”
She made quick work of getting all that sorted beforegently easing herself onto the mattress next to him. His body was so fucking sore, but holding her in his arms was a soothing balm for the pain.
“Don’t just lay there like a board, Mae. Get comfortable. I’m not going to break.”
She scoffed. “For almost two weeks, I didn’t know if I’d ever have this again.”
He pressed his hand to her back and encouraged her to move closer to him. Finally, she relented, and the heat from her body settled into his bones.
“Perfect,” he admitted, pressing a kiss to the top of her head as soon as it rested on his shoulder.
