“How’d you know?”
“‘Cause I’ve known you literally my whole life. Is it about Perish?”
“Yeah.”
“Because you’re worried he would pick the club over you if given the choice.” I gave him a shrug. “You know what guts me here, Gracie? That you think I’d do that to you.”
“There are club rules.”
“Yeah. And he’s gonna be punished for it once he’s well again. In labor,” he clarified when I stiffened. “But if he’s what makes you happy, I’m not gonna stand in the way of that. Hate that you think I would.”
“I’m—”
“Fucking apologize to me, I dare you,” he said, giving me a raised brow look. “I liked the fire you had back in the hospital. Figure Perish is good for you if he’s finally getting you to stand up for yourself and what you want. Come on, get up.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Gonna drop you back at the hospital. Sounds like you slept there just fine last night.”
I didn’t hesitate.
I jumped up, brushed my teeth, slipped on shoes, grabbed my phone, and followed Fallon out to his bike.
It was a short ride to the hospital and Fallon insisted on walking me up to the floor.
“Get some sleep.”
With that, I made my way into Perish’s room, finding him with his eyes closed.
Until my hand pressed down on his.
“Hey,” he said, slow blinking at me. “What are you doing here?”
“Fallon brought me.”
“Why?”
“I couldn’t sleep,” I admitted.
“Come here,” he said, patting the small space beside him. I was quick to kick off my shoes and climb on the bed with him. “So, you talked to Fallon.”
“Briefly, yeah. You did too.”
“Yeah.”
“And?”
“And he was a lot more reasonable than we were expecting. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I think he’d have put an air bubble in my IV if he thought I was just fucking you around.”
“And you’re not?” I asked, wincing at the neediness in my voice.
“Look up,” he demanded, voice soft. I lifted my gaze to look down at him.
His hand moved out, tucking my loose hair behind my ear. “I was ready to tell Fallon to take his club and shove it if he said I had to end things with you.”
“Really?”
“Really. I think we both knew right from the jump that this wasn’t casual. Just might have taken me a little longer to understand what it was.”
