My heart lurched in my chest at the sight of him. Despite the tubes and wires hooked up to him, a bright smile that spread to his eyes appeared on his face when Istepped in the door. Bandages covered his shoulder under his blue hospital gown, but he appeared to be in good spirits.
My vision blurred, and I blinked tears away.
“We’ll give you two a minute.” Mae kissed Hayden on the forehead before squeezing my shoulder as she exited the room with Roy.
I practically ran over to his bedside, not wanting to have any more distance between us. Never again. “I thought I’d lost you.”
Tears rolled down my cheeks, and Hayden reached out to wipe one away.
“I told you I wasn’t going to leave, Skip. I pinky promised, remember? And I never break a promise.”
My chest tightened as I whispered, “I’m sorry, Hayes. I’m so sorry. I should have stayed with you.”
“Hey, hey, hey.” He squeezed my hand with the little strength he had. Funny, even when he was the one lying in a hospital bed, he was still the one to comfort me. “You know who we were dealing with. Who’s to say it wouldn’t have happened another time, and I wouldn’t have been able to get to you? Don’t blame yourself for a single second, Sierra.” His tone turned stern. “This is not your fault. Do you understand that?”
I nodded. “I-I was just scared. Scared that you were gone and I’d never get the chance to tell you I love you, too.”
“You love me, Skip?” Emotion glistened in his eyes even as his lips curled up into a boyish smile.
“Yeah, Hayes.” My lip trembled as I blinked back tears. I pulled my bottom lip between my teeth, biting back a laugh. “I love you. I never stopped, either.”
“Hey, nurse! Did you hear that?” Hayden yelled, his words echoing off the walls. “Shelovesme!”
“Shhh.” I giggled, pressing a gentle kiss to his lips.
“I love you, too, Skip. In every single universe. Every single lifetime.” He raised my hand up to his lips before locking eyes with mine. “I loved you ten years ago, I love you today, and I’ll love you a hundred years from now.”
“Even if we aren’t alive anymore?” I laughed.
He nodded. “Even if all that’s left of us is the dust of our bones.”
I leaned down, pressing my lips to his, tasting the salt of my tears. My forehead pressed against his and our breathing synced, but neither of us made any moves to pull away.
When we finally separated, it was my turn to scold him. “No more playing Superman, okay? I know you were trying to help, but I don’t need saving. Not when it comes at the risk of your life.”
“Skip,” he protested.
“No, Hayes. Listen to me, please,” I pleaded, hoping the emotion reached my eyes as well so he knew how serious I was. “You’ve helped me so much, baby. I don’t need you to save me because all I need is to have you by my side, supporting me. And I can’t have that if you risk your life.”
“Okay.” He nodded, understanding reflecting in his gaze.
“Thank you.”
“I love you, Skip.”
“I love you, too, Hayes. Always.”
CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
hayden
TWO WEEKS LATER
Do we have everything?” Sierra asked as she balanced a casserole dish in her arms along with a big container of peanut butter cookies that my mom had sent home with us.
We were heading out the door to go to Colter and Ellison’s place for Thanksgiving. It was both a Thanksgiving dinner and a “Welcome Back, Hayden” party, apparently, even though I’d been out of the hospital for a few days now.
I was lucky enough that the bullet only hit me in the shoulder on my left side, damaging the soft tissue surrounding the joint. The exit wound was fairly clean and fortunately none of my bones were fractured. The doctors implied that someone was looking out for me that night because there wouldn’t be any long-term effects that would impact my rodeo career. The blood loss and shock caused me to pass out, but I was cleared from the hospital relatively quickly, after undergoing surgery to remove any bullet fragments, with orders to take it easy for a while.
