She nods; those familiar brown curls pulled back into a ponytail. Her deep blue eyes blink wildly a few times before she smiles, familiar dimples dotting the corner of her lips. “Only you could survive something like this, Wesley.” She looks like shewants to hit me but holds herself back. “You’re too stubborn to die.”
My body groans in protest as I try to prop myself up on the bed, realizing I can barely see her through the swollen eye that’s taking up half my face.
“Is dad here?”
She shakes her head, motioning to one guard sitting next to the bed, and another posted outside. “He couldn’t see you like this.”
“You mean, his prisoner son, bloody and barely hanging on to life?”
She stifles a sob, catching it before it forms.
“It’s not like they would let him in anyway. They weren’t even going to let me in. But I drove overnight to get here. I begged them to let me see you.”
“And they let you?”
Ashleigh nods. “They didn’t think you were going to make it, Wes. They were just letting me say goodbye. But I knew you were still hanging on, and that somewhere in there was my big brother who’s protected me for most of my life.”
“Except when I couldn’t,” I grit out, the tears starting to sting.
She takes my hand again. This time more earnestly. “And yet you were still there for me after everything that happened. You never left my side. You let me stay with you, and didn’t tell Mom or Dad.”
The guard clears his throat, making Ashleigh frown. “They’re not going to let me stay, Wes. They’ve broken a lot of rules letting me in here. Luckily, you have some friends in there that are doing their best to protect you.”
She motions to the guard sitting behind her, who does his best to look uninterested.
“Just be careful, okay? Whoever wants you gone, will come after you again.”
“I know.”
She takes my hand one last time, kissing the back of it. “Rodriguez’s Promise me you won’t die, Wesley. Our family is already fractured enough, I can’t lose you right now.”
“What’s going on?”
She sniffs, wiping a few tears away from her face. “Mom’s really upset with Dad right now. She blames him for you getting hurt. She says he could’ve prevented all this.” She takes a deep breath, then lets it out in one long whoosh. “She’s asking for a divorce.”
“A divorce!” The words roar out of me, and instantly my ribs sing in protest, and I start to cough, which makes everything even worse. My parents’ marriage survived my mother’s infidelity when I was born, staying together through one more pregnancy with my sister, despite my father not trusting her, but it took me going to prison to break them apart?Fuck my life!
“Don’t overexert yourself, Wes. The doctors say your attackers punctured your lung and broke a rib or two. They had to get you stabilized at the Ely hospital first and then flew you straight here. Apparently, your heart stopped beating twice on the chopper and they had to keep reviving you to keep you alive. Whoever did this obviously wanted you dead. But the doctors here have been working day and night to keep you stabilized, your heart working, and those lungs pumping. That’s why you have on the oxygen mask; your O2 levels have been all over the place since your surgery, and they said it may be hard for you to breathe on your own once you woke up.” She pauses, her smile fading. “If you woke up.” Tears pour down her face as a stifled sob stalls briefly before her emotions erupt. “Don’t die on me, Wes. I need you.”
“Ashleigh…”
The guard clears his throat again. This time making sure she knows her time is up.
“Just promise me you’ll stay alive.”
I nod, but even that feels impossible. “Okay, I promise.”
“I love you, Wes. So much.”
“I love you too, Ash.”
She frowns when she realizes she can’t hug me. I guess it was one of their rules. “I gotta head back to Reno, but I’ll be keeping tabs on you, okay?”
“I wouldn’t expect anything less.”
Her smile slightly falters before she finally lets go, her eyes watered down with worried tears, her dimples only existing because of how prominent they are.
Then she’s gone, leaving me alone in the room with the guard who let her in.
