I arch my neck and try to relieve the pressure in it. It feels so tight, but it doesn’t help. Sighing, I open my heavy eyes, and I’m met with a familiar blue set that reminds me of the sky on a clear day. I never thought I’d see him again.
“Hey, angel.” Kash smiles down at me, running his tatted knuckles over my cheek, and I lean into him. “Don’t cry, Eve.”
Am I crying? “What…happened?” My voice is rough and my throat sore.
I look around to see I’m in an unfamiliar room that resembles a hospital. I remember the motel, us having sex, and then afterward I felt dizzy. I got up to use the restroom and there was blood. I needed to shower. I tried to stop it with a towel but there was just too much. I knew I’d gone too far. Adam told me not to have sex, but I couldn’t turn Kashton down. He needed me and I wanted him.
“Devin called it a wound dehiscence, but to explain it in a language I understood, he said that your fresh stitches ripped open from overexerting yourself.” He frowns, tilting his head to the side. “Why did you let me hurt you?” He grabs my hand and brings it to his lips, gently kissing my knuckles.
“I was fine.”
Kashton sighs, running a hand down his face. “Clearly you weren’t.” His brows furrow. “I would have never?—”
“I wanted you.” He needed me. I love my husband, but we both crave the physical aspect of our relationship as much as anything else. We’re both addicts who needed a fix.
I go to sit up but flinch. My hand immediately goes to my chest, wanting to reduce the pain.
“Lie down,” he commands gently and then pulls up the blanket and crawls under it and into bed with me. I curl into him and let him hold me. “Why would you let me hurt you, angel?”
I want to ask him how he could even ask me that when we both know that he was planning on killing himself in that motel room, but there’s time to talk about that later. The thought that I could have been too late makes my body shake. What if I had found him dead? To even imagine that is terrifying.
“I’m right here,” he assures me, softly rubbing my back as if he knows what I’m thinking.
I sob into his T-shirt, and he lets me get it all out. So many emotions I’ve never felt before that I’m not sure what to do with. I ran into the cathedral to save him, and it almost ended up killing him anyway. What if he had succeeded? Would I have ever found him? How long would Adam have kept me from him?
I must have fallen asleep in my husband’s arms. When I wake up, I’m in the room alone. I look around to see some clothes neatly folded on a chair by the window. A pair of oversized sweatpants and a T-shirt. They’re Kashton’s. I slowly get out of the hospital bed and begin to dress myself. It takes me longer than usual, but I want to be in his room. Alone. Just the two of us, hiding away from this world that seems to be against us. They don’t know how stubborn and determined I am, but I’ll continue to show them.
Exiting the room, I see Charlotte sitting in a chair with her head in her hand. Ashtyn sits across from her, staring at an invisible speck on her yoga pants. Her head snaps up when she hears me approach.
She jumps to her feet, which makes Charlotte lift her head. Her blue eyes look between Ashtyn and mine.
Charlotte gets to her feet much slower. “Ash?—”
“Stay out of this, Charlotte,” Ashtyn interrupts her.
I square my shoulders, ready to fight this bitch. I don’t care if it puts me back in the hospital or not. Some things are worth it. “Problem?” I arch a brow.
Ashtyn snorts. She has to lean her head back to glare up at me because I’m taller than her. “You pretended to be dead and then showed up like nothing happened.”
I don’t argue that because I really have no clue what the fuck happened. How Kashton thought I was dead or where the fuck I was with Adam. I’ve got time that is missing, memories nonexistent. I can’t argue something I know nothing about.
“Ashtyn,” Charlotte starts again. “I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation.”
“An explanation as to why she fucked over Kashton while she hid out with my brother?” Ashtyn’s eyes drop to my bare feet, and she looks me up and down with disgust.
Ah, now her attitude makes sense. She thought her brother was dead, and then he returned with me. Maybe she thinks I’ve been shacked up fucking Adam. That’s something she’s done before with another man, so why wouldn’t I?
I step into Ashtyn, and Charlotte looks worried. Her eyes dart around the room as if she’s trying to decide whether to run and get help or not. “You shot your husband, leaving him for dead. I was willing to die for mine. So keep your judgmental bullshit to yourself. We are not the same, and you have no clue what you’re fucking talking about.”
She gasps, and Charlotte’s wide-eyed gaze drops to the floor.
Ashtyn spins around to storm off but comes to a stop and turns to face me. Her dark hair slapping her in the face. “Know what, Eve? For once you’re right.” She gives me a chilling smile. “I ran to save my unborn child. You killed yours. We’renotthe same.”
“Ashtyn,” Saint barks at her.
I look over my shoulder to see her husband standing behind us. His eyes meet mine with sympathy, and I glance back at his wife.
The smile remains on her face, and she lowers her hands to her growing belly. “At least I can still have children.”
