“Catch me,” I whispered, stumbling into his arms.
Oh no.
Chapter Thirty:
Cash’s POV
My arms gripped her tighter as I gently lowered her to the floor. Her breathing was rapid, faster than it was when we were kissing like our lives depended on it. She looked scared, then asked me to catch her. I was freaking out.Shit. Shit!I could feel myself getting louder the longer her eyes were closed.
“Shit! Devin!” My voice hitched as her name left my mouth. My hand was on her face, unsure of what to do, her limp body in my arms. Her eyes fluttered as I gently tapped her face.
“Devin?! Devin, love. Open your eyes, my love,” I urged as people started to gather around us, someone said something about an ambulance. Another voice demanded to be let through.
Was this too much on her body? On her mind? Should I have pushed for the break her ex’s lawyer offered when she’d had that look on her face? The one that made her look like she was feeling guilty about something?!
It was clear to me that she had nothing, notone mother fucking thing, to feel guilty about in this whole situation. If she didn’t know it before, she’d know it once I got done talking to her.
“Devin! Please, baby!” I was begging her as she went in and out of consciousness, “Please! Open your eyes!”
Why was it getting harder to get my words out without sounding like a kid hitting puberty? Why is it getting blurry and hard to see her? What’s happening to me?
I blinked and my eyes cleared for a second but quickly became blurry again.
Fuck! What’s happening?!I slid my arms under her legs, looking around for a place to princess-carry her so she could have some privacy through whatever this was. I was starting to freak out that she wasn’t opening her eyes and I wasn’t comfortable with the murmuring of the crowd around. Just as my breathing started to get ragged, I felt it.
A tiny, soft hand touched my cheek. I froze and everything became still. No one moved. There was no sound for a few moments.
“Please don’t cry, Johnny,” the gentlest whisper called out to me, soothing the deep-seated fear that was growing inside of me.
My mother told me when I was older what happened the day my dad collapsed at the dinner table, that Thanksgiving. She said he was dead and I didn’t want Devin to leave me like my dad left my mom. Dad didn’t have a choice in if he left or not. That choice was taken from him by a heart attack. It was so sudden, and she was never the same after.
I knew I wouldn’t be either if something happened to this strong, resilient, delicately lovely creature laying in my arms.
My wide eyes stared at her green and gold orbs. Panic was still coursing through me, but the relief I felt when I saw her smiling at me was so immense, I broke. Tears flowed freely down my cheeks as I gently pulled her closer to me. She was wiping my tears as I pulled her all the way into my chest, crying into her hair. She wrapped her arms around me just as hard.
When I finally pulled away and she looked at me, I wasn’t sure if the wetness on her cheeks was mine or hers.
I kissed her, gently, like she’d break if she got too overstimulated. She was precious to me.The mostprecious.Leaning my forehead against her, I heard the EMTs before I saw them coming up with a gurney and all of their equipment to check her out.
They asked me to help them move her to the gurney, while they did what they needed to. I held her hand the whole time, needing to touch her, needing the physical contact. I lied and said I was her husband when they asked about what our relation to each other was. They’d inform us they would be taking her with them, needing to get her fully checked out. I nodded, following like I was going in the ambulance with them. I wasn’t letting her out of my sight.
No way.
I stayed as close as I was allowed, always trying to hold her hand, or help her in some way or another. They kept her overnight for overeating, and to see about her other results coming back. She had fallen asleep roughly an hour after getting settled in her room, while I said there, wide awake. Sitting next to her in that god-awful chair that every hospital seems to fucking have, that night, watching her sleep I realized something.
I was completely gone for this woman. This strong, kind, gentle, and fierce, funny, stunning woman.
I’m utterly, madly, deeply in love with her.
*****
Devin’s POV
It had been a month since I was forced to be a witness for whatever the fuck that trainwreck of a custody battle was. The judge ruled that she had yet to prove herself an unfit mother, as the baby wasn’t even here. Caleb’s team was also unable to fullyprove that she had raped him. It was unfortunate, but there just wasn’t enough proof from that night.
As such, she was allowed to have a chance to prove herself as a mother, and the court would reconvene one month postpartum to re-evaluate things. Amber said that was only due to the claims of her mental state being what it was believed to be, and the text messages Caleb was able to provide showing she’d threatened to self-harm if he didn’t stay with her.
Hopefully, they wouldn’t need me again, because that was my final act of kindness for him.
