“Why don’t you go let the nurses know Mom’s awake. I think she might need some more painkillers,” Grizz suggests and Jovie nods sharply, heading straight for the door, marching like she’s on a special mission.
When the door swings closed behind her, I finally turn my attention toward Grizz, my cheek settling on a small wet patch on the pillow. My tears.
“Hey,” he whispers when our eyes meet, his voice cracking so sharply, I swear I can feel it in my chest. “There she is.”
He’s hunched forward in an old chair, his body dwarfing it and the room around us. I wiggle my fingers and he forces a smile before reaching for my hand, brushing this thumb back and forth over my knuckles in slow, steady strokes that feel oddly familiar.
Like he’s been doing the same thing for hours.
Or days.
“Hey,” I say simply, not sure I’ll be able to get much more out without breaking down. Instead, I squeeze his hand reassuringly.
“You scared me,” Grizz whispers, and for the first time, I focus in on his bloodshot eyes and the red rim around the edges—as if he hasn’t slept in days. His long hair is twisted into a mess on the top of his head, with stray pieces whipping around as he shakes his head. “You…”
He stops, clearing his throat and choking out a broken laugh.
“You were hypothermic, and you’d lost a lot of blood,” he continues to explain, though I can tell it’s hard. “The doctors said?—”
“Doesn’t matter,” I croak out, refusing to let him relive those moments when I’m right here, in front of him, alive and breathing.
There isn’t any need to think of what if’s.
“It does matter,” he rasps, his expression hardening for a moment. “Because this is my fault. Sarah did this because of me.”
This time, the pain I feel in my chest, I know is not real. This time, it’s my heart crying out for Grizz and the look of pure devastation and anger on his face.
“No.” I clear my throat lightly and lick my lips, determined to say what I need to before he talks himself into some ridiculous scenario where he’s at fault for someone else’s actions. “No. No way. She's sick. It’s not on you. It’s on her… and Victoria.”
Grizz shakes his head, strands of hair falling loose around his face.
“I should have?—”
“No,” I repeat again. “Her family should have done something a long time ago. All you did was show kindness to a person who needed it. And that’s not something to regret.”
The burn of tears in my throat starts to build, and I sniffle and clear my throat, trying to fight them off. At least until I can get out the words I need to say.
The words he needs to hear.
“Since we stumbled into Hallowed Springs, you’ve protected me and Jovie,” I whisper, looking down to where our fingers are linked. “First, when we showed up with nothing. Then again with the fire. The storm. Now this. We are here because of you.”
He drops his head, pressing his lips to my hand.
“And because of you,” I continue, “Jovie feels safe. She feels like she belongs somewhere and has a family… a very masculine, leather wearing family. But she feels more love than I could have ever imagined for her.”
He lifts his eyes first, and I move my hand to his face, my nails gently scratching across the overgrown stubble decorating his jawline. It’s rough and unkempt, but kind of damn sexy.
“What about you?” he asks, leaning into my touch. “What have you got out of this other than pain and worry?”
I can’t stop the chuckle that bubbles up from my chest, the gentle shaking tugging at my shoulder and making me flinch and suck in a sharp breath.
Grizz practically leaps to his feet. “You want me to get the doctor?”
“Sit down, damn it,” I curse with a smile, and shake my head as he begrudgingly sits back in the uncomfortable looking armchair. “You found me, Grizz.”
His shoulders slump and he lifts his hands up, linking his fingers and resting them on top of his head. “I thought—” He stops, clearing his throat and refusing to look at me. “I uh… I thought I was too late.”
“I knew you wouldn’t be,” I whisper, drawing his eyes back to meet mine—his brows raised in surprise. “Jovie and I showing up in Hallowed Springs on the day you needed a new staff member to do a job I’ve been doing for years… that’s not a coincidence. That’s the universe bringing us together. And I know that it doesn’t matter if I’m on the road to nowhere, or it’s snowing a blizzard, or if things are on fire, or if I’m lost in the dark… We’ll always find each other.”
