And I wanted that life back.
“Mom?” I asked.
“We’re just out here, honey,” she said, sticking her head inside.
I giggled. “I thought you guys were gonna be in the E.R. waiting for me.”
“Can you blame us?” Dad asked.
I shook my head softly. “No.”
“Do you need something, sweetheart?” Mom asked.
I swallowed hard. “How long was I gone?”
“Seven days,” Dad said without hesitation.
I snickered as I shook my head. Seven days. One week. That was all it took to turn my life head over heels. To change every single priority I had ever set out for myself. One week with those men, and I had turned into a completely different person. Those seven days had changed my worldview. Those seven days changed the way I lived, loved, and experienced the world around me. It felt like a lifetime, honestly. And now, I had to live another lifetime without them.
A thought that pulled tears down my cheeks as Dr. Ingles prepared me for the second blood draw.
29
MAVERICK
“She looks misera—”
“SSHH!” Axe hissed.
I took a large chunk out of the roast beef sandwich I had made for myself the second we got back to the clubhouse. Locker had been forward-thinking enough to patrol the outer skirts of the hospital for news crews, something none of us had taken into consideration.
I guess we had all been distracted.
“I hate this,” Dee said flatly.
“Shut. Up,” Axe growled.
She looked dazed. Confused. Watching her look out over the parking lot shattered my heart in my chest. I took another large bite of my sandwich, trying to keep my jaw distracted, because I knew that if it wasn’t moving, I’d grind my teeth from the stress. She looked distraught. She looked as if she were on the verge of tears.
And she was looking for us.
“We can’t be seen on camera,” Rocker said, walking up beside me. “You know that.”
I nodded mindlessly as I shoved the rest of my sandwich into my mouth.
“Someone get him a drink,” Axe muttered.
“Already on it,” Wolf said, handing me a soda.
I cracked it open and washed it down, but it wasn’t enough. Nothing was ever enough, and it would never be enough again. Abandoning her was, by far, the hardest thing I’d ever done in my life. I wanted to wrap her up into my arms and tell her how proud of her I was. I wanted to slam our lips together in a breath-stealing kiss while ripping her clothes off that beautiful body of hers. Yet as I stood there, burning my throat on the carbonation as it slid down my throat, all I saw was her face in my head.
The pain in her eyes.
The searching of her stare.
She was looking for us.
And we weren’t there.
