Page 79 of Suddenly Yours

The paramedics rushed Cade past us, moving fast as one of them called out vitals. I scrambled to my feet but my legs barely worked. I reached out helplessly as they loaded him into the ambulance.

“Can I go with him?” I begged one of them. “Please, I’m his…”

They hesitated only a second before nodding.

As the doors closed and the siren wailed to life, I climbed in beside Cade, my fingers trembling as I found his hand.

It was warm.

Still warm.

I clung to that like a lifeline.

“I’m here,” I whispered fiercely, brushing my thumb over his knuckles as the EMT worked on him. “I’m not going anywhere. You hear me? You don’t get to leave me.”

The ambulance lurched forward, but I barely registered the lights flashing and the sound of the siren wailing as we quickly drove away.

For the first time since I’d gotten the call from Max, I prayed and hoped for our future together.

Because loving Cade Walker wasn’t something I could survive losing.

Chapter Twenty-One

Cade

I came back to myself in pieces.

First, there was the steady beeping. Then the dull ache, everywhere and nowhere all at once. After that, the smell of antiseptic, sharp enough to cut through the fog in my head. My eyelids felt like they weighed a hundred pounds, but when I finally forced them open, the ceiling above me swam before slowly coming into focus.

Hospital.

That much, at least, made sense, considering the pain that I was feeling. Flashes of memory of the crash replayed in my mind. Squealing tires, the view of rocks rushing toward me, then spinning so many times, I lost count. Bent metal.

I turned my head an inch and immediately regretted it. Pain flared, white-hot, then settled into a heavy throbbing. I sucked in a breath through my teeth as more pain flared up, this time in my chest. Once everything settled, I felt the warmth wrapped around my hand.

Missy.

She was there, curled in the chair beside the bed, her head resting on the mattress near my arm. Her hair was spilling across the blanket in soft waves, and her fingers were laced through mine like she was afraid that if she let go, I’d disappear.

I could see dark circles beneath her eyes even with her eyes closed. She looked exhausted. Wrecked.

My chest tightened. I had done this to her.

“Hey,” I said. Or tried to. It came out more like a croak.

Her eyes popped open and her head snapped up. Her eyes locked onto mine, and for a second she just stared like she was afraid this was a trick. A hallucination. Then her hand tightened around mine.

“Oh my God,” she whispered. Her voice broke clean in half. “Cade.”

I smiled, or at least I think I did. Everything felt a little… floaty. Like I was hovering a few inches above myself. “You look tired,” I said, because apparently I was an idiot even drugged out of my mind.

She laughed, but it came out shaky. “You scared me half to death,” she said, leaning over the bed. Her lips brushed mine, soft, careful, reverent. Like she needed to feel me there, solid and real.

Before I could say anything more brilliant in response, like I’m sorry I almost died, the door opened and an older nurse walked in with a clipboard in hand.

“Well, look at that,” she said brightly when she noticed me looking back at her. “Someone finally decided to wake up.”

Missy swiped at her cheeks and straightened, though she didn’t let go of my hand. Not once.