“You saved me,” he whispers against my lips. “You saved me, and now I’m free.”
“I love you,” I choke out, realizing belatedly that I’m crying—big, aching tears pouring down my face in rivulets.
“I love you too. I want to go home.” He whimpers, trying to climb closer to me. He’s as close as he can humanly get, but it’s like he’s trying to worm his way under my skin. “I want to go home, Austin. Please take me home.”
I rub my palms over his hair, unable to do much else with my fingers wrapped up. “Let me talk to the nurses and see when you can go.”
“No, please. I want to go now. I’ll sign out AMA if I have to. I want to be at home.”
“Okay, baby. Okay.” I try to get up, but he holds me tighter. “Hit your call button.”
He fumbles around for it, not wanting to leave my arms even for a second. Not that I’m any better off. I don’t want to leave him either.I don’t want to be away from him at all. Ever again. All the seconds I’ve already been away have been too damn many.
The light above his bed flashes when he presses the button, and a few minutes later, a nurse walks in.
Luca sits up. “I want to go home.”
Concern mars her features. “Let me just talk to the doctor and—”
“No.” Luca’s voice is stronger than I thought he’d be capable of right now. “I want to go home. Get me a form. I’ll sign out AMA. I want to go home.”
She watches him for a second, then turns to me. “Are you going to follow concussion protocol?”
I nod. I’ll do anything if it means getting Luca out of here and home like he wants.
“Give me a few minutes.”
She leaves the room, and I shift to get my phone out of my pocket. It’s two in the morning. I don’t even know how that much time has passed, but I pull up Jasper’s contact and hit dial.
He answers on the third ring, so I put it on speakerphone. “Hey, y’all okay?”
“Luca wants to go home. Can you drive us? He’s signing out AMA.”
There’s a pause. “Is that a good idea?”
“Jasper,” Luca says, his voice wavering. “You have no idea the things I’ve done with far worse injuries than this. I want to go home.” His voice cracks completely, cracking my heart with it. “Please just take us home.”
After a beat of silence, Jasper answers, his voice soft and soothing. “Of course. Arlo and I will head over to your room now.”
I canfeelLuca relax against me, his body slumping. “Thankyou.”
I hang up the phone and wrap my arms around him. “Please let me know if I hurt your ribs, okay?”
“Even if it hurts, I don’t want you to let go.”
I don’t like the thought of hurting him, not even a little, but not even I can deny how badly I want to keep him here. Holding him is hurting me too. My hands are screaming at me, but I can’t stop, and I don’t want to.
“Okay,” I whisper into his hair. “I won’t let go. I’ll never, ever let go.”
Chapter 38
Luca
“It’sgoingtobeokay.”
I’m not sure who I’m trying to convince—myself or Austin. It doesn’t really matter either way. I need to say the words, and we both need to hear them.
“Let’s reserve judgement until we hear what they say.”
