Pain seemed to weigh him down. There was a thin layer of numbness, but the pain was there, burning deep in his chest. His eyelids felt too heavy to lift. He could hear the steady beeping of a heart monitor next to the bed. He could breathe, but there was a tube down his throat, making it hard to swallow.
He had no idea what had happened. Something pretty damn bad. Something that had left him close to death. He wasn’t sure how long he had been this way, could be days, maybe a week.
Once a nurse had disturbed him enough he had managed to open his eyes for an instant before exhaustion sucked him back under. In those few moments, he had seen Kate sleeping in a chair next to his bed. He didn’t think it was an illusion, and it filled him with relief.
He couldn’t handle the thought that if he had been hurt this badly, Kate might have been injured, too. Or worse.
He slept again. It felt like an eternity and at the same time merely seconds. When his eyes slit open, the block in his throat was gone. Clear liquid dripped from a plastic tube into his arm and patches stuck to his chest, feeding the heart monitor beeping the endless hours away.
Kate was still there. Asleep once more in the chair beside him. He wondered how long she had been there, wondered how long she meant to stay.
The third time he opened his eyes, he managed to stay awake long enough to get a real look at her. She was thinner, paler, dark circles beneath her eyes.
“Jason...” She shot forward in her chair, reached out and gently took hold of his hand. He could feel hers trembling. “Thank God.”
“Kate...”
She leaned over and kissed his cheek, then rushed out of the room shouting for the nurse. He must have faded again. When he came to, she was there waiting. Just as she’d been before.
She was exhausted and worried, yet hope shined in her eyes. Seeing her that way, knowing the long hours she had endured for his sake, everything she had sacrificed for him, cut him to the core.
She held a cup of water to his dry lips. “Just take it easy, okay?”
He took a sip of water, managed to swallow. “How long...have I...been here?”
“Five days.” She gave him a wobbly smile. “You really had us worried.”
“What...happened?”
Her brown eyes filled with tears. “Oh God, Jason, you were right about the windows. I’m so sorry. A sniper shot you. The police are looking for him. So is Bran.”
“Los... Besos?”
“Bran doesn’t think so. He and Jax are trying to find the guy who did it.”
Now that he knew what had happened, fear for her filtered through the pain. “Who’s protecting...you?”
“One of the guys from The Max has been with me every minute. They want to make sure I’m safe.”
Relief slipped through him. “Good...guys.”
“They love you.” She started to say something more, but stopped herself. “We all do.”
His eyelids began to droop. He needed to sleep, and since he trusted his friends to keep Kate safe, he let himself drift away.
The next time he awoke, it was dark outside the windows. Then it was morning. Eventually, he began to feel better. Stronger. Each day Kate was there, and as he progressed, his mind began to clear. He began to accept the truth he had known for some time.
He was in love with Kate Gallagher. Deeply in love. Kate was everything he had ever wanted in a woman. Everything he needed.
Everything a guy like him could not have.
He would never forget the pain in her face as she sat next to his bed for hours on end, the worry, the agonizing fear. No woman should have to go through that. Certainly not the woman he loved.
He’d get better, he vowed. No matter what it took. He’d get out of the hospital and go after whoever had shot him. But he wouldn’t put Kate through that. He was in love with her, the kind of love that wouldn’t happen to him again.
Because he loved her so deeply, he wanted what was best for her. And the best thing for Kate was for him to give her up.
It hadn’t taken Bran long to figure out Los Besos wasn’t behind the shooting that had nearly ended his friend’s life. Not after he’d discovered the sniper’s lair in the empty apartment in the building across from Kate’s.
