“Doesn’t matter.”
“Of course it does. Fight for her,” he said fiercely.
“Since when are you a romantic?” I asked, glancing over at him.
He was staring out the window now, lost in his own thoughts. “There’s not much I care about in this world, JR, but tohave a woman like that…” His eyes met mine once again, and something bright shimmered for just a moment. “Don’t fuck it up. Hold onto it with both hands and leave our world behind.”
Storming out of the room, I was once again alone with Josie. Her grandparents had been contacted, but they wouldn’t get here for another twelve hours. Even if I wanted to leave, I would never let her lie in this bed all alone.
“Josie,” I whispered, praying that somehow in her subconscious, she could hear me. “I’m so sorry. I never wanted any of this to happen.”
Very gently, I took her hand in mine, brushing my thumb over the back of her hand. She looked so fragile, lying in bed. I couldn’t help but blame myself. There was no one else responsible for this but me.
“I love you,” I whispered. “Please forgive me.”
But she didn’t answer. She was so drugged up that she wouldn’t be awake for a very long time.
The hours passed in tortured silence. I thought about talking to her, but what would she want to hear from me? I considered going to check on Sawyer, just so I could tell her how he was if she woke up, but I couldn’t bring myself to leave her side.
So, I sat there holding her hand, praying that she would be okay, and when she woke up, she would forgive me.
A hand on my shoulder jolted me awake. Spinning around, I nearly yanked Mav’s arm off when I was mentally thrown back into earlier that night.
“Jesus,” he gasped, backing away from me. “Relax. I’m not here to kill you.”
Sighing, I scrubbed my hand over my face to wake up, then looked back at Josie, who was still sleeping peacefully.
“What is it?”
“Just thought you might want an update.”
Grunting, I shoved to my feet and walked away from Josie, not wanting to wake her up. “What do you have?”
“Sawyer’s out of surgery. He took a bullet to the shoulder and he’s pretty banged up, but he’ll be fine.”
Guilt swarmed me, but I shoved it down. “And the men?”
“All dead.”
That was good, but said nothing of the repercussions about to crash down on my head. “And me?”
He quirked an eyebrow at me. “What about you?”
“Jail? A hearing in front of a judge?”
Shaking his head, he laughed at me. “Self-defense.”
“The dog attacked him. Ripped out his throat. I just finished him off.”
“Still, it’s a clean kill in my book. Relax. Just take care of your woman.”
My woman. If only she was mine. If only I hadn’t fucked it all up.
“Her grandparents just got in. Remi’s on his way back from the airport with them.”
“That’s good.”
“Hey,” he said, grabbing my attention again. “Seriously, are you okay?”
